Are you a Minnesotan who want to provide input on how your tax dollars are spent for trails, parks and the environment? Read this letter from Terry Hutchinson, MN United Snowmobilers Assoc. Director at Large and Chairman of the MnUSA Trails Committee:
With the passage of the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Act in 2008, 14.25% of the funds generated from the increase in the state sales tax will provide funding for natural resource based state and regional parks and trails. It is anticipated that over the next 25 years, state and regional parks and trails will receive in excess of $1 billion from these funds. A portion of the funds are set aside for grants which are available for projects, including those that may benefit snowmobile trails.
The Minnesota State Legislature requested that 10 year strategic and 25 year visionary plans be developed with public input to help guide how the Legacy Funds, as well as other traditional sources of funding, should be invested for state and regional parks and trails. The legislation specifically requests that the DNR seek input from user groups and local and regional park and trail organizations in development and finalization of the plans.
Your Input is Necessary to the Parks and Trails Legacy Planning Effort. The DNR, with the assistance of the Citizens League, will be holding 17 workshops across the State to collect citizen input into the planning process. The workshops are from 7-9 p.m. and the first workshop will be held May 6th in St. Cloud. MnUSA encourages snowmobilers to participate in these workshops. Presently snowmobilers across the state enjoy over 21,000 miles of trails due to the efforts of the volunteer snowmobile clubs and through a user pay system. Many of these miles of trails are on private property through a permit by willing landowners. Your input into how the legacy funds can be best used to support trails is important to our future.
If you are unable to attend one of the workshops in person, an on-line input opportunity is available HERE at CitiZing.
For additional information and a printable schedule of the 17 workshops, see the DNR news release HERE.
Please help shape this important process!
-Terry
