We’re Not Lobbyists:Lessons in Seeking Funding from Your State’s

Legislature

Karen Zumach,

Director of Community Forestry, Tree Trust

Jeff Hafner,

Director of Municipal Consulting, Rainbow Treecare

Advocacy Affiliations

Minnesota Shade Tree Advisory Committee

Minnesota Society of Arboriculture

Advocacy Affiliations

Minnesota’s Urban Forest Council

Is this what advocacy looks like?

Is this what advocacy looks like?

Photo courtesy Don Willeke

MN Gov. Wendell Anderson signs the original Shade Tree

Legislation. (1976)

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Successes and Limitations from the past

• Institutional Knowledge vs. Institutional Resentment

• Doing so much with so little for so long does not equal success

– Sets artificially low expectation of need

– Overreliance on volunteers

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Minnesota's Tree City USA Communities 1978-2015

Making Enemies Out of Advocates

• How can we make a point without pointing a finger?

• What do people do when the evidence makes them “wrong”?

– Attack the messenger

– Deny and discredit

– Accept and adapt

Copyright 2009 Star Tribune Reprinted with Permission

How Do We Define Priority?MN Department of Natural Resources FY2014-15 Budgeted Expenditures by Program

$890.2 Million

Forestry$128.514.4%

MN DNR FY 2014-15 Community Forestry

Expenditures: ~$300,000

FY2014-15 Budgeted Expenditures by FundForestry

$128.5 Million

$300,000 / $890,000,000 = .0003%

2013: A chance to do it differently

Proposal to Create the

Minnesota Ash Tree

Preservation Program

Jeffrey M. Hafner and J. Michael Orange

2013: A chance to do it differently

January 2015 Meeting of Minnesota Community Forest Partnership Group

US Forest Service:• Michael Connor, Group Leader, Forest Health

Protection • Robert G. Haight, Ph.D., Research Forester • Steve Katovich, Ph.D., Forest Entomologist • Robert C. Venette, Ph.D., Research Biologist Department of Agriculture: • Mark Abrahamson, Pest Mitigation and Response

SupervisorDepartment of Natural Resources: • Jana Albers, Forest Health Specialist• Susan Burks, Invasive Species Program Coordinator • Val Cervenka, Forest Entomologist • Ken Holman, Community Forestry Coordinator • Brian Schwingle, Forest Health SpecialistPollution Control Agency:• Kevin McDonald, Supervisor of Sustainable

Development • Sarah Rudolf, Project Specialist, Sustainable

Development

Universities:• Brian H. Aukema, Ph. D., Associate Professor, Department

of Entomology, University of Minnesota • Deborah G. McCullough, Ph.D., Professor, Department of

Entomology, Michigan State University • Matthew Russell, Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Extension

Specialist, University of MinnesotaCity, Private, and Non-governmental Organizations:• Jeff Hafner, Director of Municipal Consulting, Rainbow

TreeCare • Michael Orange, Principal, ORANGE Environmental, LLC • Tim Power, Government Affairs Director, Minnesota

Nursery and Landscape Association • Jim Vaughan, Environmental Coordinator, City of St. Louis

Park; Minnesota Society of Arboriculture Board Member; and President, Minnesota Shade Tree Advisory Committee

• Karen Zumach, Community Forestry Manager, Tree Trust; and Vice President, Minnesota Shade Tree Advisory Committee

Minnesota Community Forest Partnership Group

Three Teams

Program Team—Create program framework

Science Team—Vet the program assumptions

Outreach Team—Promote the program and find a champion

Annual Cost Estimates for

Statewide Program(millions of dollars)

How we thought The Process worked

General Population

Council or Advisory Board

MN Urban Forest Council

Serves statewide Community Forestry Interests as a forum for the exchange and dissemination of ideas and information.

They provide:• Expertise• Advice• Coordination• Support

StateAgency

General Population

Provide expertise and advice

Request$$$

Share Benefits

Council or Advisory Board How we thought The Process

worked

MN Urban Forest Council

State Agency

How we think The Process actually works

StateAgencySends a list of issues

Sends a proposed budget

Sends a list of priorities

Sends a Budget

MNSTAC

Seeking Legislative Champion

How we think The Process actually works

House of Representatives

Senate

Policy Committee Finance CommitteeMNSTAC

Finance Committee

Policy Committee

Joint CommitteeHouse Bill Inclusion

Senate Bill Inclusion

• The, “you should have started earlier”• The, “you should have done it this way instead”• The, “you need a different group to be your champion”• The, “I’ll support it if she/he supports it”• The advocate that can’t science• The scientist that can’t advocate• The connected closed door• The fiscal genius (you should ask for more money)• The fiscal genius (you are asking for too much money)• The big ego agenda• The, “you have no credibility and should go away”

The types of people you will meet:

The types of people you will meet andtheir Recipe for Success

• Do more of what you have been doing and a lot more of what you haven’t

• Get the right meetings• Keep it short• Tell the whole story with one graph• Pick your champion geographically by

district• Pick your champion by committee• It needs to come from the Governor• It needs to come from the agencies• It needs to come from the people• Make it about the money

• Make it about the environment• Make it about environmental justice• Don’t use the term environmental

justice• Don’t make it about trees• Connect the message to what they are

passionate about• Do it with just one message, just one

speaker• Build a coalition• Sell fear• Don’t sell fear

If not us, who?

• What does success look like

– Pebbles in the pond

• Apparent failures exceed successes

• The process is accessible but only if you are really committed to it

Lessons from non-traditional lobbyists

• Everyone needs to get involved

• Build the coalition with a unified message

– Especially with groups who have lobbyists at the Capitol

– Find ways to talk about trees without really talking about trees

• Be okay with not doing enough

– “How can you help?”

We’re Not Lobbyists

Karen Zumach, Director of Community Forestry, Tree TrustKarenz@treetrust.orgJeff Hafner, Director of Municipal Consulting, Rainbow Treecarejhafner@rainbowtreecare.com