Newly appointed outdoors council to meet Monday

The 12 members of a legislative-citizens council that will recommend how money raised by the recently passed constitutional amendment should be spent on fish and wildlife habitat have been appointed.

They will meet for the first time Monday and will make recommendations on how to spend the approximately $90 million of the $270 million that will be raised yearly by the sales tax increase approved by voters in November.

Here are the 12, four each named by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, and Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis.

Pogemiller's picks:

• Lester Bensch, of Ashby, Minn., spent 25 years in the computer industry. He started the Viking Valley Hunt Club, which he owns and operates, and has been active in conservation and preservation.

• Michael Kilgore of Lino Lakes, an associate professor of Natural Resource Economics and Policy at the University of Minnesota's Department of Forest Resources.

• Sen. Ellen Anderson, DFL-St. Paul, who chairs the Senate Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and serves on the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Policy Committee.

Kelliher's picks:

• David Hartwell, of Minneapolis, is president of Bellcomb Technologies. He is on the boards of the National Audubon Society, the Land Trust Alliance, the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, Mississippi River Fund and Minnesota League of Conservation Voters.

• Darby Nelson, of Champlin, is a freelance writer, environmental speaker and former college biology instructor. He served in the Minnesota House from 1983-1988. He is co-chairman of the Conservation Minnesota Voter Center and a past board member of the Minnesota Chapter of the Nature Conservancy and Friends of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

• Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, chairs the Legislative Audit Commission and is vice chairman of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee.

• Rep. Bob Gunther, R-Fairmont, is a business owner and a longtime legislator.

• Jim Cox, of Cologne, owns Midwest Thermo Equipment Inc. He is former president of the Minnesota Waterfowl Association and serves on the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge Trust board.

•Wayne Enger, of Perham, Minn., is Otter Tail County director of the Farm Service Agency and a recent past president of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association.

• Scott Rall, of Worthington, Minn., is president of Nobles County's Pheasants Forever.