History:
Notes from the Southern Minnesota Rivers Basin Board History:
The Southern Minnesota Rivers Basin Commission was established by the legislature in 1971 (Laws 1971, Chapter 705) to prepare an overall comprehensive environmental conservation and development plan and to coordinate southern Minnesota rivers basin planning by all state and federal agencies. It studied methods of water conservation such as flood control, and guided the implementation of a comprehensive plan.
The commission became a board in 1975 (Laws 1975, Chapter 13). It had eleven members, six of whom were appointed by the governor. The remaining five members were laymen representing local interests. They were elected by an advisory council which consisted of one person appointed by the county board of each of the 45 counties lying wholly or partly within the basin. In 1983 the board was abolished (Laws 1983, Chapter 301) and replaced by the Southern Minnesota Rivers Basin Council. The council differs from the board only in the eleven members, all residents of the basin area, are appointed by the governor. The council acts as an advisory agency to the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board.
In 1987, the Legislature combined the Soil and Water Conservation Board with two other organizations with local government and natural resource ties, the Water Resources Board and the Southern Minnesota Rivers Basin Council, to form the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources.
Entries for this agency in the Annual Compilation and Statistical Report of Multi-Member Agencies Report:
1986, 1985, 1984, 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980, 1979, 1978.
Note: This report provides membership details as well as meeting information and a summary of the group's activities.