Dear Natural Trail Supporters, Due to agreements that prohibited amendments in the Special Session, we were unable to remove a provision inserted into the Bonding Bill by Representative Lenczewski that will require that the Minnesota River Valley Trail in Bloomington be a paved trail. Thank you so much for your efforts!! We lost the battle but gained more supporters and most of all gained some attention from lawmakers about this issue. We need you to keep getting the message out during the ongoing trail planning process. This isn’t over until the bulldozers move in. Our next very important step is to get as many natural trail supporters as possible to the Bloomington Minnesota River Valley Master Plan Open House next Wednesday, June 17th. Some lawmakers and agencies still don’t recognize that many people want this trail to remain natural. The only way to get this message across is a overwhelming number of people showing up in one place at one time. Please attend this open house!! It is crucial to show our numbers. Please tell the media as well if you have media contacts. MN River Valley Master Plan Open House Wednesday June 17th 5:30 - 7:30pm. Please try to arrive between 6 - 6:30pm, we want big numbers all at once. Comments you need to make: 1. Trail user study as a main priority. The agencies involved and Rep Lenczewski are opposed to any user study. They don’t want information like how many users, what type of users, and why they are using the area! Why? Because they don’t want any legitimate information that would show how popular the area currently is to derail the plans to develop the area and pave the trail. 2. Full disclosure of the true price tag of a paved trail and cost concerns. The DNR has yet to publish full trail plans with costs to develop and maintain. No plan should be approved until these costs are fully disclosed to the public. 3. Negative environmental impacts of a large scale paved trail project on the natural environment and the user experience. 4. Personal stories about how you currently use and enjoy the river bottoms. If you cannot attend please send your important comments to : MNRVMPcomments@bloomingtonMN.gov More information about the Bloomington master plan: https://www.bloomingtonmn.gov/minnesota-river-valley-master-plan Please attend!! Thank You, Save the MN River Bottoms!