The 2010 National Legislative Forum on Parks and Recreation was Declared a Success!
Keynote Speaker Adolfo Carrión Urged the Park and Recreation Community to “Speak Loudly.”
Last week, more than 350 citizens and park and recreation professionals convened in Washington, D.C., to speak to legislators on Capitol Hill and collectively influence park and recreation legislation at NRPA’s 2010 National Legislative Forum on Parks and Recreation, which was held March 16-19.
Public Policy Luncheon Highlights
At the Policy Luncheon on March 17, Keynote Speaker Adolfo Carrión, Jr., director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs, expressed the administration’s recognition that municipalities and local communities should be innovators and drivers of smart urban metropolitan strategy. He encouraged the parks and recreation community to push for funding and joked with the attendees to “be troublemakers.” Carrión reaffirmed the importance of park and recreation agencies in urban development, stating, “The work, the advocacy…the conscience that you are providing…is timely and more important than it has ever been. Our future depends on your work so speak loudly and without hesitation.”
Carrión pledged to support NRPA in becoming involved in the First Lady’s new child obesity initiative, and spoke of the administration’s desire to move toward more sustainable systems for health care, finance, education, energy, transportation and urban development. He also discussed the administration’s proposals to make hundreds of millions of dollars available in fiscal years 2010 and 2011 for Sustainable Communities Planning Grants, the Catalytic Investment Fund and the Healthy Food Financing Initiative.
Tom Strickland, chief of staff of the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI), spoke of the department’s increased commitment to engaging with local and state parks and increasing state assistance for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (as the fund gets closer to full funding by 2014). Strickland also emphasized DOI’s commitment to youth engagement and natural resources.
“We know that the message of the last child in the woods is a very very pointed message that we are reminded of daily,” said Strickland. “We have to connect our young people to the outdoors for their own good, and for the good and benefit of those special places.”
Strickland also discussed DOI plans to have conversations with groups around the country about what a 21st century conservation agenda would look like.
In her address, NRPA CEO Barbara Tulipane urged the attendees to “be audacious” with legislators. When asked her opinion on the most important theme to take away from the day’s events, Tulipane stressed the significance of the administration’s plans to engage in listening tours and conversations to help shape policy, and that it was crucial for park and recreation agencies to participate in these types of opportunities on an ongoing basis. She calls on the park and recreation community to engage in conversations with decision makers and community leaders throughout the year, at the local level and in their local communities. “It’s more important than ever for us to use our voices and speak loudly so we don’t get drowned out,” said Tulipane.
Capitol Hill Visits
On Thursday morning, a majority of the forum attendees met with one or multiple Congressmen on Capitol Hill to discuss legislation, including the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Urban Revitalization and Livable Communities Act, No Child Left Inside Act, Surface Transportation Reauthorization Program, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s ACHIEVE Healthy Communities Program. Many stated that the legislative forum had exceeded their expectations and declared the event a success.
“It’s been great,” said Robert Cooper, NRPA’s mid-Atlantic representative to the Student Branch Board of Directors. “I got to meet Senator Claire McCaskill from my home state of Missouri…and sat in on meetings with people in the offices of the representative from the District where I grew up and where I went to college.”
He continued, “I don’t think a lot of people realize the importance of parks and recreation. It’s something people see every day and appreciate, but don’t think about what actually goes into it—the funding that is required. Continuing to create awareness every day is the most important thing we can do.”
Congressional Recognition Ceremony and Reception
On Thursday afternoon, NRPA honored five members of Congress for their contributions to parks and recreation during a Congressional Recognition Ceremony and Reception in the RussellSenateBuilding. Honorees included U.S. Representatives Kevin Brady, Raúl Grijalva, and David Price, and Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein. Sen. Richard Burr and Rep. Kevin Brady accepted their awards in person, and both spoke of the importance of preserving open space for use by people now and in the future.
“It’s preserving, it’s protecting, it’s providing that little space for people to utilize in whatever fashion they…find it appropriate for. Without that, I am not sure that the sun would shine here or in the communities that you come from. I am grateful for having just played a small role in a very big effort,” said Sen. Burr.
