Current Actions

Support Smart Salting Training in Minnesota

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Protect Minnesota Waters from Salt Pollution

Salt has been used for decades to keep Minnesota roads safe in winter. But each time snow and ice melt, that salt washes into our lakes, streams, and wetlands—where it accumulates and harms aquatic life. The problem is escalating: the 2024 impaired waters list shows 67 Minnesota water bodies contaminated with chloride.

High chloride levels are toxic to fish, amphibians, and aquatic invertebrates. They also inhibit plants’ ability to absorb water and nutrients, damaging aquatic vegetation and reducing biodiversity. Salt makes water denser, settling at the bottom and preventing seasonal mixing that oxygenates deep water—creating “dead zones” devoid of oxygen. Chloride is highly soluble and does not break down, meaning it accumulates over time and becomes more concentrated.

HF 793/SF 492 is a bipartisan bill introduced in the Minnesota Legislature during the 2025–2026 session aimed at reducing chloride pollution in lakes, streams, and wetlands. The bill establishes a voluntary certification program for commercial salt applicators, ensuring they are trained in best practices for winter de-icing.

Why These Bills Matter: Safe Salting in Minnesota

Certified applicators are protected from lawsuits if they follow best practices, encouraging safer, smarter, and more sustainable winter maintenance.
Applicators must attend training, pass certification, and maintain detailed records to ensure accountability.
Just a teaspoon of road salt can contaminate five gallons of water. Over 60 lakes and streams in Minnesota are already impaired by chloride, and without action, more will be harmed.
Smart salting can reduce overall salt use by up to 70%, saving money for businesses while protecting our waterways

Support Lake Vegetation Management for lake health

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

At the 2026 MN DNR Roundtable Rob Drieslein, Publisher and Co-Owner of Outdoor News led a panel discussion with the House and Senate Environment and Natural Resources Chairs. The conversation reflected troubling bias, as Mr. Drieslein’s questions mischaracterized how lake groups manage aquatic invasive species. You can see the nature of his comments in this clip.

MLR staff have reviewed research and consulted professionals across the lake and river management spectrum and found no credible support for Mr. Dieslein's claims:

Aquatic plant management is not “killing fish."
Invasive plant management is not resulting in a loss of native plants but there are multiple studies showing an increase in native quatic plants following treatment.
Lake associations and improvement districts do not “dump chemicals” to create sandy bottoms.
All aquatic plant projects require DNR permits, point intercept studies and review.

As Representative Josh Heintzeman noted during the panel at the Roundtable, during the 2025 session, the Legislature, MLR and its members successfully secured increased support for lake management activities, including roughly $5 million from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, and approximately $1.2 million for Invasive Plant Management Grants funded by the AIS surcharge on the three-year boat license.

This funding will allow lake associations to do much more detailed, science-based Lake Vegetation Management plans, follow up assessment and longer term, multi-year projects to restore lake ecosystems. The false narrative put forth by Mr. Drieslein, Outdoor News and others could unwind this opportunity.

Please send Kevin Papp, Chair of the Association of Minnesota Counties, and email that sets the record straight. You can also print the message and send it to your County Commissioners educating them on your invasive plant management program, and debunking the destructive misinformation that is circulating.

And finally, consider sending your local paper an op-ed high lighting (boilerplate provided to get you started, but please personalize it if you want) the critically important lake management work your lake association does, including fish stocking, treatment and control, development of accesses, water trails, loon nesting platforms, shore lunch sites. Lake associations need to tell our stories.

Protect County Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention Aid

Sun, 09 Mar 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Gov. Walz has proposed cutting the County AIS Prevention Aid formula in his 2025 budget recommendations by 50%. In 2025, the Minnesota Legislature decided to continue full funding of the program until July 1, 2027.

If the County AIS Prevention Aid is cut:

Property taxes on your lake place will increase to fill the budget hole,
Local jobs doing lake work will be lost,
Support for lake association programs will be lost,
AIS will spread, impacting lake ecology and diminishing recreation and fisheries,
Local tourism economy will suffer.

The data is clear, the County AIS Prevention Aid formula, the MLR successfully lobbied to create in 2014, has had a huge impact. This program literally bent the New AIS Invasion Curve. In addition MN's County AIS Prevention Aid program:

AIS Prevention Aid funded grant programs award around $1.8M annually to 200 local partner’s projects leveraging over $1.2M in additional funding.
AIS Prevention Aid programs conducted AIS surveys on over 640 lakes and rivers in 2022 resulting in 45 new AIS infestations detected in 35 Counties and reported to MN DNR.
AIS Prevention Aid supported an average of 883 jobs and leveraged 7305 hours contributed by 538 volunteers.
Networks involved 285 lake associations, over 40 conservation groups, 250 businesses, 80 schools/youth organizations and 145 local governments
Local planning and implementation efforts have been guided by 35 county AIS task forces and committees which are largely supported by county AIS plans
Enforcement by training 112 local officers who enforced AIS laws in nearly 20 counties reaching over 5,600 boaters
Communications and outreach which educated nearly 39,000 residents and visitors during nearly 190 public events, over 30 counties that taught nearly 13, 400 children about AIS prevention and 25 counties posted prevention messages on social media.

Contact Gov. Walz and your legislators and urge him to protect the County Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention Aid formula. It is saving the state money, protecting resources and our resource based economy, and it is working.