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Stronger Together: Friends of the Apostle Islands staff travels to Washington D.C.
We are stronger together. The powerful truth in that statement was evident April 29th as Jeff and Jill Rennicke, Friends Executive Director and Associate Director, joined the leaders of 89 other national park partner organizations in Washington D.C. as part of the National Park Foundation Hill Day, an annual opportunity for park advocates to meet with legislators and discuss the policies that impact our national parks and the people who care for them.
“We came together from every corner of the nation to speak with one voice,” Jeff Rennicke said, “take care of our national parks.”
Group gathers at the Department of the Interior
Representatives from parks as diverse as Acadia and Zion first gathered for a strategy session in the Nancy Pelosi Caucus Room in the Cannon House Office Building. There they heard from speakers such as Jeff Reinbold (President and CEO of the National Park Foundation) and former Senator Rob Portman before fanning out to meet with the congressional delegations from their appointed states.
Paul Coussan – National Park Foundation
Former Ohio Senator Rob Portman
L to R: Bob Geraty National Park Foundation, Luke Kloberdanz, Ice Age Trail Alliance. Tom Irvine National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation, Melanie Ezrin (Legislative aide to Senator Tammy Baldwin), Matt Poppleton, Wild Rivers Conservancy, Jill Rennicke and Jeff Rennicke
Friends of the Apostle Islands, teaming with representatives from the Ice Age Trail Alliance, the Wild Rivers Conservancy, and the National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation, met with the offices of Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), Representative Bryan Steil (R-WI), Representative Glenn Grothman (R-WI), Representative Tony Wied (R-WI), Representative Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), Representative Tom Tiffany (R-WI), and Representative Mark Pocan (D-WI).
Bob Geraty, NPF, Jeff Rennicke and Jill Rennicke outside the US Capitol
As a non-advocacy philanthropic organization, Friends of the Apostle Islands does not take positions on specific pieces of legislation. “Our role,” Rennicke says, “was to help legislatiors understand what is happening on the ground, in the islands and the local communities.” The team spoke about the role of the Legacy Restoration Fund which is helping to fund this summer’s work on both Devils Island and at Little Sand Bay, about the successful fund raising for the accessible pathway at Meyers Beach, and what the effects of elevating the islands to national park status could be in the Lakeshore and in the gateway communities.
“Our message,” Rennicke says, “was that our national parks are a global treasure and taking care of them should be a priority for everyone regardless of political party and that local voices matter in those decisions.”
Group with Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI)
Group with Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI)
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) office sign
All told, Hill Day tallied 280 meetings with lawmakers from nearly every state. “Hill Day is one of the most powerful things we do as a community of park champions,” says Jeff Reinbold, President and CEO of the National Park Foundation. “When people from across the country, from different parks and different communities, walk into congressional offices as the people closest to these places, those experiences are what legislators remember after a hundred other meetings, and that collective presence sends a message before anyone says a word.
We’re here for the parks, the gateway communities around them, and the people who depend on both. Our national parks tell America’s story, and everyone plays a role in shaping their future. That’s a community that is all for parks.”
That is how we are all stronger together.
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