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January 7, 2025 24 mins

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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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jessica Bowser (00:00):
Music, Happy New Year friends, I hope you got the
chance to enjoy a first day hikeon New Year's Day and collect a
cool first day hike sticker froma Virginia State Park. This
annual tradition is a specialpart of my holidays and my
personal Park story, just as I'msure it is for you, too. If you
enjoy and appreciate our stateparks, then this special edition

(00:22):
episode is for you. You may besurprised to learn that Virginia
State Parks experiences anannual funding shortfall and is
currently facing a $350 milliondeferred maintenance backlog of
needed repairs. Why? Because theVirginia General Assembly under
funds our parks every January, Iparticipate in parks Advocacy

(00:43):
Day at the General Assembly inRichmond, hosted by the Virginia
association for parks, peoplelike you and me come together to
share our park stories withlegislators and advocate for the
investments needed to ensure ourparks are accessible for
generations to Come. In thisepisode, I invited Michelle
Shope to share her first parksadvocacy day experience less

(01:06):
than a year ago, Michelle was inthe early stages of her trail
quest journey to visit all ofVirginia state parks. When she
learned about parks advocacy daythrough this podcast, she
immediately reached out andasked to participate. Her
experience in Richmond was soempowering that she became
actively engaged in the Virginiaassociation for parks, and now
co chairs the advocacycommittee. I love Michelle's

(01:30):
story because it's a lot like myown and probably yours too.
Through her personal connectionwith parks, Michelle realized
the important role they play inconnecting us with nature while
preserving our public lands andhistorical assets, Michelle's
Park story was the catalyst toher becoming a champion for our
state parks. Michelle and Idiscuss her first time meeting

(01:51):
with legislators, what you canexpect during parks Advocacy
Day, and why anyone canparticipate, regardless of
experience. Become a championfor our state parks, join us
this January 22 in Richmond forparks advocacy day, be sure to
check your show notes for thelink to register. I hope to see
you in Richmond. Michelle.
Welcome to Virginia outdooradventures. Thanks for having

(02:16):
me. What do you love aboutVirginia state parks. Gosh,
what's not

Unknown (02:22):
to love? They're these nice little nuggets throughout
the state of Virginia that getyou out into nature and away
from all the hustle and bustlethat's going on everywhere else.

Jessica Bowser (02:33):
Have you been to all of the state parks yet?

Unknown (02:36):
Not all we are working on our trail quest. So we are at
19, I think, and we've got anupcoming trip that will put us,
I think, at like 25

Jessica Bowser (02:44):
you're going to be way past halfway at that
point. Yes, oh yes, yeah. Howexciting. What are your upcoming
parks? So we're

Unknown (02:52):
doing natural tunnel State Park, and then hitting the
two parks that are out thatdirection. Their names are
escaping me at the wilderness?
Is it wilderness road? Yes,wilderness road. And then the
museum Museum, uh huh, yes, thesouthwestern Virginia Museum, I
think, is something along thoselines. And

Jessica Bowser (03:10):
southwest Virginia Historical Museum, I
believe, yeah, it's the fullname.

Unknown (03:15):
And then we're gonna hit Clinch River, and we're
gonna go back to breaks. We didthat a couple years ago, so
we're revisiting that, and thenfinishing off with Claytor Lake
State Park.

Jessica Bowser (03:28):
You're gonna have such a good time. I have
such great memories from all ofthose parks. I love them all as
you I'm sure you know, yeah,

Unknown (03:36):
we're excited. Yeah, awesome.

Jessica Bowser (03:39):
Okay, so Michelle, what motivated you to
attend VA, F, P, S, Advocacy Daylast January. It was your first
time. So I'm wondering what madeyou decide to join.

Unknown (03:50):
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 involvedwith. And then when you
mentioned it again this year,2024 I jumped on it as quickly
as I could. I had actuallyforgotten about it, so I was

(04:10):
glad that you had put that outthere, because I recalled that
it was something that I wantedto get involved with. So and

Jessica Bowser (04:18):
why, I mean, you saw it, you saw the post and
you're like, oh, I want to dothis, but what about it? Appeal
to you?

