Fellow conservationists and friends,

Conservation and other organizations and hundreds of dedicated citizens of all walks of life from throughout Florida have joined together to voice their concerns about the way the State’s environment and natural resources are being mistreated. In 2011 the Governor and Legislature placed our state’s natural heritage in jeopardy. The Florida Conservation Coalition with your help is dedicated to stopping and reversing this ill-conceived and reckless trend.

The issues that face us are described in the attached Coalition position papers. In order to focus our efforts for the forthcoming year, we have placed heavy emphasis on water. I encourage you to read these papers to get a better sense of the situation facing Florida. Go to the Florida Conservation Coalition website .  To summarize, Florida’s nationally acclaimed growth management program was abolished, and the most notable conservation land acquisition program in the Country was not funded. Important environmental laws were drastically weakened and citizens’ ability to appeal environmental permits was all but eliminated. The Legislature took over control of the regional water management districts budgets and reduced them to dangerously lower levels. The Governor supported these legislative actions.

Our immediate job is to convince the Legislature that it went too far and must correct and reverse its misguided actions of 2011. One of the most effective ways of influencing the Legislature is by one-on-one personal contact with individual legislators in their home territory. While the conservation organizations will be doing their best at convincing legislators in Tallahassee, so will an army of scores of privately paid lobbyists who do not share our points of view and will be working in the opposite direction.

If you are acquainted with a legislator(s), go visit him or her; develop a friendly relationship if you don’t already have one. The best place for the visit is likely to be in his or her district office either before the legislative session starts on January 10, or during the weekend in early January when the legislator has returned home. In Tallahassee circumstances are frequently hectic and the legislator’s time and attention are constrained.

You may wish to show the legislator the Florida Conservation Coalition’s position papers. The Coalition is particularly interested in knowing the legislator’s attitude toward our concerns (opposed, non-committal, supportive); is the legislator willing to consider revisions to some of the changes made in 2011, and if so which changes?; did the legislator have questions or requests for further information, and if so, what were they? Also, please secure the name of the legislative aide.

Report back the results of your meeting. If you use Facebook, you can write on our wall and report your efforts. If you do not use Facebook, please report to the Florida Conservation Coalition via email. I do not believe that letters are nearly as effective as personal contact, but if you cannot visit, please do write or email. On request we can provide you with legislator contact information.

As an alternative, if you know someone who shares our concerns and has a personal or political relationship with a legislator, please provide us with his or her name and contact information, and we will follow up.

While every legislator is important and needs attention, some need extra attention. Attached is a list of some of the key legislators who merit special attention.

In three short months of 2011, the Governor and Legislature set Florida’s once proud conservation laws and programs back four decades. In so doing they have handed us a very heavy lift. But what choices do we have? We surrender, or we fight back.

I am privileged to be to working with you, the members of the Florida Conservation Coalition – people who love and care for the natural treasures of Our State. Best wishes to you, your family and our blessed Florida for the Holiday Season and the New Year,

Bob Graham