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Dear
Wetland Enthusiasts,
The federal
bill to restore Clean Water Act protections for isolated wetlands and
headwater streams (i.e., Clean Water Restoration Act) won't pass in 2008,
but work continues in D.C. and across the country to increase the
likelihood that it will pass next year. While many groups are targeting
undecided legislators, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership has
launched the We Are Wetlands petition campaign to encourage the next
President to help stem the loss of U.S. wetlands by restoring
federal protections for unprotected wetlands and streams.
Wisconsin
Wetlands Association (WWA) has signed on as a partner to this important
campaign. Read on for more information about the campaign and how you can
help
WWA is
a non-partisan organization and does not endorse, support, or oppose
candidates.
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How You Can Help
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 As a TRCP affiliate,
Wisconsin Wetlands Association has agreed to help gather signatures and
circulate the We Are Wetlands Campaign petition to our members and
partners. If you believe the next U.S. President should support
legislation and other agency actions to ensure federal protections for
all wetlands, including isolated wetlands, please consider taking one or
all of the following actions:
- Circulate copies of the
We Are Wetlands Campaign petitions in your community. Each
petition has space for up to 24 signatures. To request copies of the
petition please contact WWA's Policy
Specialist Erin O'Brien at: policy@wisconsinwetlands.org.
Be sure to specify how many copies you'd like to receive.
- Sign the petition
on-line at: www.wearewetlands.org.
Please help us track the results of our outreach by writing
"Wisconsin Wetlands Association" in the blank that asks
for your "Company."
- Use the link at the
bottom of this page to forward this e-mail to friends, family, and
other colleagues who you believe would appreciate the opportunity to
add their name to the We Are Wetlands petition.
Photo: Gail Epping
Overholt
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WWA's Recent CWRA
Activity
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 WWA continues to
work to encourage Wisconsin's
Congressional Delegation to support the Clean Water Restoration Act. In
late August, we met with Representative Tom Petri in his Fond
du Lac office to discuss why
Wisconsin needs federal protection for isolated wetlands and to
encourage his support for the bill. Representative Petri serves on the
important House Transportation & Infrastructure subcommittee
(HT&I) where the bill stalled this fall. While he has not yet made a
commitment to vote for the bill should it come to a vote in the HT&I
subcommittee next session, he did express appreciation for the benefits
of protecting wetlands and an interest in improving his understanding of
this important legislation. WWA will maintain communications about the
CWRA with Representative Petri and his staff in the coming months and
encourages constituents in his district to do the same.
Photo: Kate Redmond
Click here for more Information and updates about WWA's
and other partners' CWRA-related efforts.
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About the We
Are Wetlands Petition Campaign
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The We Are Wetlands campaign is a
petition drive organized by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation
Partnership (TCRP)* to encourage the next President of the United States
to help restore federal protections for isolated wetlands. The Campaign's
goal is to collect 80,000 signatures on the petition as reminders that
the United States
still loses more than 80,000 acres of freshwater wetlands every year, and
that there is strong grassroots support for federal protections of these
critical waters. The petition will be delivered to the White House, and
Congressional leaders, in February 2009.
As of mid-September, an estimated 47,000
concerned citizens have signed the We Are Wetlands petition, which
reads:
Dear Mr. President,
Wetlands profoundly benefit the lives of every American. They control
floods and erosion, hold and cleanse water, and give us places to hunt, fish and enjoy the outdoors. What's more,
wetlands provide habitat for many thousands of plant, fish and wildlife
species.
Yet we continue to let our last - and best - wetlands slip through our
hands. In fact, we lose an average of 80,000 acres of natural wetlands
each year.
A series of recent rollbacks in legal protections now threaten to
accelerate our nation's already appalling rate of wetlands loss.
Leadership is needed to restore federal protections that are crucial to
maintaining clean water and healthy wetlands.
Please do everything in your power to restore the strength of our
national wetlands protections - and please do so quickly.
Sincerely,
[Your Name] [Your Address]
Information on how you can sign and
circulate the We Are Wetlands petition is provided to the left
under "How You Can Help."
*The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation
Partnership (TRCP) is a coalition of hunting, fishing and conservation
organizations, labor unions and individual grassroots partners dedicated
to the stewardship of America's landscape, helping to expand fish and
wildlife habitat, and increasing public access to quality hunting and
fishing. WWA recently joined TRCP as an "affiliated
organization."
Updates on this
and other Wetland Alert issues will be provided in Wetland News. Click
here to subscribe.
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