Advocacy in Action – Via Zoom

By Barb Howard, Friends of the Tampa Bay NWRs

Friends of the Tampa Bay National Wildlife Refuges (FL) recently participated in a group Zoom meeting with two of Senator Marco Rubio's (R-FL) staffers. Friends participants were from refuges all over Florida.  

To get our message across effectively, the group had a planning meeting beforehand to determine who would say what. Our ask was that Senator Rubio do everything he can to protect the National Wildlife Refuge System from any proposed cuts to its current budget, keeping funding at the FY23 levels for FY24. We were able to get our points across with stories from specific refuges; for example, by talking about poaching, loss of habitat for threatened species, and injuries to threatened species that occur without adequate law enforcement present. It worked out great.

We wrote up an after-action report for the staffers to remind them of our message and to serve as minutes for all who participated.

Speaking to our representatives and their staffers is not scary. They are people just like we are. Many are favorable towards our messages. Others who are not nevertheless listen respectfully and pass the message on to the Member of Congress (MOC). We need to always be respectful as well, even if we don't agree with the MOC or staffer's point of view.