Parks Advocacy Day: Be a Champion for Our State Parks with Michelle Schopp, Virginia Association for Parks (Special Edition Episode)

In this special edition episode, I invited Michelle Schopp to share her first Parks Advocacy Day experience. Less than a year ago, Michelle was in the early stages of her Trail Quest journey to visit all of Virginia’s state parks. When she learned about Parks Advocacy Day through this podcast, she immediately reached out and asked to participate. Her experience in Richmond was so empowering that she became actively engaged in the Virginia Association for Parks and now co-chairs the Advocacy Committee.

I love Michelle’s story because it’s a lot like my own and probably yours too. Through her personal connection with parks, Michelle realized the important role they play in connecting us with nature while preserving our public lands and historical assets. Michelle’s park story was the catalyst to her becoming a champion for our state parks.

Michelle and I discuss her first time meeting with legislators, what you can expect during Parks Advocacy Day, and why anyone can participate regardless of experience.

Become a champion for our state parks. Join us this January 22nd in Richmond for Parks Advocacy Day. I hope to see you in Richmond.

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Mentioned in this Episode:

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Contact show host, Jessica Bowser:

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Transcript

Jessica Bowser: 0:00

Music, Happy New Year friends, I hope you got the chance to enjoy a first day hike on New Year's Day and collect a cool first day hike sticker from a Virginia State Park. This annual tradition is a special part of my holidays and my personal Park story, just as I'm sure it is for you, too. If you enjoy and appreciate our state parks, then this special edition episode is for you. You may be surprised to learn that Virginia State Parks experiences an annual funding shortfall and is currently facing a $350 million deferred maintenance backlog of needed repairs. Why? Because the Virginia General Assembly under funds our parks every January, I participate in parks Advocacy Day at the General Assembly in Richmond, hosted by the Virginia association for parks, people like you and me come together to share our park stories with legislators and advocate for the investments needed to ensure our parks are accessible for generations to Come. In this episode, I invited Michelle Shope to share her first parks advocacy day experience less than a year ago, Michelle was in the early stages of her trail quest journey to visit all of Virginia state parks. When she learned about parks advocacy day through this podcast, she immediately reached out and asked to participate. Her experience in Richmond was so empowering that she became actively engaged in the Virginia association for parks, and now co chairs the advocacy committee. I love Michelle's story because it's a lot like my own and probably yours too. Through her personal connection with parks, Michelle realized the important role they play in connecting us with nature while preserving our public lands and historical assets, Michelle's Park story was the catalyst to her becoming a champion for our state parks. Michelle and I discuss her first time meeting with legislators, what you can expect during parks Advocacy Day, and why anyone can participate, regardless of experience. Become a champion for our state parks, join us this January 22 in Richmond for parks advocacy day, be sure to check your show notes for the link to register. I hope to see you in Richmond. Michelle. Welcome to Virginia outdoor adventures. Thanks for having me. What do you love about Virginia state parks. Gosh, what's not

Unknown: 2:22

to love? They're these nice little nuggets throughout the state of Virginia that get you out into nature and away from all the hustle and bustle that's going on everywhere else.

Jessica Bowser: 2:33

Have you been to all of the state parks yet?

Unknown: 2:36

Not all we are working on our trail quest. So we are at 19, I think, and we've got an upcoming trip that will put us, I think, at like 25

Jessica Bowser: 2:44

you're going to be way past halfway at that point. Yes, oh yes, yeah. How exciting. What are your upcoming parks? So we're

Unknown: 2:52

doing natural tunnel State Park, and then hitting the two parks that are out that direction. Their names are escaping me at the wilderness? Is it wilderness road? Yes, wilderness road. And then the museum Museum, uh huh, yes, the southwestern Virginia Museum, I think, is something along those lines. And

Jessica Bowser: 3:10

southwest Virginia Historical Museum, I believe, yeah, it's the full name.

Unknown: 3:15

And then we're gonna hit Clinch River, and we're gonna go back to breaks. We did that a couple years ago, so we're revisiting that, and then finishing off with Claytor Lake State Park.

Jessica Bowser: 3:28

You're gonna have such a good time. I have such great memories from all of those parks. I love them all as you I'm sure you know, yeah,

Unknown: 3:36

we're excited. Yeah, awesome.

Jessica Bowser: 3:39

Okay, so Michelle, what motivated you to attend VA, F, P, S, Advocacy Day last January. It was your first time. So I'm wondering what made you decide to join.

