Refuge Advocacy

Suwannee, the river the Refuge protects and the reason for our advocacy.

Friends’ updates in April and in May concerning the staff reductions and other precipitous changes at the Refuges received several comments from Friends members and News Brief readers expressing their concerns. Community support for our Refuges is apparently strong and surely essential. 

Sharing Friends' Perspective and Concerns 

We sent the updates to Congresswoman Kat Cammack. The District Director of her Gainesville office, Jessica Norfleet, invited Peg Hall and Jay Bushnell, members of Friends' Advocacy Committee, to meet with Kat during the Memorial Day Congressional break to discuss Friends’ concerns. Our plan was to emphasize to her the critical role of the Refuges in the economy and quality of life in her District and the need for her to be an advocate for the Refuges. As it turned out, our meeting was postponed until her next time in the District. Friends will continue to communicate with her in the interim.

Mike Allen, Director of Nature Coast Biological Station and a Friends member, also had a meeting scheduled with her and his took place as planned. The importance of the Refuges to NCBS work was one of the items on his discussion agenda. He found her to be eager to have specific information about how the Refuge supported and enhanced NCBS research and other work important to the Cedar Key working waterfront community. They also  discussed the need to repair research facilities at Seahorse Key and to harden the island against future storms and government cuts. 

The Public Lands Caucus

Founding members of the Public Lands Caucus, Gabe Vasuez (D-NM) and Ryan Zinke (R-MT)

On another advocacy front, in May, a bipartisan Congressional Public Lands Caucus was launched focusing on conserving public lands and expanding access for all Americans. The founding members are Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) and Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT). Other early members include Rep Mike Simpson (R-ID), Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA), Rep. Troy Downing (R-MT), and Rep Jen Kiggans (R-VA), but not yet Kat Cammack.

Contacting our Representative

Using her website's contact form, Friends’ president Ron Kamzelski wrote to Kat, urging her to join the Caucus. Other Friends’ board members and volunteers have contacted her also to encourage her to support the Lower Suwannee and Cedar Keys NWRs and join the Public Lands Caucus.
 
If you want to urge her to support our Refuges, you can send a message by way of the contact form on her website  or call one of her offices: DC- (202)225-5744, Gainesville (352) 505-0838, or Ocala (771) 200-5542. So far, when one of us from Friends’ has called, we have always reached a staff member who took our message.

Kat Cammack visited the Refuge in February 2024, invited by Friends' Advocacy Committee and welcomed by Refuge staff. Pictured are Jay Bushnell, Denise Feiber, Kat, Scott Wright, Peg Hall, Ron Kamzelski, Andrew Gude, Daniel Barrand, John Stark