In October 2024, we hosted a milestone celebration for our Lake Steward program, marking five years of exceptional contributions from dedicated Lake Stewards across Minnesota. If you missed the live session, now is your chance to catch up on the impactful work being done to protect our precious lakes and learn how you can play… Read more »
by Tom Hubbnard, President, Big Pine Lake Property Owners Association After several years of working with Jeff Forester at MLR, and seeing the amazing work his group has undertaken, the Big Pine Lake Property Owners Association (BPLPOA) board decided to modestly increase their annual contribution level and buy a membership for 100 of our members.… Read more »
As we move through the 3rd summer of the Lake Stewardship program we want to acknowledge the work that has been done and celebrate the progress that has been made. We now have a total of 23 Lake Associations that have adopted the program through MLR, with two more joining just this week. Each Lake… Read more »
My name is Lily. I am a college student at the University of Minnesota majoring in environmental policy with interest in community organization and sustainable urban design. I started interning for MLR this spring, working on the Lake Stewardship program. Let me tell you why I love it; I grew up in a Minneapolis neighborhood that… Read more »
2023 Legislative Outcomes – Gains Made in Advancing Clean Water and Property Tax Relief on Shorelands St. Paul, 6:30 PM, May 18th, 2023 – Minnesota Lakes and Rivers Advocates’ (MLR) professional lobbying and the grassroots advocacy of lake associations and MLR members combined to promote passage of the sweeping 450 page Environment and Natural Resources… Read more »
Building Civic Capacity: How Minnesota Lakes and Rivers Advocates Are Mobilizing Lake Associations for Public Policy and Environmental Action”MLR, Key Lake Association Leaders and Political Allies working to build “civic infrastructure” to protect our lakes and rivers. During the 2022 election cycle, for the first time, Minnesota Lakes and Rivers applied the Civic Organizing framework… Read more »
Our Lake and River Shorelines are at a Turning Point Our lakes are in trouble and the situation is urgent. If we want to manage water, we must manage land. As lake shore property owners we have both a significant opportunity and exposure to negative impacts from water quality decline. According to shoreline specialists at… Read more »
Water management is highly political, but MLR has always been completely non-partisan. What I mean by highly political is that protecting water is the work of citizens. The alphabet soup of agencies, MN DNR, SWCDs, WDs are simply not equipped nor do they have the budget to take the actions required to protect pristine waters… Read more »
The best plants to protect your shore – A Case Study By Jeff Forester On June 19, 2012 it began to rain in northern Minnesota. It poured actually. Over ten inches fell on ground that was already saturated from rainfalls the week before. The damage was incredible, with over 250 families displaced, zoo animals drowned,… Read more »
By Jeff Forester, Executive Director, Minnesota Lakes and Rivers Advocates Last year the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, MPCA released a list of impaired waters; 56% of Minnesota’s surface waters are impaired to the point that the water quality limits fishing and swimming. There was a silver lining in this dark cloud, however, North Center andRead More