Unknown: 3:50

I had been following your page, and you had mentioned it in 2023 and I thought, oh, man, that's something that I'd really like to get involved with. And then when you mentioned it again this year, 2024 I jumped on it as quickly as I could. I had actually forgotten about it, so I was glad that you had put that out there, because I recalled that it was something that I wanted to get involved with. So and

Jessica Bowser: 4:18

why, I mean, you saw it, you saw the post and you're like, oh, I want to do this, but what about it? Appeal to you?

Unknown: 4:24

My husband, I are big followers of state the state park system here in Virginia and and we love it, and we had been trying to find ways to kind of support the state parks, just other than visiting. And so when I saw that there was this opportunity to do advocacy for the park system, you know, that was kind of my motivator was, oh, this is my opportunity to get in there and do something a little bit more than just visiting, just having the license plate on my car, you know, that sort of thing.

Jessica Bowser: 4:55

And what was the day like? Walk us through your experience. Now, I was there too. So I experienced it as well, but I want to hear it from your perspective,

Unknown: 5:03

sure. So it was very fast paced. It was, you know, we started out early in the morning with the Virginia conservation network. Had kind of a venue that we met at and everybody. It was almost like a big networking breakfast type situation. Met up with our groups, and then from there it was like, just go for it. And so we from where we were for that first initial meeting, then we walked across the street to the General Assembly building and located where our meetings were going to be held, using the elevators, large groups of people, you know, just lots of folks walking around different different folks there for different reasons, and it was just one kind of big day of everybody sort of representing whatever issue or topic they were passionate about. And so we did that for the majority of the day, until about midday, and then ended up back at the venue with all the different groups, the different organizations, where they provided lunch, and kind of just recapped, and sort of did, like a little debrief, and talked about some of the things that we found that were beneficial, or things that went well, things that didn't go well, sort of like a debrief of the day. It was good, it was fast, it was a lot. It was kind of intense at times, but it was very good.

Jessica Bowser: 6:24

It's a high energy day, isn't it? Yeah. So,

Unknown: 6:28

you know, for folks that are interested in going good shoes don't wear, you know, the high heels for the first time ever, because you're going to end up wishing you hadn't at the end of the day, but, but, yeah, I know it was fast paced, lots going on, lots of moving parts. So it's definitely something to kind of you have to be kind of quick on your feet. Yeah,

Jessica Bowser: 6:48

I think one of my favorite parts about advocacy day is just the energy that you feel. It's almost like an electricity in the building. There's so much hustle and bustle going on, and it's a busy place. Anyway, you know legislators are usually available in their offices in the morning, and so lots of people from all over the state come for different reasons to try to meet with them. And like you said, the elevators are packed. There's people in all the hallways. There's an excitement about it too. Because I don't know about you, but I feel like this is something that I'm so excited to talk about with legislators. And I love sitting down and talking to them about why our state parks are so important to us in Virginia.

Unknown: 7:29

Yes, I would agree. And I remember even asking one of the receptionists for one of the delegates, you know, like, is it like this all the time, you know? Because it just that was my first time. And it, it blew me away in terms of, you know, like you said, the energy and how many people were moving around and just sort of reflecting on, like, the capacity to kind of manage and coordinate all of that going on just seems insane. So, yeah, yes,

Jessica Bowser: 7:57

because it's back to back. I mean, a lot of legislators, they often only have a few minutes to talk to you, and so you're like, zipping from one meeting to the next, and maybe, like, one meeting is on one side of the General Assembly office building, and the other one is somewhere on a different floor, and you've got to go up and down the elevators, and you're just like, moving the whole time.

Unknown: 8:17

Yeah, that was, you know, me being a planner like, that was something I was really worried about, was like, How are we supposed to get to the 13th floor, you know, 11th floor, whatever, when we're on the sixth floor and we have less than five minutes to get there, you know, but, but it all worked out. And, you know, at the end of the day we we got to meet with the folks that we were scheduled to meet with and and kind of plead, plead our case in terms of, you know what we were there for.

Jessica Bowser: 8:43

Was this your first time actually sitting down and meeting with legislators? Or have you done this in the past? Um,

Unknown: 8:49

I not with legislators that I can recall, meeting with folks that are of high importance. So from that respect, I was comfortable with that, but from the legislative side of things, that was a little different for me. You know, I hadn't ever sat in front of somebody who is responsible for voting on certain laws or things like that, things that are that are being presented that could impact our way of life. And so that sort of importance of what you're there for it just, sort of, you know, you almost have to, kind of, like, let it sink in a little bit, which there's not a lot of time to do that. But if it's something that for folks that are interested, if it's something that they're passionate about, you know, just think of you're a constituent and, you know, and it's important for them to hear your voice, because that's what it's all about.

