DC Trip Journal: Great Lakes Day

It’s always a crazy time in DC. For me and Lisa on this particular trip, though, it was more hectic than usual. Flying in with four students from University Prep Academy, their teacher, and colleagues from the Third 90 program, we managed to drag ourselves to the airport by 5:00am to be in DC in time for the kick-off of the Great Lakes Days.

Great Lakes Days are hosted by the Healing Our Waters and Great Lakes Commission and provide the opportunity for a large, non-partisan coalition of major environmental and conservation groups to speak to each other and their legislators on how best to protect the Great Lakes. This year, the request was a straightforward one: Preserve the full funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI).

GLRI was a campaign promise made by both presidential candidates in the 2008 elections, on which President Obama and the Congress ultimately followed through. Since the first round of promised funding - $475 million per year for five years – the allotted amounts continue to drop. As large as that sum appears, there is little doubt that the work that needs to be done to restore our Great Lakes is far greater. That is why it is so important to maintain the current funding levels, not to mention the jobs and tourism revenue that Great Lakes restoration inspires.

For our part, we had a great time accompanying the students as they went through so much of the Washington experience – from policy briefings, to monument tours, to watching the House debate from the gallery, to a last minute dash to Union Station. (A huge thanks to Representative Clarke’s office for setting the students up with Capitol tour and gallery passes!)

The day also allowed us to meet with old friends such as Representatives Peters and Dingell. While I would love to list all the other friends and allies we met at the Canadian embassy later that evening, I’m afraid I would not be able to do it justice; the amount of conservation all-stars crowding the main floor of the embassy was simply too impressive. We were honored and happy to be able to catch up with so many great champions for the Great Lakes all clustered in one place.

Ultimately, our long day concluded with that dash to Union Station and back to Baltimore airport. It ended up being a twenty-one hourday, but worth every sleep-deprived hour, all the same.

~Ryan Werder