Photo, L to R: Jamie, Erik, Jeanne, and Vanessa in DC.
During the week of May 5-10, Jefferson Land Trust’s own Erik Kingfisher headed to Washington DC for “Land Trust Advocacy Days.” Organized by the Land Trust Alliance, the trip gave land trusts from across the nation the opportunity to advocate for the value of our work and the importance of continued funding directly with our elected representatives.
Erik, who’s our Director of Stewardship and Resilience, teamed up with Executive Director of the Washington Association of Land Trusts Vanessa Kritzer; longtime Conservation Director of the Methow Conservancy Jeanne White; and Jamie Stephens, board member (and former San Juan County Commissioner) from the San Juan Preservation Trust to represent the Washington State contingent.
“I really appreciate the impact potential of these visits to all the offices,” Erik says. “There’s just so much noise and chaos and competing priorities these legislative members are swimming in, and showing up and making the effort to have serious conversations with them and their staffs is both helpful for them, and for land trusts.”
The team met with several different congressional members and/or their staff, including staff from Washington State Senator Patty Murray’s office, as well as leaders from several government agencies, like the US Forest Service and the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS). All these meetings included the team sharing some basics about our work and how federal funding plays an important role, and strategizing about how to promote the ways federal funding and agencies help our communities both in DC and back home.
L to R: Brad Paymar, Western Division Director of Field Programs at Land Trust Alliance; Jeanne; Congresswoman Suzan DelBene of Washington’s 1st District; Erik; Vanessa; and Jamie, in DelBene’s office.
“Most staffers and legislators were enthusiastic and grateful for our work, and seemed to grasp the importance of the message,” Erik says. “Some newer members of Congress know less about land trusts, and our meetings with them were crucial to helping build a baseline understanding about what land trusts are, what they do, and how they impact the community.”
The group also met with leaders of government agencies, including Associate Chief of the US Forest Service Chris French and Deputy Chief Karen Woodrich of the NRCS, to learn about how present policies and changes are having an effect on the work of these agencies.
“A consistent message from all the offices was to please stay in touch, to keep them informed about our priorities, and to feed them stories of the way the federal programs, agencies, and partnerships are supporting our work and our communities,” says Erik. “They want those stories, and they want real on-the-ground information related to the federal programs. They also want to hear and understand how the cuts and uncertainty in the federal programs are impacting us all.”
