On November 10th, PCWEA members Arlene Taylor and Anne Wain attended a Clean Water Advocacy Workshop at Wildwood’s Olewine Nature Center. Hosted by PennFuture and Trout Unlimited, the event presented strategies for contacting legislators and media about watershed protection.
Topics ranged from the stalled Farm Bill and its relevance to watershed protection to storm water “tool boxes” being developed by the 4 pilot counties—York, Lancaster, Franklin and Adams—whose data and policies are developing Best Management Practices and solutions for meeting pollution reduction goals statewide.
Participants learned how to communicate with lawmakers, and had the privilege of meeting with two state representatives, Mr. Zimmerman and Mr. Gillespie, who gave up their Saturday afternoons to come to Harrisburg and speak with attendees.
PennFuture coached workshoppers on writing effective Letters to Editors of local papers, using the now-expired Land and Water Conservation Fund as a live and relevant example. The LWCF protects state forests and game lands, national, state, and local parks, and historic sites, and was allowed to expire in September without action from Congress.
The photo depicts workshop participants writing practice letters to the editor and communicating with a member of the press.