Minnesota Trout Unlimited to Receive $2 Million from State Outdoor Heritage Fund to Improve Trout Habitat

Contact:
John Lenczewski, Executive Director, Minnesota Trout Unlimited, (612) 670-1629
JP Little, Council Chair, Minnesota Trout Unlimited, (612) 207-3305

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Minnesota Trout Unlimited to Receive $2 Million from State Outdoor Heritage Fund to Improve Trout Habitat

Money will fund 11 new restoration projects across the state.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Trout Unlimited will receive $2.1 million from the state's Outdoor Heritage Fund to continue its work restoring fish and wildlife habitat across Minnesota.

Last week, Governor Mark Dayton signed into law a bill containing an appropriation of $2.1 million for this habitat work. The funding will come from a constitutionally dedicated sales tax approved by Minnesota voters in November 2008.

This is the fourth time Minnesota TU will have received money from the Outdoor Heritage Fund. The funding will be used by Minnesota TU [1] chapters and members to improve habitat on 13 streams and lakes. Habitat will be restored or improved on six northern Minnesota trout waters, two Twin Cities metropolitan area streams and five streams in the Driftless area of southeast Minnesota.

"We are thrilled to be able to directly improve fish habitat, fishing and access for anglers, while engaging volunteers, landowners and local communities in conservation work," said JP Little, chairman of Minnesota TU [1]. "We are honored to have the opportunity to utilize dedicated funding for habitat projects which not only benefit Minnesota trout, steelhead and salmon anglers, but all Minnesotans who value clean water and the economic benefits of coldwater angling throughout the state."

More than 19 miles of habitat and a dozen streams have been improved in the past two years by Trout Unlimited chapters and members and their key partner, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

"While the grants provide reimbursement for a large percentage of out-of-pocket construction expenses, including materials, excavation work and contractor services, we need more volunteers than ever," said John Lenczewski, executive director of Minnesota TU. "With 10 projects slated for 2012, we have many opportunities for TU volunteers to play vital roles in improving streams from the North Shore of Lake Superior to the spring creeks in the Driftless region of southeast Minnesota."

The new appropriation becomes available in July and will fund 2013 field work on these trout waters: Boys Lake, Kimball Lake and Mink Lake in Cook County; a trout stream in Cook County; Camp Creek in Fillmore County; East Indian Creek in Wabasha County; Garvin Brook, Rush and Pine creeks in Winona County; Hay Creek in Goodhue County; Mill Creek in Olmsted County; Stewart River in Lake County and the Vermillion River in Dakota County.

2012 habitat projects, funded by earlier Outdoor Heritage Fund grants, include Cold Spring Brook and West Indian Creek in Wabasha County; Garvin Brook in Winona County; Hay Creek in Goodhue County; Little Isabella River and the Manitou River in Lake County; Lost Creek in Fillmore County; Mill Creek in Olmsted County; Pine Creek and Rush Creek in Winona County; the Sucker River in St. Louis County and the Vermillion River in Dakota County.

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Trout Unlimited [2] is a non-profit organization with more than 147,000 members dedicated to conserving, protecting and restoring North America's trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds. Follow TU on the TU blog [3], on Facebook [4], and on Twitter via @TroutUnlimited.