Danielle Graham
“Don’t get distracted by the bells and buzzers you’ll hear going off in congressional offices,” warned Cheri Bustos on our first day of in-person training for Outdoor Alliance’s Grasstops Collective. Former Representative Bustos (IL-17) was referring to the sounds and lights used in Congress to summon members to votes and quorum calls; she was just the first of three speakers to prepare us for the potential disturbance to our planned meetings with members of Congress.
The Grasstops Collective is a cohort of community leaders well-positioned for deeper advocacy impact honing their skills to build relationships with policymakers and advocate for conservation priorities. Outdoor Alliance sees grasstops members as the unofficial mayors at crags and trailheads. Twenty of us human-powered recreation leaders from across the country joined the collective’s first cohort earlier this year. The six-month online advocacy training program kicked off in May and convened for mid-session, in-person training in Washington D.C. in September. Our visit to the nation’s capitol was part of Outdoor Alliance’s annual advocacy “fly-in,” where we met with members of Congress and federal agency staff on public lands policy and legislation.
As a longtime Mountaineers member and an avid outdoor recreationist, I really appreciate the work that our three staff members on the Conservation and Advocacy team do on our behalf. When I heard about the opportunity to join the first cohort of the Grasstops Collective, I saw it as an opportunity to be a part of leveraging the voices of our 16,000 members in support of the organization’s ongoing conservation work.
Preparing for Outdoor Advocacy Impact
During our D.C. training, we prepared for meetings with our representatives in Congress, to thank them for the work they had done and to ask them to pass the EXPLORE Act, a first-of-its-kind, bipartisan package of outdoor recreation policy to improve outdoor recreation on America’s public lands and waters. After listening to Former Representative Bustos share how hearing from constituents impacted her work during her congressional tenure, we developed our own stories for our meetings, working peer-to-peer to hone them.
To me, the “stories” were akin to a personal narrative of what the EXPLORE Act means to me and the outdoor places where I recreate. For example, as a Mountaineers climb leader and instructor, I know that the current state of permitting for climbing courses in the Leavenworth area limits the ability of The Mountaineers to take as many students as we’d like to crags. One piece of the EXPLORE Act, the Simplifying Outdoor Access for Recreation (SOAR) Act, would improve recreational permitting for outfitters, guides, and organizations like The Mountaineers. Leavenworth is in Washington’s 8th congressional district; I was running a meeting the next day with Rep. Kim Schrier; and I also happen to live in the 8th district. Here was an issue that mattered to one of her constituents in a place in her district.
I was also participating in a meeting with Representative Glusenkamp Perez, whose 3rd congressional district in Washington includes part of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and Mount Rainier National Park. Representative Glusenkamp Perez’ district is home to world class aquatic canyons in an area that has seen many of the struggles of rural economies. A swiftwater canyoning course that I was scheduled to take this past May with The Mountaineers in the Gifford Pinchot had to be moved due to permitting issues. The course organizers had to go into overdrive to find another place to run the course–an extra heavy lift for an activity that is inherently risky.
After working one-on-one with our peers, we had the chance to practice our pitches on four former congressional staffers. This experience was extremely valuable to me, as the staff members had different personal styles and positions along the political spectrum. I realized that flexibility would be important. One staff member mentioned that he was an avid boulderer. In an actual Hill meeting, this would have been optimal, as he may be more inclined to support the section of the EXPLORE Act that safeguards wilderness climbing protections: Protecting America's Rock Climbing (PARC) Act.
Another Hill staffer asked a member of our cohort for the bill number, explaining he liked to read the legislative language himself. When he did not know the bill number offhand, we all learned another valuable lesson: the power of saying, “I don’t know, but I’ll find out and get back to you.” While the short-term goal of the meetings was to advocate for the EXPLORE Act and other Outdoor Alliance priorities, the long-term goal was to build relationships with members of Congress and their staff.
This is What Outdoor Advocacy Looks Like
After the first day of training, I was feeling more prepared for the next day’s in-person meetings due to what I had learned, as well as the inspiration of hearing the pitches and stories of my fellow cohort members. I was nervous, though, about the meeting that I would be leading. A goal that Grasstops Advocacy Director, Taylor Rogers, had set for each of us in the collective was to lead one meeting. Mountaineers Conservation & Advocacy Director Betsy Robblee had asked me to lead one with Congresswoman Dr. Kim Schrier (WA-08). I was concerned about making sure that we got through all of the points we hoped to make, ensuring that everyone at the meeting had a chance to speak, and leaving time for questions from Rep. Schrier and her staff.
During our training, we learned our meetings could be cut short, turned into a walk and talk, take place with or without our representative present, or even held in the hallway due to space constraints in offices. Our meeting started without Rep. Schrier, with all of us seated in the lobby of her office. To my left and right were two other constituents and members of the Grasstops Collective, Kyle McCrohan, representing Cascade Backcountry Alliance, and Andreea Gabor, from American Alpine Club.
Just as Kyle began to speak, Dr. Schrier arrived and then bells sounded. Being well-prepared for the interruptions, we reintroduced ourselves, and Kyle pressed on. He spoke about spending time at Denny Creek with his family when he was young, thanking the Representative for the work she had done on funding the improvements to the trails and parking in the area. Andreea addressed the PARC Act, sharing about the importance of safe wilderness climbing. When she mentioned her mother worrying about her safety in the backcountry, it felt like she made a strong connection with Rep. Schrier as both a pediatrician and a parent.
Going Further Together for Conservation
Reflecting on this opportunity after returning home from D.C., I realized that leading my first meeting with a member of Congress was much like doing a mentored lead in The Mountaineers. First, everyone at the table (or in the Mountaineers circle) wants you to succeed. Second, if you’ve had a good mentor, you are well prepared, and they will step in to assist if you’ve forgotten anything. In addition to the wonderful training that OA provided, Betsy supported me as the lead before and during the meeting.
I also received advice and assistance from Conor Marshall, The Mountaineers Advocacy and Engagement Manager, and from Kindra Ramos, Washington Trails Association’s Chief Programs Officer. If our meeting with Kim Schrier had been a Mountaineers-official trip, I would have been the Mentored Leader, Betsy would have been the Mentor, Conor the Assistant Leader, and Kindra the Very Experienced and Patient Trip Member.
The more that human-powered recreationists adventure with purpose as outdoor advocates, the more we can achieve for public lands and the outdoor experience. As a Mountaineers member, you might want to get involved but not know where to start. A great first step is to sign up for Conservation Currents, (The Mountaineers monthly conservation-newsletter), take one of the three Mountaineers conservation eLearning courses, or sign up for action alerts from Outdoor Alliance.
Reach out to me if you want help working on your personal conservation and public lands story. The Mountaineers Fall Conservation Policy Update and Advocacy Workshop on November 20 is a great opportunity to connect, workshop current grassroots advocacy actions, and build community.
The Mountaineers will share more opportunities to engage through Outdoor Alliance, including in future cohorts of the Grasstops Collective.