2010 Congressional Recognition Ceremony and Reception Honorees (Alphabetical Order):
Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) (12 Years in U.S. House of Representatives)
Representing the Eighth District of Texas, Congressman Kevin Brady has worked for several years with The Conservation Fund to provide more than $22 million in support for the Big Thicket National Preserve in east Texas. He has helped bring Forest Legacy Program funds to the table for Big Thicket’s Turkey CreekEasement, which will be more than 12,000-acres when completed this December. This is a working forest easement, thus bringing a business solution to a conservation need.
Brady is working to expand the preserve by 100,000 acres. He is very interested in the economic impact of ecotourism, and sees clearly how these types of conservation projects can increase the economic viability of the area.
Additionally, Brady has been a supporter of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), having signed onto Dear Colleague letters in fiscal years 2008 and 2010. He also holds the leadership position of deputy minority whip, and plays a key role in gathering votes on critical legislation.
Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) (Four Years in the U.S. Senate)
North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr is a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee as well as the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. He is also the ranking member of the National Parks Sub-Committee.
Burr sponsored the Senate version of the LWCF Dear Colleague letter for fiscal year 2010, requesting $125 million for LWCF State Assistance, $125 million for the Forest Legacy Program, and $325 million for LWCF federal land acquisition in the fiscal year 2010 Interior Appropriations bill.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) (17 Years in the U.S. Senate)
Representing California, Sen. Dianne Feinstein is chairwoman of the Interior Appropriations Sub-Committee. During her seventeen years in the U.S. Senate, she has been a passionate supporter of urban parks and the Land and Water Conservation Fund. She has served as one of Congress’s most visible champions for the beautification and renewal of community parks, and has previously sponsored legislation for full and dedicated funding for LWCF.
Feinstein also has the unique distinction of having a skate and recreation park named in her honor in Orange Cove, Calif.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) (Six Years in U.S. House of Representatives)
Representing Arizona’s Seventh District, Congressman Raúl Grijalva is chairman of the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and PublicLands and oversees millions of acres of federal land. During his tenure as chair of the committee, Grijalva has been a staunch proponent of increasing funding for public lands and for policies that prioritize the preservation of wilderness and opportunities for recreation.
Grijalva is the lead sponsor of the National Landscape Conservation System Act, which would provide permanent congressional recognition of the Bureau of Land Management’s National Landscape Conservation System, and author of the House-version of the National Park Service (NPS) Centennial Initiative. This bill would provide NPS $1 billion over a ten-year period to fund signature projects in national parks in advance of the 2016 NPS Centennial.
Grijalva is a rising national environmental leader who, after only two terms, was appointed to follow in the footsteps of the highly regarded and longtime Arizona Congressman Morris K. Udall, as chairman of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and PublicLands. As chairman of this subcommittee, Grijalva has passed a landmark more than 75 bills through the House.
Grijalva signed on to the fiscal year 2010 LWCF Dear Colleague letter, and is a staunch supporter and co-sponsor of the No Child Left Inside Act, one of NRPA’s top legislative priorities for 2010.
Rep. David Price (D-NC) (20 Years in U.S. House of Representatives)
Representing the Fourth District of North Carolina, Congressman David Price sits on the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, and has been a strong voice in support of parks and recreation funding priorities. Over the years, he has embraced the entire public parks and recreation agenda as a whole. He has good relations with the local parks and recreation community in his district, and has been a strong consistent supporter of LWCF, the UrbanPark and Recreation Recovery Program, and NRPA physical activity priorities.
Price signed on to the LWCF state assistance Dear Colleague letter and the Urban Parks Dear Colleague letter for fiscal year 2009 as an appropriator. For fiscal year 2010, he made an official request to the subcommittee to fund LWCF state assistance at the NRPA requested level of $125 million. Price was also a fearless ally in NRPA’s fight to ensure the Coburn language was not adopted during conference negotiations of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Price co-sponsored NRPA-endorsed, anti-obesity legislation in the 110th Congress, including the Play Every Day Act and the Impact Act. Additionally, Rep. Price was a Co-sponsor of the Conservation and Reinvestment Act of the 107th Congress.