Numerous conservation groups are asking the public to attend a rally at the Minnesota Capitol this week to celebrate public lands across the state.

The public is invited to join the event starting at 3 p.m. Friday, April 5. The rally will be held at the Capitol Rotunda in St. Paul.

Among the groups planning to have representation at the rally are Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, Artemis Sportswomen, Hunters of Color, Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters.

The “Public Lands Day Rally,” as it is being called, will be emceed by Bob St. Pierre from KFAN Outdoors. Other speakers planning to attend include Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Sarah Strommen, Pheasants Forever’s President & CEO Marilyn Vetter, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers’ Minnesota Chapter Board Chair Eli Mansfield.

Nearly a quarter of the land in Minnesota is public land, including more than 12 million acres of state, federal, and county lands managed on behalf of citizens, according to the DNR. The state agency alone manages 5.6 million acres of land, which is about 11 percent of all of Minnesota. The federal government, including the U.S. Forest Service, manages 3.8 million acres, which is approximately 7 percent of the land in Minnesota.

The Forest Service oversees Superior National Forest, which includes the entire Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Established in 1964 as Federally Designated Wilderness, the BWCA is at the core of the stories we share at P&P. The BWCA contains over 1,200 miles of canoe routes, 12 hiking trails and 2,000 designated campsites, according to the Forest Service.

Just under 24 percent of the land in Minnesota is publicly owned. That puts Minnesota in sixteenth place in terms of states with the most public lands. Alaska, with 95 percent of its land being public land, is at the top of the list.

And while Minnesota may have a sizeable part of the state “owned” by taxpayers, a 2020 report found that 248,000 acres of public land statewide are inaccessible, meaning that people can’t legally get to them without permission.

In addition, most of the land that is now Minnesota was ceded to the U.S. by Ojibwe and Dakota people between the years 1837 to 1867, the DNR shares in a report about public land. These treaties are part of a larger picture that affected indigenous people and land in what is now Minnesota, according to the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council.

Meanwhile, the rally at the Capitol this week will focus on the public land in Minnesota and why it’s important to protect, preserve, and enjoy. Joe Friedrichs spoke with Lukas Leaf, the director of the Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters group in Minnesota, to learn more. Audio below.

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