MOHA - Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance

The Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance (MOHA) is the largest coalition of hunting, fishing, trapping and conservation organizations in the state. Find out more about us and our accomplishments.

Legislative Activity Report

As you all know, Minnesota passed an amendment to our Constitution that dedicated 3/8 of one percent of new sales tax revenue to the outdoors and cultural activities. The vast majority of this fund will go to the outdoors to enhance our fish and wildlife habitat and clean up our wetlands and waterways. Through some rather intense lobbying efforts, on the part of sportsmen and women in Minnesota, we were able to create a citizen’s oversight committee, the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council (LOHC), to make recommendations on what will be close to 100 million dollars a year for projects to enhance habitat and secure habitat for hunting, trapping and fishing in Minnesota. The LOHC is made up of twelve people of which four are legislators from both political parties. The other eight council members come from the hunting and conservation community and the chairman is a professor and expert on forestry at the U of M. We are very happy with the appointments is almost all cases. There are a couple of legislators on the council who are not totally with us on our issues but the majority rules so I believe that we will continue to see sound recommendations from this group.

There are some bills that have been introduced in the current legislative session that are anti-hunting and anti-gun. There are bills in the Senate and House to eliminate dove hunting in Minnesota. This is being promoted by HSUS, as usual. The anti-dove hunting bill is SF 1710 authored by Senator Dibble and Senator Doll in the Senate. The House bill is HF 1321 and is authored by Reps Clark,Kahn,Huntley, Loeffler, Greiling and Mariani. The antigun bill is HF 953 which would severely limits the transfer of pistols and semi-auto firearms in Minnesota. That bill is authored by Reps Paymar,Johnson, Hayden, Lesch, Kelliher, Ruud, Lillie, Mullery, Bly, Champion, Slocum, Hausmen and Mariania. The Senate companion bill is SF 1165 and is authored by Senators Prettner-Solon, Foley, Dibble, Doll and Anderson. Note the fact that some of the same names show up on both antigun bills and anti-hunting bills. If you are a constituent of any of these legislators please contact them by e-mail, phone or letter and let them know how you stand on these issues. Even if you are not a constituent, your contact will be effective. It is very easy to get contact information on all legislators simply by using and internet search for “Minnesota Legislature”. Representatives from MOHA member groups will be offering testimony before relevant committees in the legislature if any of these bills appear to get any traction. We are fortunate in Minnesota to have the majority of legislators from both political parties on our side, in regard to our issues, as well as the Governor and his administration.
Don McMillan President,
MOHA

MOHA Announces New Leadership of the Minnesota Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus

Senator Satveer Chaudhary, Fridley, MN, has been selected as the Chair of the Minnesota Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus and Representative Larry Howes, Walker, MN, has been selected Vice Chair. The Caucus Executive Committee as well as additional members will be selected in the near future. This caucus is a bipartisan group of legislators from both the Minnesota Senate and House who have an interest in issues that are important to the sportsmen and women of Minnesota. The Minnesota Caucus is a member of the National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses. Minnesota is one of 36 state sportsmen’s caucuses throughout the country and is one of the oldest.

Senator Chaudhary attended a recent meeting of the National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses in December which was held in Clinton, SC where he had an opportunity to present our successfully passed outdoors amendment to the group. One of the goals of the National assembly is to support and enhance state fish and wildlife habitat management and conservation which fits in very nicely with the goals of the recently passed constitutional amendment in Minnesota. We welcome both Senator Chaudhary and Representative Howes to the Caucus.

Federal Judge Approves MN DNR Plan to Protect Lynx

A federal judge has approved a plan supported by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR), which would impose additional restrictions on trapping in northeastern Minnesota. View Twin Cities.com story

Conservation Groups File Suit To Stop Spread of VHS

The spread of Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS) throughout the Lower Great Lakes, and into some inland waters as far west as Wisconsin, has been the topic of many news releases and media updates for the past several months. Apparently Lake Superior is still free of VHS, as are inland waters in Minnesota.

VHS acts much like Ebola virus does in primates, causing death through massive internal bleeding in fish. Thousands of fish, including substantial numbers of sport fish like Muskies, have been killed by VHS since it was first spotted.

One of the primary ways VHS is spread is through live, infected fish that are taken up and moved about in untreated ballast water of ships on the Great Lakes. According to a lawsuit just filed by The Izaak Walton League W.J. McCabe Chapter in Duluth, Trout Unlimited in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and the Save Lake Superior Association, both the U.S. Coast Guard and the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service have had authority to prevent this through the National Invasive Species Act since 1996, but have not done so.

