For her extensive and significant efforts to support SWCDs at the Legislature, the Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts (MASWCD) recognized Senator Carrie Ruud (R-Breezy Point) on Dec. 13 as its 2021 MASWCD Legislator of the Year.
Ruud received the award at the 85th annual MASWCD Annual Meeting in Bloomington. MASWCD annually honors a legislator who promotes natural resource conservation through the legislative process and recognizes the key role that SWCDs can play in delivering conservation practices on private land.
SWCD funding and policy issues regularly are critical issues before the Legislature. Ruud, who also received the MASWCD legislator award in 2017, serves as chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Legacy Finance Committee.
“I’m incredibly honored to receive this award,” said Sen. Ruud. “Our SWCDs are integral when it comes to effective resource conservation—they are the ‘boots on the ground’ that protect our State’s soil, water, and natural resources. As we head into the new year, I look forward to continuing the partnership so that we may continue preserving our state’s wonderful natural resources.”
“Sen. Ruud has been our unwavering, common-sense voice for practical land conservation,” said Sheila Vanney, MASWCD Assistant Director. “We are so grateful for Sen. Ruud’s work to ensure that SWCDs’ voices are heard at the capitol, and for seeing the vital role the SWCDs play in our state’s environmental health. No legislator has been more supportive or a greater friend to SWCDs than Sen. Ruud.”