FMR facilitating DNR Critical Area Study
Friends of the Mississippi River is leading a series of stakeholder meetings this fall as part of a Mississippi River Critical Area Study being conducted by the Minnesota DNR. The Mississippi River corridor from Anoka to Hastings was designated as a state Critical Area in 1976 and became a unit of the National Park Service in 1988. Last year, the Legislature directed the DNR to study and report on the status of local level implementation of the states Mississippi River Critical Area law and make recommendations about how to protect the natural and scenic qualities of the metropolitan river corridor.
The purpose of the stakeholder meetings is to gather and document input from corridor cities, river businesses and developers, and environmental, civic and neighborhood groups about the strengths and weaknesses of the Mississippi River Critical Area Program and possible solutions to ensure protection of this local, state and national resource.
The format of the stakeholder engagement process is to hold three meetings in late October organized by stakeholder categories:
- state and local government
- corridor businesses and developers
- environmental and civic groups and citizens
Input from these three meetings will be collated and presented in draft format at a meeting for all stakeholders in early November. The stakeholder input and ideas from all the meetings will be collated and compiled for the DNR so the agency can incorporate it into their report to the State Legislature due by February 1, 2008.
For updated information about the FMR-led stakeholder engagement process, meeting dates and locations and results, please visit our Critical Area Study project page.