Tuesday, March 20, 2012
8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Help us send a powerful message of support for California’s 278 state parks by participating in CSPF’s 10th Annual Park Advocacy Day.
Participating in Park Advocacy Day is a meaningful and fun way to show support for California’s state park system. As a park advocate, you will have the opportunity to join with park supporters from throughout the state to meet with lawmakers and urge them to make sure California’s state parks are open, protected and well maintained.
The efforts of park advocates during this event will have had a lasting impact on legislators’ as they make important decisions about state park protection and the funding of California’s state park system.
There is no cost to participate in Park Advocacy Day, but registration and participation in an online/telephone training session is required click here to get started. Registration closes on February 23, 2012.
Recap of Park Advocacy Day 2011
For more information on Park Advocacy Day, please contact our Sacramento office at 916-442-2119 or email Linsey@calparks.org
Already registered for Park Advocacy Day 2012? Log into our PAD Participant Info Center to download materials.
More than 160 state park supporters from throughout California gathered in Sacramento on March 22 to participate in CSPF’s 9th Annual Park Advocacy Day. Together they helped send a powerful message of support for California’s state parks that will be felt in Sacramento for months to come. Some of the highlights of this year’s event include:
- The attendance of park advocates at the Senate Natural Resources Committee and the Assembly Water, Parks & Wildlife Committee hearings. Advocates literally packed each of these committee rooms (and the halls) to testify in support of SB 580 (Wolk/Kehoe) and AB 42 (Huffman). The strong showing of support by park advocates made a difference – both bills passed out of those committees and now advance to the next stage of the legislative process.
- Canvassing the entire Capitol with support for state parks. Park advocates were assembled into thirty-two teams, each consisting of 3-6 park advocates. Each team followed a schedule of appointments throughout the day. By the end of the day, our park advocates collectively met with the offices of 119 policymakers, urging them support legislation to help protect California’s state parks, encouraging partnerships with nonprofits and continued volunteerism in state parks!
- Throughout the day, park advocates delivered over 7,000 letters to legislators and over 5,000 petitions to the Governor on behalf of Californians that were unable to attend Park Advocacy Day.
To help highlight the message of Park Advocacy Day, CSPF staffed a display and information booth outside of the Capitol to help raise awareness to what could be lost in the event of park closures. CSPF staff collected petitions and distributed information to members of the public and capitol staff.
In addition to attending committee hearings and legislative meetings, participants of Park Advocacy Day also participated in a media panel and CSPF’s annual Afternoon Speakers Series. During the media panel, participants heard from The Sacramento Bee’s Marjorie Lundstrom and Matt Weiser, who authored a three-part series on state park issues last summer. During the Afternoon Speakers Series, advocates heard from Secretary of Resources John Laird, Senators Christine Kehoe (D-39, San Diego) and Lois Wolk (D-5, Vacaville), and Richard Gordon (D-21, Redwood City) and Assemblymembers Roger Hernández (D-57, West Covina)
The busy day concluded with CSPF’s annual reception and awards ceremony, where CSPF presented this year’s Grassroots Champion Award to recipients John Mott, and the California Travel and Tourism Industry Association.More information on this year’s Grassroots Champions can be found here.
Thank you to everyone who participated and made the day a success! We hope you can join us for next year’s event!
