Wolves, walleyes, moose and the Superior Hiking Trail attract funding in record package of Minnesota projects

Minnesota is poised to spend a record amount of money from state lottery proceeds next year — more than $100 million — to fund conservation efforts ranging from studying young, pregnant moose to replacing the Superior Hiking Trail’s most compromised foot bridges.

The broad slate of 124 outdoors projects across the state, including a closer look at the resiliency of different walleye strains in warming lakes, was overwhelmingly approved last week by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). The grants adopted by the bipartisan, bicameral group will roll out in 2025 if approved by the Legislature.

“There’s probably something for everyone in this one,’’ said Rep. Rick Hansen, D-South St. Paul, a commission member and chair of the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee. “It’s very balanced and it follows the will of the voters.’’

Voters this fall overwhelmingly renewed dedicated lottery funding for the outdoors through LCCMR and the Legislature, a system that has delivered more than $1 billion to environmental projects since it began 36 years ago. LCCMR Director Becca Nash said the proposed spending of $103.3 million in 2025 from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund is the largest on record. The fund consists of state lottery proceeds and investment returns.

According to a summary of the proposal, about 20% of 2025 grant money will go to foundational research and data gathering while 18.6% will go for land acquisition, habitat and recreation. The biggest recipients are public colleges and universities, state government agencies and local or regional governments. Some 70% of the projects are designed to have statewide impact, 15.6% have regional impact and 11% affect the 11-county area around the Twin Cities, according to the summary.

Twenty-four of the proposed projects are in line to receive more than $1 million, including a collaborative moose study between the state Department of Natural Resources and the Duluth-based 1854 Treaty Authority, an intertribal natural resources program associated with Native hunting, fishing and gathering rights in northeastern Minnesota.

Morgan Swingen, wildlife biologist for the 1854 Treaty Authority, said the organizers have a lofty goal of capturing 80 moose per year for three years, skewed heavily toward young females. Starting in January or February of 2026, the moose will be fitted with global-positioning (GPS) collars and observed for their reproductive success — in this case a measure of how many young are born to a given cow.

The $2 million co-stewardship project with DNR’s Wildlife Health Group is the first in Minnesota to focus on the fertility of “teenage” moose cows. Understanding their reproductive success will provide new data for improved computer modeling of Minnesota’s moose population, Swingen said. The interest is high considering the state’s moose population 20 years ago was at least twice the size of today. For several years, moose numbers in the Arrowhead region have been holding steady around an average of 3,700.

Swingen said results of the upcoming research could also better inform Minnesota’s future forestry practices if correlations are found between high fertility and certain types of habitat.

“Our main focus is to learn more about survival and reproduction in younger moose,’’ Swingen said. “Adult studies have already been done.’’

To get results, the study team will collect moose droppings during winter and send them to the Smithsonian Institution for hormone analysis that can detect pregnancy. Coupled with DNA identification, researchers will be able to tell which collared cows are pregnant. After the spring birthing season, surveillance flights will be used to track those cows and count how many calves (if any) are traveling beside them.

In April 2015, then-Gov. Mark Dayton issued an executive order banning moose collaring by the DNR. Dayton was concerned about the abandonment of some collared calves by their mothers. The order expired when he left office. At the time, experts said the deaths were not enough to harm the moose population as a whole. Technology advances with GPS collars have occurred since then, and the juvenile moose targeted in the fertility study will weigh about 400 pounds and be independent of their mothers when collared.

Another northeastern Minnesota project adopted by LCCMR for 2025 will address bridge deficiencies along the Superior Hiking Trail. Already in the midst of carrying out a broader renewal program, the volunteer-heavy trail association would receive $532,000 to fix bridges and upgrade boardwalks and trailheads.

The biggest chunk of that money — $358,415 — is for bridges. According to the written proposal, the top priority is to re-establish a bridge across the Split Rock River. A storm took out the bridge in 2015, and trail users have been advocating for its return. Volunteers and staff will build a 55-foot span in a new location. Next in line for construction work, in order of priority, are the Onion River Bridge, the Baptism River Bridge and Devil Track River Bridge.

“These are bridges that span steep ravines and span in length from 35-55 feet,’’ according to the proposal.

Tens of thousands of people have hiked on portions of the Superior Hiking Trail, which covers 310 miles along a ridge overlooking Lake Superior through eight state parks from Duluth to the Canadian border. The Superior Hiking Trail Association estimates that volunteers will provide more than 4,000 hours to assist with the LCCMR-appropriated installations.

Elsewhere in the package of proposed grants is a project titled: “Are all Walleye Created Equal? Probably Not.’’ Set for completion by mid-2027, the $298,000 venture by Nick Phelps, director of the University of Minnesota’s Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center, will investigate three separate Minnesota walleye strains: Pike River, Pine River and the Lower Mississippi. Researchers will examine the fish for their resiliency to pathogens and warming waters brought by climate change.

“As a cool-water species, walleye are particularly vulnerable to warming temperatures,’’ Phelps wrote in his proposal. “The resilience of walleye strains to warming waters has direct applications and can inform management strategies aimed at sustaining viable walleye populations.’’

The study could have implications for the stocking of baby walleye into Minnesota’s inland lakes, a prime management strategy to sustain the species for sport fishing.

The LCCMR bill includes several mapping projects, including one by University of Minnesota professor Michael Joyce in Duluth that intends to collect data on ‘’hotspot” locations of conflict between humans and a trio of carnivores: bears, bobcats and coyotes. His map of the conflicts in “human-dominated’' landscapes intends to “fill knowledge gaps to reduce conflicts.’’ It will target Duluth and its surrounding areas.

Joyce notes in his proposal that bears are attracted to birdseed and food-laden garbage and can cause plant and property damage. Over the past 20 years, there have been some 2,500 bear-related conflict calls in the greater Duluth area. He noted in his proposal that coyotes also can get into trash cans, kill small livestock and pose a risk to domestic cats and small dogs. Bobcats can kill small livestock and have been known to hunt close to housing. His $629,000 research project is expected to launch in mid-2026 and finish before 2029.

Another carnivore study in the LCCMR bill will carry high interest among Minnesota deer hunters who believe wolves are decimating deer across the state’s northern tier. At the University of Minnesota, associate professor Joseph Bumpwill draw $809,000 for a study titled “Deer Survival Within Minnesota’s Densest Wolf Population.’’

His project intends to “disentangle’' how wolves, habitat and winters affect deer at a time when the decline of whitetail numbers in northern Minnesota has led to ‘’considerable public interest and debate.’’

Bump is a member of the Voyageurs Wolf Project and his study would take place in the “Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem,’’ a northern landscape the Wolf Project has described as having the densest wolf population in Minnesota.

The study is set for completion by June 30, 2028, and the information will be public under LCCMR rules.

LCCMR provides a complete public listing of the proposed projects.