Hey Minnesotans – this Tuesday, November 4th you will have the opportunity to vote on the Clean Water, Land & Legacy Amendment.  Dutoeam asks you to consider the following information, and please vote yes on the amendment.

All is not well in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Forty percent of the waters we have tested are polluted, and most of our lakes and streams have not even been tested. Funding for water, parks, and wildlife habitat remains near historic lows, and we are losing access for swimming, fishing, and wildlife watching. We have to act now, with this amendment, to protect our state’s many water sources—-for our own health, and for that of our wildlife, before they are lost forever.

The amendment would increase the State sales tax by three-eighths of one percent. This amounts to only about $1 a week and $56 a year for the average Minnesota household – a small price to pay for protecting our clean water, wildlife habitat, and natural areas.

While the latest polls show that Minnesotans are strongly supportive of the amendment — 59% say they will vote yes — we also know that many people who haven’t heard about the amendment may leave that question blank, and anyone who doesn’t vote on this question gets counted as a "no" vote. As a result, it appears the vote will be VERY close.

This amendment is about protecting our WATER RESOURCES, LAND, AND NATURAL AREAS.
There is tremendous growth in Minnesota: over 1 million acres of wooded lands, natural areas and farmland will be lost over the next 25 years, as Minnesota continues growing faster than any other state in the Midwest. We want to make sure that while we grow, we are protecting and preserving our natural areas for recreation, which is so much a part of why we love it here, and protecting our lands for game habitat, wildlife, fishing, hunting, and hiking. The amendment will also help to fight global warming by protecting forest lands in Minnesota.

This amendment is about preserving our CULTURAL RESOURCES.
Minnesota has a long and proud tradition and history of arts and culture. Arts and cultural education are critical not only to our children’s future but also to our state’s economic well-being. Like our natural resources, our states cultural resources are an important part of our tourism industry and our great Minnesota quality of life.

This amendment is about FUTURE GENERATIONS.
Things as important as clean water are well worth protecting in our Constitution, and worth creating a permanent funding source for – especially when future generations rely on our actions today. Acting now to ensure that we properly protect our water, parks, wildlife, and arts and cultural resources for our children and grandchildren is an investment well worth making.

For more information about the the Clean Water, Land & Legacy Amendment, check out the Vote Yes! website at http://www.yesformn.org. Click on "FAQ’s" at the bottom of the page for some great information about the amendment.

Thanks in advance for your help in seizing this incredible opportunity to leave a healthy Minnesota to future generations! Please spread the word!

All 3 of my dedicated Freshwater Stew readers have probably been wondering what the heck happened to it and why I haven’t posted since June of last year.  Well you know what, I’m gonna tell you what happened.  That blog was born out of excitement over my new awesome job, but also out of a desire to show my new employers and coworkers how cool a Friends of the Mississippi River blog would be.  You just can’t be married to an internet genius without eventually spouting off about Internet 2.0 and online community-building and all that hoo-hah (even if you only half know what you’re talking about).  So the big awesome news is that it worked!  At least a little bit.  We don’t have a comprehensive FMR blog (yet), but we do now have a blog for an FMR program, one which I spend most of my time working on, the Gorge Stewards program. 

Though my employers and coworkers are supportive, it is pretty much my baby.  I created it, I am currently the only one posting on it, and I feel a wee bit of pressure to make it a raging success.  And so friends, family, strangers, I give you: http://gorgestewards.blogspot.com/! 

Read it, comment on it, link to it, spread the word far and wide!  I know, those of you who don’t live anywhere near the Mississippi River may be thinking, I don’t live anywhere near the Mississippi River, why should I care?  To this I say, why do you hate 18 million people?  Because that’s how many get their drinking water from this river.  This here is the 3rd largest river in the world (can anyone name the 2 largest?  Anyone?), and drains 41% of the continental U.S – 31 states and 2 Canadian provinces.  Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Birder alert:  Yes twitchers, it’s true, there is already a bird post!