The DNR has to balance its responsibility for protecting public peatlands and overseeing their restoration with its role in raising revenue by selling peat mining rights for royalties for the School Trust. But peat sales have only ever made up a sliver of its annual revenue. The School Trust earns the vast majority of its money, more than $35 million a year, from iron and taconite royalties and timber sales. Since 1980, peat leases have earned the fund an average of $43,000 a year, which would be enough to give each of the 510 school districts, academies and charter schools in the state about $84.

“We’ve set up the law so the DNR has a very mixed mission,” said Paula Maccabee, a lawyer with the conservation group WaterLegacy. “You have the entity that is making the royalties from the mining and has long-standing relationships with these companies deciding what to do about wetlands.”

The EPA gave the DNR $12 million to restore peatlands on public land. By the state’s own math, that money may restore fewer acres — between 4,000 and 9,600 acres — than the DNR is leasing to mining companies for one one-hundredth of that cost.

While the DNR negotiates all leases to mine peat on public lands, those leases have to be approved by the state’s Executive Council, which is made up of Gov. Tim Walz, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, Secretary of State Steve Simon, Auditor Julie Blaha and Attorney General Keith Ellison.

Blaha referred questions to the DNR. No other members of the council returned messages seeking comment.

Strommen and Henderson of the DNR presented the terms of the latest peat mine lease to the Executive Council in 2023, recommending its approval. The council unanimously approved it, allowing a Canadian company to mine 1,190 acres in Koochiching County for the next 25 years for $11.85 an acre. The government also receives $7.50 per ton of peat moss extracted.

The high school football weekend arrives early for only a few teams this week, but it’s a prominent group.

Three of the Thursday night games pit Class 6A teams, and four of the 6A teams playing are ranked in the state’s top eight in the class-by-class rankings released Tuesday. The 6A games on the Thursday schedule: No. 1 Edina at No. 5 Minnetonka, Prior Lake at No. 7 Eden Prairie, No. 6 Shakopee at Wayzata.

This all means the prognosticators’ week starts early, too. Jim Paulsen and David La Vaque have included a Thursday game among the ones they’ll analyze this week as part of their annual competition of picking high school football winners.

Each of them has missed only once in nine tries this season. Jim didn’t anticipate Edina’s victory over Eden Prairie last week, and David didn’t see Holy Angels defeating Minneapolis North the week before.

Their picks and analysis for three Week 3 games:

David says: Shakopee’s spread triple-option offense has already hit its stride. TJ Clark (269 rushing yards and four touchdowns), Carson Turner (117 yards) and explosive Christian Peris (107 yards at 26.8 average yards per carry) will control the game and give Wayzata fits. The pick: Shakopee 21, Wayzata 10

Jim says: Which Wayzata team shows up? The one that shut down Lakeville South in Week 1 or the group that let Minnetonka’s Caleb Francois and Chase Conrad run for more than 200 combined yards and three scores last week? Either way, the Trojans will have to show more offensive consistency to convince me they’re back for keeps. The pick: Shakopee 24, Wayzata 14