Thank you for supporting Conservation Lobby Day.

At Conservation Lobby Day, you could see the movement we’ve built in full force. People across our state want clean water, clean energy, and a healthy democracy.

On April 25, we were finally together again in Madison, lobbying our legislators for five conservation priorities Governor Evers included in his state budget proposal. In her speech to participants about the issue of PFAS, Town of Campbell Supervisor Lee Donahue said, “Living with toxic water affects the health and safety of every resident. Every time you reach to turn on the tap, to make a bottle of formula, fill your child’s bath tub, brush their teeth, or fill your coffee pot, you are reminded your water is toxic…I can’t even begin to count the number of friends and neighbors who have fought or succumbed to cancer.”

Let’s be clear – because of your advocacy over years, addressing PFAS contamination in our water is now a top issue for state officials. After years of organizing, they heard you loud and clear: Wisconsinites need clean water.

A group of Menominee students from the Menominee Tribal School (MTA) came to Lobby Day to advocate for wild rice and clean water. One of the students, Raeanne Summers, said she made the trip, “because I'm really into wild rice and cultural stuff. So, I thought if I came, maybe it would make a difference.” She held up the sign she made, explaining what she wrote: “'Wild rice is our culture' – that's my phrase. Without it, we are nothing."

Building a powerful and inclusive movement means letting impacted communities lead. We will continue to fight for our priorities and build a movement everyone has access to. At Conservation Lobby Day, we saw how sharing our personal stories and having meaningful dialog with our legislators makes a difference.

Thanks to you, funding for PFAS remediation and support for a Local Government Grant Resource team are still moving forward in the state budget process.

Some of our Lobby Day asks were stripped out of the state budget, like funding for a clean energy workforce, wild rice restoration, and automatic voter registration, but we’ll keep working on these issues.

Conservation Lobby Day is about bringing these issues front and center to our decision-makers. Like we have done with pushing for action on the PFAS crisis, we will continue to organize and put pressure on our legislators until action is taken.