WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) reintroduced their bill to provide critical federal funding for northeastern Minnesota counties hosting federal wilderness lands. Cook, Lake, and St. Louis counties benefit from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) as a world-renowned tourist destination, but they also forgo property taxes and other potential revenue streams. The bill would restore fairness to the longstanding Thye-Blatnik payment system and prevent massive cuts in county revenue now or in the future.
“For decades, Thye-Blatnik payments have provided critical funding to northern Minnesota counties that host federal wilderness lands. This bill is necessary to prevent them from facing serious financial hardship,” said Senator Smith. “By setting a permanent floor for these payments, my bill ensures these counties have the resources they need for infrastructure, public safety, and other essential services for decades to come.”
“Thye-Blatnik payments support law enforcement, firefighters, infrastructure improvements, and search-and-rescue operations within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness,” said Senator Klobuchar. “These services benefit not only the Minnesotans who live in the area, but also the visitors who travel there from around the state and nation to spend time in the federal forest and wilderness areas.”
Congress passed the Thye-Blatnik Act over 70 years ago, which directed the Secretary of Agriculture to acquire lands within the future BWCAW and set up a system of annual compensation payments to the host counties. These funds go towards essential services like roadway infrastructure and public safety, and help the counties accurately plan their budgets.
The most recent appraisal in 2018 suggested that there had been an unbelievable 49 percent decline in property values over a mere decade. The Senators were successful in getting USDA to continue Thye-Blatnik payments at previous appraisal levels while a reappraisal and an appeal process could be conducted. At the same time, Sen. Smith worked with the U.S. Forest Service to come up with this legislative solution, which would ensure that payments to these three Minnesota counties remain at or above 2008 levels permanently under federal law and has been working to pass the Thye-Blatnik fix through every legislative avenue possible since. Senators Smith and Klobuchar were successful in getting it passed through the Senate last year as a standalone bill, but it ultimately did not pass the House of Representatives. The bill now awaits consideration in the Senate.
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