Once a year, Nature Forward’s Conservation Team joins advocates from across the Chesapeake Bay region to go to Capitol Hill to ask our federal legislators to support initiatives that clean water as part of the annual Choose Clean Water Coalition’s Lobby Day. It’s an exciting opportunity to join forces with organizations across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, from six states and District of Columbia, to lift up our voices in support of this unique estuary and its headwaters.
On March 6, 2024, the Choose Clean Water Coalition hosted 43 total meetings for nearly 100 different Coalition advocates. Nature Forward advocates joined 10 different meetings with members of Congress from Maryland, Virginia, and DC. We collectively urged support for programs that fund planting trees to improve wildlife habitat, reduce runoff from farmland, and provide grants to assist local partners with on-the-ground habitat restoration and protection. The Coalition, comprised of 300 nonprofit organizations throughout the Chesapeake Bay region, asked Congress to maintain, and in some instances, increase funding for these programs that are critical to attaining clean water.
Nature Forward has been a recipient of these grants in previous years and the funding has helped us advance our Woodend restoration projects, our Naturally Latinos & Taking Black Conferences, and regionwide environmental education GreenKids program.
In addition to meeting with members of Congress, 10 members of Congress spoke at a luncheon gathering of advocates. The Coalition honored three members of the Chesapeake delegation that are retiring from Congress this year. Thanks to their significant contributions to the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort throughout their careers, Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), and Congressman John Sarbanes (D-MD) were recognized as “Chesapeake Champions.”
You can read the Choose Clean Water Coalition’s full press release here: https://www.choosecleanwater.org/news/3/6/2024/chesapeake-bay-takes-centerstage-on-capitol-hill-at-critical-stage-in-restoration-effort