Scranton, PA - Advocacy Letter Writing Meetup

Join TU staff, friends and partners this Thursday, Aug. 20 at Groove Brewing (1401 Sanderson Ave, Scranton, PA 18509) to enjoy drinks and free pizza (your first drink is on us!) as we learn about and advocate for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).

The event starts at 6 p.m. but you can come and go based on your schedule.

The LWCF and companion legislation - the Legacy Restoration Fund - are critical tools for caring for and recovering the public lands and waters where we love to fish and recreate. During the evening, we will provide a brief overview of these two funding measures and work with attendees to help craft letters to your legislators and local papers encouraging their full funding and support.

All letter-writing supplies will be provided.

Why It Matters
The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and the Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF) are America's primary legislative tools for funding public conservation and repairing outdoor infrastructure.

The LWCF, established in 1965, invests $900 million annually from federal offshore oil and gas royalty revenues - not income taxes - to acquire and protect critical lands, wildlife habitats, and recreation areas. The LRF, created by the 2020 Great American Outdoors Act, directs up to $1.9 billion per year from energy development royalties to systematically eliminate the multi-billion-dollar deferred maintenance backlog across national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and tribal schools.

However, for the last two years, the Office of Management and Budget has withheld the annual LWCF project lists that must be sent to Congress, creating a bottleneck that prevents critical habitat and access projects from moving forward. Without these lists to provide directives, federal agencies cannot advance conservation work under the LWCF program, and Congress cannot allocate funding to these shovel-ready projects. Learn more here.

What We Will Be Doing About It
At this special "Shout For Trout" advocacy event in Scranton, Jeff Yates, TU's Senior Engagement Director, and Emily Baldauff of Mountain Moving Strategies, LLC (and also a local TU chapter board member), will walk attendees through a letter-writing effort to make sure our members of Congress understand the urgency to advance these LWCF and LRF projects and what they mean for investments in the conservation economies in Pennsylvania and across the country.

Your letters to members of Congress, and to the editors of local and regional newspapers, will share the voice of conservationists, anglers and outdoors people and help ensure these critical federal dollars are put to use this year and in the years ahead.

If you can't attend this event, but want to get involved, please email Emily to learn how you can engage with TU's conservation advocacy efforts.