Remember when a proposed constitutional amendment establishing a state lottery was touted as a savior to Minnesota’s natural resources?

So does Garry Leaf of Bloomington.

And while he concedes that some conservation measures have been accomplished with lottery funds administered by the Legislative Commission for Resource Management, its impact has fallen far short of what most sportsmen expected.

“We were duped,” Leaf said, adding that the manner in which lottery funds are dispersed is very confusing and that in the end, only a very small percentage of the money actually has filtered down to environment projects.

Now, on the eve of the 2008 Legislative session and with assurances from key law makers that legislation that will put the issue of a constitutional amendment for dedicated funding of natural resources on the fast track, Leaf posed this question to Nicollet Conservation Club members last week at their annual business meeting: Who do you trust?

Voters have consistently indicated that they want the stakeholders — hunters and anglers — rather than politicians dictate where and how the $100 million share of the dedicated funding pie earmarked for natural resources will be spent.

As the executive director of Sportsmen For Change, a group championing the cause of a dedicated funding for fish and wildlife, Leaf is advocating that that such a citizens committee be a key component to the dedicated funding amendment.

The estimated $100 million that will be available to game and fish concerns if dedicated funding comes to pass isn’t exactly chicken feed.

By comparison, the sale of Minnesota fishing licenses annually raises just $27 million. Deer licenses raise another $6 million. The sale of the various conservation stamps, including the federal duck stamp, raises another $6 million.

The various private banquets held around the state for Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, National Wild Turkey Federation, Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, raise another $6 million.

Little wonder a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources biologist has estimated that at present funding levels, it could take 150 years to achieve the state’s Long Range Duck Recovery Plan.

Clearly, the infusion of $100 million annually for the next 25 years would give a dramatic boost to Minnesota resources.

Leaf said that legislators have promised early action on a bill that would put the issue of dedicating a percentage of Minnesota’s sales tax to natural resources on the November ballot.

The challenge then will be getting voters to pass it.

Leaf allowed that the inclusion of the arts funding may have undermined initial support of the bill by some hunters and anglers.

However, he said that the arts’ 19.75 percent share of dedicated funds is an acceptable compromise from the original 25 percent. “The bill is what it is,” he said. “It wasn’t going to happen without the arts.”

Critical to passage of any amendment, he said, will be a citizen’s committee that will have a say in how game and fish funds are spent.

Other key components needed to garner broad support from voters will be a local grants program where local conservation entities will be able to qualify for grants up to $100,000 for local conservation projects, and a forest access provision to counter a growing trend of privatization of forest lands in northern Minnesota.

Leaf told club members, who later surprised him with their annual Conservationist of the Year award, that groups like their club are the “influencers” who will be needed to convince less involved and less passionate voters to support the dedicated funding amendment.

More information about Sportsmen for Change can be found at sportsmenforchange.org.