The lawsuit requests that both agencies fulfill their mission to prevent further spread of VHS through the Great Lakes via unregulated ballast water. The plaintiffs are asking that anyone interested in supporting this suit call them for further information. Contact one of the following people:
Dave Zentner 218-724-3926
John Lenczewski 612-670-1629
Curt Leitz 218-464-1335
Gary Meier 218-525-9488
Grant Merritt 763-232-2702

MOHA Says Citizen Council Critical to Passage of Dedicated Funding

February 15, 2008
“We applaud the hard work of the legislature, the citizens and stakeholders who supported the dedicated funding amendment yesterday,” said Don McMillan, Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance (MOHA) president. “This dedicated fund will guarantee that our children and grandchildren have places to hunt, and fish. It will ensure Minnesota’s outdoor heritage and our way of life.”

MOHA joined with Senator Bob Lessard and others in 1999 to secure a constitutional amendment to fund conservation of Minnesota’s game, fish, and wildlife. At the very beginning of this campaign, we set out three principals we believe to be essential to accomplish our objectives; a) A guaranteed income stream for fish and game management, habitat conservation and related programs, b) That this revenue be constitutionally guaranteed, and c) that there be a citizen/stakeholders council to manage the fund.” These elements have been in nearly every bill in the House and Senate since then.
View entire press release

December MOHA Board Meeting

December 12, 2007
The Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance (MOHA) Governing Board and Executive Committee met December 12th. Much of the meeting focused on strategic planning to help pass the constitutional amendment for dedicated funding, and the need for a citizen’s council to recommend spending programs and administer the nearly $100 million that will be generated each year through the sales tax process. A subcommittee will forward recommended statutory language to the executive committee by December 17th. Other topics covered included:

Finalizing plans for the Legislative Banquet February 20th
Establishing the procedure for the MOHA election for 2008 On January 9th – announcements will be sent to the full board within the next week.
Agreement to host a Dedicated Funding stakeholders meeting in conjunction with the DNR Roundtable January 4th in St. Cloud
Preliminary discussion for a MOHA spring fundraiser based on a wild game dinner
Development of specific procedure and topics for the 2008 Session Outdoor Caucus meetings.

This was the third meeting in a row with more than 20 Board members attending – some from as far away as SE Minnesota. The executive committee really appreciates the high level of interest in not only dedicated funding, but in all of MOHA’s program efforts.

SCI and MOHA File Amicus Brief in Minnesota Lynx Case

Over the opposition of anti-hunting and anti-trapping groups, SCI and Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance (MOHA), a coalition of sporting and conservation groups, filed a substantive brief last week supporting the State of Minnesota's trapping program. View press release

MOHA Helps Students Get a Chance to Hunt Pheasants

November 2, 2007
Watertown-Mayer Middle School held an "Exploratory Day" where several students participated in a pheasant hunting experience at Major Avenue Hunt Club near Glencoe. The event was organized by middle school teacher Bill McDonald with assistance from DNR Southern Region Director Mark Matuska, and others. A safety clinic was conducted and then a discussion followed about pheasant hunting laws, group hunting safety, and pheasant habitat. Each student was required to have completed a firearms safety course and have a parent in attendance during the hunt.

The DNR, Pheasants Forever, Carver County Soil and Water District, Federal Cartridge, and the Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance (MOHA) supported the event. Meiller presented a $250 donation on behalf of the Carver County Pheasants Forever Chapter and MOHA donated $80 while Federal Cartridge contributed 16 boxes of shotgun shells.

Kinship and Pheasants Forever Partner for Youth

Kinship and PF work together to provide outdoor experiences
Saint Paul, Minn. – September 25, 2007 –Minnesota Pheasants Forever (PF)
and Kinship Inc are proud to announce a joint partnership. The new relationship is aimed at introducing "Kinship Kids" to hunting and the outdoors.

PF will encourage its local chapters to get involved with local Kinship affiliates to teach Kinship Mentors and Kinship Kids proper hunting safety and etiquette along with sound conservation practices. In return, Kinship will encourage its matches to get involved with the conservation efforts of PF. "PF is honored to work with an organization of Kinships reputation," stated Eran Sandquist, regional wildlife biologist for PF in Northern Minnesota. "What a great opportunity to pass on understanding and appreciation for hunting, conservation and the outdoors where there is a great need and desire."

View press release

Donate to MOHA

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Photo/Story Gallery

Submit photos to our webmaster of your memorable hunting, fishing and trapping events and add a paragraph about the event if you like. Great outdoor trips with kids are especially interesting. Photos/stories will remain up on the site for two months.

Become a MOHA Member!

Minnesota hunting, fishing and conservation clubs and organizations are eligible for membership in the Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance. Find out more about membership.

Events

May 23: MN Bass Fishing Opener

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	Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance (MOHA)
	“Our mission is to protect and guarantee the right to pursue the time-honored traditions of hunting and fishing, and related activities, for every Minnesota citizen, in perpetuity, through legislative action, public awareness and education.”