Jessica Bowser: 9:39

When you went into the first meeting, do you recall what you were feeling like? Were you nervous? Did you feel comfortable talking to legislators right from the beginning? I mean, what? What did it take for you to warm up to it? Thankfully,

Unknown: 9:51

I was not on my own right. I was put into your group, which was great, because you've done this a lot, and so walking in. To the first meeting, the atmosphere was, was welcoming. Obviously, you're in a professional setting, so there's that sort of added nervousness to that, but, but kind of watching you, and a couple of the other folks that had done this before talking to legislators, it was like watching a play, so to speak, and so, you know, seeing how it was done. And then as we kept going the rest of the day, I personally felt more comfortable we were talking about the same things with each of those folks really kind of just emphasizing the importance of the priorities, the legislative priorities that we were there for. And so once you kind of get those in your head and get that sort of like way to have that conversation down, then it was kind of smooth sailing. But I would add too that if you're somebody who doesn't like to speak up, but still wants to participate like they're you know, even just being present is just as important, because that that sort of like showing of your support, even without speaking as it speaks volumes.

Jessica Bowser: 11:04

Yes, so in all the years that I've done this, I can tell you that there is always at least one person in every group who says to Me, I don't want to talk. And that's fine. Somebody is always too nervous to speak up, and that is totally okay, like it is okay for you to just show up and be supportive, by like you said, showing your presence, but also in every single instance, that person might be dead silent in the first meeting and maybe even in the second meeting, but by the third meeting, they start speaking up, and nobody asks them to. Nobody expects them to. But like that person always seems to find a level of comfort, like, Oh, this isn't so bad, you know. And then they start talking, and then they get to share their personal stories. And I love watching people sort of blossom and open up and go from being terrified to, I've got this and talking about parks like a champion, yeah. So I recall

Unknown: 12:03

when we were kind of meeting with all the different delegates. We had gone into delegate trans office, and we were meeting with her legislative aide, and we were talking about the All Terrain wheelchair pilot program, the bill that she was putting forward for the pilot program, and all of us were just really excited to kind of like talk about it, because it looked like it was gonna go through. I can't remember if by that point, we knew whether or not it was passed, or if it was still like moving through everything, but one of the things that her aid had said was that they were trying to figure out where the next issue would be, to figure out sustainable funding for that particular pilot program if it did well. And so in my head, my first thought was, well, you know, I asked him, Have you thought about talking to the VA? And he kind of looked at me, and I said, Well, you know, Virginia is one of the has the third largest number of veterans in the state, you know. And then on top of that, you look at the percentage of disabled veterans who might benefit from this accessibility in the state park system. And so, you know, the look on his face, kind of when it was almost like that light bulb came on. And so to me, that was, like, my aha moment, like, yes, you know, I contributed in some way to, you know, to today's events, not just being there, but, like, also contributed some sort of content to, you know, what was going on. And so that was, that was really exciting to kind of be part of that. And that was probably one of, one of the highlights of my day, being at Advocacy Day. So yeah,

Jessica Bowser: 13:36

and you know what was so awesome about that, too, is, less than a year ago, we were in Richmond meeting with legislators about a bill that would make all terrain wheelchairs available to the public for free in state parks. And just a few months ago, there was a ribbon cutting ceremony for the first All Terrain wheelchair at Mason Neck State Park, which is my home park, and also big shout out to the Friends of Mason act State Park for being huge champions of this idea and of the bill. But to go from like what was a talking point on a piece of paper to reality, to watch that process is so rewarding, and witnessing the ribbon cutting at my home park was just an incredible feeling, knowing that I had been a part of that process, and delegate Tran was there. It was her bill that passed the legislature, and she talked about how she would like to see our parks be more accessible to everyone, and now, now they are. Now there's an altering wheelchair at at least one state park in every region of the state, and hopefully more will be coming in the future, but we have a much needed improvement, and it started with people like you and me, Michelle, having conversations to promote this great idea that is now a reality.

Unknown: 14:50

Yeah, it's nice to see it come to fruition and and know that you played a small part in it. You know, it's, it's just, it's really cool, and I would say that that's part. Probably, like, one of the big things about advocacy days, you just don't know, you know, what kind of impact your efforts are going to have. It's

Jessica Bowser: 15:07

so cool. Yeah, do you have any other takeaways from the experience? Like, once it was over and you were already at home and you were thinking back on the experience, was there anything that came to mind that you want to share?

