August 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 14

Front Page
40 Percent LWCF State Assistance
Legislation Introduced
Rookie Legislative Forum attendee's efforts are critical to achieving long-sought NRPA goal

ome may call it beginner's luck. We prefer to think of it as being prepared
and putting yourself in a position to get lucky. First-time NRPA Legislative
Forum attendee Eriks Janelsins recently helped achieve a long-held goal of
NRPA advocacy efforts - to see a bill introduced that provides 40 percent of Land
and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) appropriations for the State Assistance
Program. In July, a group of five bipartisan members of Congress introduced legislation (H.R. 2727) to amend the existing LWCF Act in a manner that places the
State Assistance Program on a level playing field with the federal land acquisition
program, which is guaranteed a minimum of 40 percent of total LWCF appropriations. Representatives David McKinley (R-WV), Gene Green (D-TX), Cynthia
Lummis (R-WY), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) and Mike McIntyre (D-NC) introduced the measure and are now actively seeking additional cosponsors of the bill.
" Maybe I'm just lucky. Maybe this
whole situation was a number of positive things and years of work coming
together at one specific moment, "
ponders Janelsins, who is president
of the Oglebay Foundation in Wheeling, West Virginia, and helps organize
NRPA's schools at the resort and conference center there. " From my end,
the actual meeting, conversation and
ask all seemed pretty effortless. "
As is often the case, Janelsins' luck
was assisted by a lot of advance preparation. Rep. McKinley was already quite
familiar with Oglebay Park, thanks in
part to Janelsins and his predecessor,
Randy Worls. Although this was Janelsins' first Legislative Forum, he already
understood the importance of ongoing
communication with Wheeling's representative in Washington.
" Congressman McKinley knows
who we are and our importance to
the community. We spend significant
time as an organization communicating out our impact related to econom-

Parks & Recreation

ic development, conservation and
health, " Janelsins explains. " With the
specific language from NRPA including their briefing documents and their
talking points, it all came together. "
Janelsins says that his conversation
with Rep. McKinley was very pleasant.
" We started talking specifically
about Oglebay and how LWCF has
impacted the parks in the past, " Janelsins says. " Stacey Pine and her team
at NRPA empowered me with the information about specific projects that
benefit communities across the entire
1st Congressional District. I could
show him that 'the ask' just wasn't to
only support Oglebay - revised legislation would significantly benefit the
entire district. That was an eye opener
for him, to be honest. "
" This is a textbook example of how
the advocacy process is supposed to
work, " notes Stacey Pine, NRPA's
vice president of government affairs.
" NRPA equips our members with
general data and talking points, our

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members share that message and
their agency stories with their members of Congress, and then NRPA
staff follow up with Congressional
staff. The Legislative Forum provides
a perfect venue in which to carry out
this process, and this bill would not
have been introduced without it. "
" The LWCF State Assistance Program is the only federal program
dedicated to ensuring that Americans
have access to local outdoor recreation opportunities, " continues NRPA
President and CEO Barbara Tulipane. " Placing the State Assistance
Program on a level playing field will
enable the LWCF to fulfill its stated
mission of helping preserve, develop
and assure access to outdoor recreation
facilities for the purpose of strengthening the health of U.S. citizens. "
Janelsins notes that advocacy is an
important responsibility for all park
and recreation professionals.
" It really is our responsibility to
communicate outward about both the
benefits and the needs of the parks to
everyone - to the public and to local,
state and national leaders. That is every staff member's responsibility within a park system, " he says. " The stories we have to share in the parks and
recreation industry often highlight
great work being done to improve the
quality of life in our communities.
Those are fun stories. "
For more information, please visit
www.nrpa.org/getinvolved or contact
David Tyahla at dtyahla@nrpa.org.

August 2013 - Parks & Recreation

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