“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.”

Founding The Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance
MOHA was formed as a 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) non-profit organization in August, 1994. This came after a series of meetings held at the request of then State Senator Bob Lessard and Congressman Colin Peterson. They had grown increasingly concerned about threats to our traditional hunting, fishing and trapping sports.

Foremost among these threats were the activities of animal rights groups, anti-hunting and trapping groups and gun control advocates.

In addition to these very obvious concerns there was recognition that we faced a growing urban population with little or no understanding of these traditions – people who could vote in favor of anti-hunting, fishing and trapping legislation through ignorance of the issues. And it was also obvious that we were losing the interest of our children, partly through urbanization and partly through dwindling access to the resources.

The Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance was formed to address these concerns then, and it continues to lead the way in these efforts today.

MOHA Structure
MOHA consists of a Governing Board and an Executive Committee of that Board. The Governing Board is made up of representatives from as many of Minnesota's outdoor organizations as care to participate. The Governing Board acts as an advisory group to the Executive Committee. This Committee is elected every year on a staggered term basis and handles the details of the MOHA mission.

In addition the Governing Board members have responsibility for communicating MOHA education and legislative activities to their own organizations, and in assisting in those activities whenever possible. There are generally anywhere from 35 to 50 members of the Governing Board.

The Executive Committee has 15 elected members. Officers include president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer and legal consul. The Executive Committee establishes subcommittees for specific tasks and these include both Executive Committee members and Governing Board members. Standing committees include Communications, Finance, Fundraising, Legislative and Youth Education.

The Executive Committee meets monthly on the second Wednesday. Any Governing Board members who can will also attend these meetings.

The MOHA Process & The Legislative Caucus
Our objective is to involve all concerned outdoor groups in legislative, education and public awareness actions whenever necessary to help protect and enhance our hunting, fishing and trapping heritage.

The Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Legislative Caucus is the central focus of MOHA's activities. This nonpartisan Caucus has more than 100 members from the Minnesota House and Senate, committed to supporting our outdoor heritage. The MOHA Executive Committee meets officially with Caucus members every other week during each legislative session, and maintains regular contact through personal calls, meetings, phone and e-mail contact.

Accomplishments
These are just a few of the many accomplishments MOHA has achieved since 1994.

• MOHA initiated and hosted the first outdoor leadership "Summit", bringing together state and national outdoor organization leadership, state and federal outdoor agency staff and key state legislators, with the goal to form lasting partnerships to help protect our outdoor heritage.

• MOHA's organization is being used by the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, based in Washington, to form similar organizations in each state, which will all be tied together for political action through the CSF.

• Passage of the Constitutional Amendment to protect hunting, fishing and trapping in 1998 after four intense years of legislative work, public awareness programs and combat with "anti" groups. Minnesota was the second state to successfully pass this protection and is being used as a model for similar legislation in many other states.

• MOHA members have played a leadership role on many of the DNR advisory and budget oversight committees.

• MOHA legal efforts helped successfully prosecute animal rights advocates who trespassed to disrupt hunting.

• MOHA formed an affiliation of traditional hunting and fishing organizations with other outdoor user groups, called COMCO, to help generate broader support for state-wide issues that affect all of us, like habitat protection and access.

• MOHA created the Youth Outdoor Heritage Expo to bring kids in contact with all aspects of our outdoor heritage, from clubs and organizations, to outdoor education and careers.

• MOHA initiated a successful annual Legislative Dinner which brings together members of the Caucus with representatives from the many MOHA organizations at the beginning of each Legislative session.

• State v. Miner:
Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance allied forces with Minnesota Bowhunters and Scott County to protect Minnesota hunters from persons within the animal rights activist movement. In November of 1996, several animal rights activists began disturbing hunters at a special park for bow hunting. They accused the hunters of being "Bambi killers", and repeatedly questioned the hunters about their motives in hunting. They also scared deer away, blocked their shots, threw away scent bombs, and engaged in other behavior with the intention of disturbing the hunters.

Ultimately several of the Defendants were convicted of violating the Hunter Harassment statute (Minn. Stat. § 97A.037), a misdemeanor. The Defendants appealed their convictions, claiming that the statute unconstitutionally infringed on their First Amendment freedom of speech. The Court of Appeals ruled that the statute was valid insofar as it prohibited the harassers from acting with an intent to prevent or disrupt hunters, or acts in such a way as to disturb or interfere with a person who is lawfully hunting. The Court further ruled that the Statute is a valid time, place and manner restriction, and that it is not unconstitutionally vague.

MOHA attended all District Court hearings, appeared before the Court of Appeals and submitted amicus curaie briefs to the Court. Ultimately, the animal rights Defendants appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court who allowed the Court of Appeals decision to stand. This decision was a big win for Minnesota sports men and women.

For more information on this case, or to read the opinion in full, please see www.lawlibrary.state.mn.us/archive/ctappub/9612/c696289.htm