Unknown: 15:18

I think, you know, just kind of the something that I think gets lost in the day when you're there is that you're by participating in something like this, like that's kind of almost like our civic duty, you know, as residents of the state, you know, we forget sometimes this is how it's supposed to work. You know, we're we are supposed to share what our feelings are and what we want to go on. And so to kind of sit back and and look at the day itself, just all and then to see all of the other people surround sometimes you think you're alone, you know, in a lot of these things, and to see all of those people that are really, you know, just as passionate as you are, it kind of helps you to understand like you're not alone in this. And there are other people who are very passionate about this too. And I was really pleased to see, you know, the younger folks that were there, there were a lot of school groups that were there that, back when I was their age, these things were not on my mind. You know, the idea of going to a lobby day at the General Assembly was not even on my mind so so I was really impressed with that and and it was refreshing to see their engagement in something like this. I

Jessica Bowser: 16:34

call this paying it forward, when I think about how much enjoyment and fulfillment I've gotten from our state parks, and I see all the other people around me having similar experiences, then I feel like it's my obligation, to some extent, to get involved and to ensure that our parks are going to be there for everyone, because if we all sit back and do nothing, they're not going to be there forever. I mean, somebody has the foresight to make the investment in state parks going all the way back to the 1930s here in Virginia, when they opened hungry mother State Park and then five more. So we had six original Virginia state parks, and they saw then how valuable they were, and have continued to grow the system and invest in it. But in recent years, it seems like a lot of those investments have while other priorities have come around, and those investments don't seem to be as important. And if we don't keep them up, they're not going to continue to be there. So it really is important that legislators hear from people, because they act on the issues that they hear about from their constituents, and if they don't hear about parks as a priority from their constituents, and they're going to assume that there's not an issue here, right?

Unknown: 17:46

Yeah, it's, I think it's really important. And, and even if, like, you know, in my case, I don't have, I'm not co located with a state park in my area, but we have them all around us, within, you know, 45 minute drive, 30 minute drive and and so even, even folks that don't necessarily live near parks, I mean, it's still important, because if those parks aren't there, you have nowhere to kind of escape to. So so it's just as important for people who maybe are not directly affected by it, even if they just use it every once in a while, it's important not to mention, you know, the the parks serve as these great green spaces that are not, you know, not just for recreation, but for conservation. And so if those parks go away, then it's kind of like this domino effect that people don't recognize until it happens. You know, yes,

Jessica Bowser: 18:41

absolutely. I find it so inspirational, Michelle, that you went from somebody who has never participated in advocacy day to participating and now actually becoming the co chair of the advocacy committee for vafp,

Unknown: 18:56

yeah. So I find it interesting too. It's happened so fast. As soon as advocacy day was over and I had an opportunity during all the prep work to figure out and understand what the Virginia association for Parks was, I knew immediately that I needed to be involved in some way and joining the VA FP, and then being invited to kind of watch some of the board meetings, and then, you know, now, as you said, be voted in as co chair of the advocacy committee. I'm just ready to go and ready to, you know, share and spread the good that's being done by VA FP to other people who also love parks, you know, and getting the message out to folks so that they can, you know, be involved in something as well. So

Jessica Bowser: 19:47

for anyone who's listening to this right now who's thinking maybe they might want to join the next advocacy day, what do they need to know about how to sign up or how to be prepared? Sure.

Unknown: 20:00

Sure. So my first recommendation would be to go on to the Virginia association for parks website, which is Virginia parks.org and then become a member of the AFP. And it's really easy to do. There are some a few perks involved with that. So once you join the AFP as a member, then we that triggers us to get you the information needed to register for advocacy day and be put into a group. So you won't be by yourself. You'll be assigned to a group, and you'll have a group leader that will kind of help throughout the day. So so that would be the first, the first step and and it'll just kind of

Jessica Bowser: 20:40

move on from there. Do people need to have any sort of experience?

