WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Mark Dayton today announced that he has secured $2.995 million for water quality and environmental restoration initiatives, throughout Minnesota. The funds were approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, as part of the FY2007 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, which will now go the full Senate.

“Clean water is vital to our way of life in Minnesota," said Dayton. “These initiatives are critical to protecting the health of both our citizens and our lakes and rivers.”

“I’m delighted that these funds will help to preserve Minnesota's environmental treasures, like Superior National Forest and the Northern Tallgrass Wildlife Refuge, for many more generations of Minnesotans,” Dayton said.

Projects for which Dayton secured funding include:

$500,000 for Superior National Forest in St. Louis County. Located at the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, within the Superior National Forest boundary, the 43-acre Long Island is the largest undeveloped island in Ely’s Burntside Lake. Its waters support a natural cold water fishery and are home to one of the state’s largest common loon populations. Public acquisition of Long Island, using a federal appropriation, will ensure the forest’s preservation.

$400,000 for Minneapolis, to combine sewer overflow. The project is intended to reduce sewage discharges into the Mississippi River. In 1986, the city began a program to separate its sewers. To date, approximately 95% of the system is separated. The remaining sections are located in older parts of the city and are primarily small, individual capital construction projects. Federal funds will be used for planning, design and construction of the projects. The federal funds received have been used for two projects. One will be under construction in the summer of 2006 while the other is in the design phase.

$300,000 for Willmar. The city must build a new wastewater treatment plant to current requirements, replace aging equipment, and also address changing water quality standards. The relocated wastewater treatment plant will be placed on City owned property next to the existing sludge holding facilities approximately 5.5 miles west of the existing wastewater treatment plant. The plant will include preliminary and advanced secondary treatment with disinfection.

$300,000 for Grand Rapids. The existing wastewater treatment facilities (WWTF) need to be reconstructed and upgraded to provide a reasonable level of treatment process reliability and redundancy and to extend the WWTF useful life for another 20 years while accommodating the proposed UPM/Blandin Paper Company production facility expansion.

$495,000 for Northern Tallgrass Prairie Wildlife Refuge in Odessa. Funds will be used for the purchase of a conservation easement. Native prairie and grasslands are one of the most endangered ecosystems in America, with less than 1% of prairie remaining. What remains is scattered and fragmented across the United States. Of greatest concern is vanishing habitat for grassland nesting birds like the prairie chicken, bobolink and migratory waterfowl.

· $250,000 for Ripley Gardens in Minneapolis. Ripley Gardens is the preservation and adaptive re-use of a historic maternity hospital that includes: the preservation of a nationally recognized historic structure; revitalization of a poor neighborhood; construction of affordable housing for homeless households as well as very low to moderate income families; and the integration of community space that will be used for community engagement, resident meetings, counseling space for homeless individuals, self-sufficiency training, and other gatherings. The purpose is to support the eligible preservation activities of the now dilapidated and vacant historic structures. Funding will be used to support the eligible preservation activities of the now dilapidated and vacant historic structures.

· $750,000 for Sugar Hills in Itasca County. Federal Forest Legacy funds will be matched with an equal amount of private funding for the acquisition of conservation easement on a 1,755 acre forested property in Itasca County. The Sugar Hills Forest Legacy Project is located in Itasca County, near Grand Rapids. In FY 2007 there is an opportunity to protect the 1,630-acre Sugar Hills property through the Forest Legacy Program, and the President’s budget for FY 2007 includes a request for $750,000 for the completion of this project. This funding will complete the project.

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