4 minute read
Be it Resolved
Anyone who has been deeply involved in a nonprofit advocacy group like the Conservation Federation knows that all the important work gets done by committees. As important as the Executive, Ways and Means and other administrative committees are, their work is mainly housekeeping. They are there to support the work that actually accomplishes our mission – preserving Missouri’s natural resources.
That work takes place in 10 Resource Advisory Committees - RACs. Those committees are: Archery and Shooting Sports; Big Game, Turkey and Furbearers; Education and Outdoor Recreation; Environment and Ecology; Forest Resources and Management; Grassland and Prairie; Public/Private Lands; Rivers, Streams and Fisheries; Upland Wildlife; and Wetlands and Waterfowl.
The job of these RACs is to monitor developments in their areas of responsibility and look into issues raised by CFM members or affiliates. After carefully researching a topic and determining that it merits action, RACs have several alternatives. They can ask CFM leaders to meet with relevant policy makers to discuss the subject informally. Or, they can recommend expressing CFM’s position through an agency’s public comment period.
They might testify at a legislative hearing or ask CFM’s leadership to send a formal letter. RACs also can use information gathered in researching issues to inform other RACs or CFM members about emerging issues. But the option we most often think of is drafting a resolution.
Resolutions usually call for action by government agencies, legislators or other elected officials. After approval by members at CFM’s annual General Assembly, resolutions are sent to the appropriate entities. The recipients generally pay close attention to our resolutions, because they know that CFM represents thousands of individual members and thousands more who belong to dozens of CFM affiliate groups. They have seen CFM rally hundreds of supporters at the State Capitol, and they respect our collective clout.
CFM’s role of natural-resources watchdog began in the fall of 1935, when a group of concerned sportsmen met to discuss the alarming depletion of Missouri’s forests, fish and wildlife. That meeting led to the formation of CFM and voter approval of a constitutional amendment establishing the world’s first nonpartisan conservation agency.
Back then, resource management was considerably simpler than it is today. Contrast the relatively simple task of restoring forest, fish and wildlife resources with the much more complicated job of maintaining those resources in the face of political and economic pressures, increasingly fragmented and contentious user demands, and environmental challenges ranging from intensive agriculture, suburban sprawl and pollution to chronic wasting disease and climate change.
Back in the day, citizen conservationists could keep up with developments in their areas of interest simply by reading the daily news. Today, the same task is challenging, even for full-time professionals. As government agencies have responded to the increasing complexity of resource issues, the number of experts engaged in resource management has multiplied, making it harder to know where to go for information. Lack of communication among RAC members throughout the year compounds the difficulty of developing solid, specific resolutions calculated to spur action.
RAC members understandably feel frustrated when they raise issues and nothing happens. That is why CFM instituted a more methodical approach to developing resolutions. The current resolutions process has a detailed set of procedures and a timeline to ensure that resolutions are timely, carefully researched and calculated to achieve their desired ends. The new system includes a process for emergency resolutions.
RACs are now expected to keep their fingers on the pulse of issues year-round. They generally start thinking about issues that need a resolution by early fall. October 15 is the official start of the resolutions process for RACs, and the entire membership is asked to submit issues beginning in October each year, specifically for resolutions.
Instead of gathering in a meeting room at the annual convention to kick ideas around, RACs now research and fine-tune them throughout the fall and winter and have them ready for discussion and voting when their committees convene in March.
To facilitate the resolutions process, the Resolutions Committee has encouraged RACs to maintain lists of members and their contact information. And, to enable better research, the Resolutions Committee has developed a list of experts with the Departments of Conservation, Natural Resources and Agriculture, as well as non-profit conservation groups, who can provide background information and advice on complex issues.
Decades-long habits don’t change overnight, but as the new resolutions process becomes more familiar, the quality of resolutions is improving. This reduces frustration experienced by RAC members, whose resolutions now are less likely to be picked apart at conference and more likely to receive final approval by the General Assembly. And the resolutions that make it through are strong calls to action supported by facts.
If you do not already serve on a RAC, please read the list above and consider where your passion and expertise could be useful. If you already are on a RAC, thank you for your patience, and for your commitment to things “natural, wild and free.”