Unknown: 20:44

None, none at all. I mean, I really didn't have any. I know how to spell advocacy and that that was, that was about it. But you know, and who knows, maybe you'll be the next co chair of the advocacy committee, you know, down the road. So

Jessica Bowser: 20:59

that's awesome. So I just want to emphasize that no one needs to have prior experience. People will be put into small groups, and each group will have a leader, and that leader is somebody who is experienced doing this. So if you have never done this before, it's no big deal, because your group leader will prep you, and you can be as involved as you want, right? Like we said earlier, you have every opportunity to speak up if you want, and if you just want to quietly tag along. That's okay, too. So nobody goes alone. It's completely up to you how involved you want to be. And then I also wanted to point out that it's a half day event. We did say that we started with breakfast and ended with lunch, and that's usually because legislators have committee meetings and other commitments that they have to attend in the afternoons, so it really is just the morning and it is on a weekday. So that that part can be a little tricky for people who have day jobs and might need to make arrangements to be away for the morning if they want to attend, but we're done by lunchtime. So after the last meeting around lunchtime, you know, you're welcome to join us for lunch, or if you need to get back to to work, that's totally okay too. Yeah, it feels

Unknown: 22:12

like a long day because there's, you know, a lot of upfront stuff going on, and then, you know, once everything's done, it's sort of that like, release of like, all that energy is expelled. Or you might be, like, riding this high of, like, oh my gosh, what did we just do, you know? And so it is. It can feel like a long day, but, yeah, by lunchtime. So if you are someone who can only even, I would say too, and maybe you would agree, Jessica, even if you can only spend like, an hour with us, you know, and attend like, two meetings, I think that that's still better than, you know, not participating at all. So

Jessica Bowser: 22:48

yes, we've had people do that too, and that is totally okay, and we welcome that, especially if somebody just really wants to show their support, and that's the most they can commit the most time they can commit to that works too. I mean, really what we need is we need your we don't just need your presence. We need your story too, like we want to hear what people's connections are to the parks when we talk to legislators. I mean, yes, you will have an advocacy agenda that lists all of our talking points and and all of the reasons why we're there to meet with legislators, but those are all just facts and numbers and things on a piece of paper. What makes it real is when we the park users and visitors who go in and who have connections the parks, go in to meet with a legislator, and we start talking about what the meaning of parks are in our lives. That's what makes it real, and that's what makes a legislator say, Oh, this is more than just about money. This is more than just about facilities or whatever it may be. This is what parks mean to Virginians, and this is why it's so important to have a strong park system. It's those stories that tug on a legislator's heartstrings, right? And on our own too, and that's what motivates them to want to help and to be a part of a solution. So we need those stories we need to hear from people like, Why do you love state parks? Or why do you love your neighborhood park, whatever park it is. For me, I'm at Mason Neck all the time because that's my home park. So it's very easy for me to talk about why Mason Neck is such an integral part of my life, and what it would mean if that Park went away, or even if it just diminished to the point where it didn't have the same amenities or accessibility that it has now, and what that would mean not just for me, but for the community. And those are the stories that we're looking for, if you're comfortable telling them, right?

Unknown: 24:41

Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, anybody who has visited the State Park has, or, you know, any park, for that matter, has, has a park story that starts out with this one time, you know, when I was at this park or something, you know, so. So I think if you're someone who is working on your trail quest, and you're hitting all the. Different state parks, like you have, you have a park story for every park that you've been to, you know. So, so I think, yeah, getting the story out, which is, I think, too, what motivates folks to get involved is, is their park story. This is my story, and this is why, you know, now I see it, as you said, like, as a way to give back, you know, I love the state park system, and by advocating for it, I feel like I'm I don't think I could ever repay the cost that that came for creating these state parks, but this is my small contribution to to thank the folks that came before us for for establishing all of it. So yeah,

Jessica Bowser: 25:38

thank you, Michelle. Thank you so much for sharing your story of your first advocacy day experience. I am so excited about Advocacy Day this year. What is the date of it again?

Unknown: 25:48

January 22 That's right, and that

Jessica Bowser: 25:51

is a Wednesday. So we will be in Richmond bright and early. Yes, on Wednesday, January 22 I do hope that everyone listening here will consider joining us. If anybody has questions about advocacy day on january 22 you can send me a message by going to your show notes and clicking on Send Jessica a text message, and that will send a message directly to my cell phone, and I am more than happy to answer your questions, just make sure you put your name in there and your contact info so that I can actually get back to you, because I don't think I can text back. It's not like a back and forth text. It's just a message that comes to my cell. So if you have a question, you can reach me that way, or you can go on any of the social media platforms for the podcast and message me there, or email me at Jessica at Virginia outdoor adventures.com, and I will put all of those links in the show notes. Michelle, thanks again for joining me on Virginia outdoor adventures. I will see you in Richmond on january 22 adventure on you.