President's Perch

by Cheryl Hart

Board President

This month is all about advocacy! When Fish and Wildlife Service first conceived of special partnerships with nonprofit groups who would support wildlife refuges— Friends organizations—they had two stated goals: raise funds and lobby.

Fundraising has been easy for Friends orgs, but through the years, there have been countless discussions about the Lobby part of what Friends can do. Because there can be such a fine line between lobbying and advocacy, Federal employees are generally told they can’t do either. But nonprofits like Friends can spend a very limited amount of their resources on lobbying.

In my mind, I simplistically define lobbying as “attempting to influence a particular bill,” and right now, the bill that we need to attempt to influence is the Federal Budget. As requests currently stand, FWS would receive a 10% decrease in funding over the previous budget. I think we can all catastrophize over what that would mean to the refuge system and our own Tualatin River and Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuges but, in case you would like to dive deeper, this link will take you to more information.

So, what are Friends doing to influence this situation? We have met with Aides from Senator Merkley and Representative Salinas’s Offices and have taken them on tours of the refuge. We have also hosted Representative Bonamici on a tour of the refuge. Friends and Refuge staff tabled at a recent event sponsored by Representative Salinas where Bonnie and I were able to talk directly to the Congresswoman about our concerns and some of the opportunities that currently exist. As a result, Refuge Staff and Friends will meet with Congresswoman Salinas’s Aides to discuss projects at the refuge that may be eligible for Federal grant funds, and Senator Merkley’s Aide sent the Friends an invitation to participate in his Town Hall meeting.

You can take action by sending written messages about the Refuge System in the form of Action Alerts from National Wildlife Refuge Association and other partners. You can find Action Alerts from NWRA here.

We appreciate any help you can give us to support the funding and staffing of our refuges and making sure our concerns related to National Wildlife Refuges are called to the attention of our elected officials as we all do everything we can to protect and preserve this amazing place we all love.

See you at the refuge!

Focus on Friends

by Bonnie Anderson

Executive Director

On February 3rd I had the honor to being asked to say a few words about the Friends of the Refuge to kick off the Tualatin Riverkeeper's Annual Membership meeting that was held in the Riparian Room. Public speaking (for the most part) is easy- limiting my remarks about the Friends -impossible.

Although I probably spoke longer than expected, it is only because we have so much to share about the impact our organization has made on the Refuge Complex and the communities we serve. It was wonderful to speak with a room filled with likeminded folks, a large number of which are also Friends members. TRKs is a dynamic organization who work side by side with the Friends on many issues facing the Tualatin River Watershed. I know they are grateful for the work the Friends did on the lawsuit addressing the Gradhorn Landfill and they have worked with us on our ongoing issues with the Tonquin Quarry. I said to their Executive Director Glenn Fee, there is no other organization that I would rather be confused with!

Photo credit Kathryn Harrington, Washington County Commissioner

Cheryl and I had the pleasure of been invited to table at Congresswoman Salinas' Senior Fair that was held at the Tigard Senior Center. It was not only a perfect opportunity to speak with our US Representative about the Refuge, but we were able to connect with over 50 local citizens that are interested in getting more involved with the Refuge. We also connected with Jessica Bradley, Women Veterans'' Coordinator with ODVA about ways we can offer opportunities and events to honor our Veterans. Making connections in the community is such an important part of what we do as a Friends group.

I'll see you on the Trails!

Bonnie