Unknown (04:24):
My husband, I are big followers of state the state
park system here in Virginia andand we love it, and we had been
trying to find ways to kind ofsupport the state parks, just
other than visiting. And so whenI saw that there was this
opportunity to do advocacy forthe park system, you know, that
was kind of my motivator was,oh, this is my opportunity to

(04:48):
get in there and do something alittle bit more than just
visiting, just having thelicense plate on my car, you
know, that sort of thing.

Jessica Bowser (04:55):
And what was the day like? Walk us through your
experience. Now, I was theretoo. So I experienced it as
well, but I want to hear it fromyour perspective,

Unknown (05:03):
sure. So it was very fast paced. It was, you know, we
started out early in the morningwith the Virginia conservation
network. Had kind of a venuethat we met at and everybody. It
was almost like a big networkingbreakfast type situation. Met up
with our groups, and then fromthere it was like, just go for

(05:25):
it. And so we from where we werefor that first initial meeting,
then we walked across the streetto the General Assembly building
and located where our meetingswere going to be held, using the
elevators, large groups ofpeople, you know, just lots of
folks walking around differentdifferent folks there for
different reasons, and it wasjust one kind of big day of

(05:47):
everybody sort of representingwhatever issue or topic they
were passionate about. And so wedid that for the majority of the
day, until about midday, andthen ended up back at the venue
with all the different groups,the different organizations,
where they provided lunch, andkind of just recapped, and sort

(06:09):
of did, like a little debrief,and talked about some of the
things that we found that werebeneficial, or things that went
well, things that didn't gowell, sort of like a debrief of
the day. It was good, it wasfast, it was a lot. It was kind
of intense at times, but it wasvery good.

Jessica Bowser (06:24):
It's a high energy day, isn't it? Yeah. So,

Unknown (06:28):
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 goingto 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 movingparts. So it's definitely
something to kind of you have tobe kind of quick on your feet.
Yeah,

Jessica Bowser (06:48):
I think one of my favorite parts about advocacy
day is just the energy that youfeel. It's almost like an
electricity in the building.
There's so much hustle andbustle going on, and it's a busy
place. Anyway, you knowlegislators are usually
available in their offices inthe morning, and so lots of
people from all over the statecome for different reasons to
try to meet with them. And likeyou said, the elevators are

(07:10):
packed. There's people in allthe hallways. There's an
excitement about it too. BecauseI don't know about you, but I
feel like this is something thatI'm so excited to talk about
with legislators. And I lovesitting down and talking to them
about why our state parks are soimportant to us in Virginia.

Unknown (07:29):
Yes, I would agree. And I remember even asking one of
the receptionists for one of thedelegates, you know, like, is it
like this all the time, youknow? Because it just that was
my first time. And it, it blewme away in terms of, you know,
like you said, the energy andhow many people were moving
around and just sort ofreflecting on, like, the

(07:49):
capacity to kind of manage andcoordinate all of that going on
just seems insane. So, yeah,yes,

Jessica Bowser (07:57):
because it's back to back. I mean, a lot of
legislators, they often onlyhave a few minutes to talk to
you, and so you're like, zippingfrom one meeting to the next,
and maybe, like, one meeting ison one side of the General
Assembly office building, andthe other one is somewhere on a
different floor, and you've gotto go up and down the elevators,
and you're just like, moving thewhole time.

Unknown (08:17):
Yeah, that was, you know, me being a planner like,
that was something I was reallyworried about, was like, How are
we supposed to get to the 13thfloor, you know, 11th floor,
whatever, when we're on thesixth floor and we have less
than five minutes to get there,you know, but, but it all worked
out. And, you know, at the endof the day we we got to meet
with the folks that we werescheduled to meet with and and

(08:39):
kind of plead, plead our case interms of, you know what we were
there for.

Jessica Bowser (08:43):
Was this your first time actually sitting down
and meeting with legislators? Orhave you done this in the past?
Um,

Unknown (08:49):
I not with legislators that I can recall, meeting with
folks that are of highimportance. So from that
respect, I was comfortable withthat, but from the legislative
side of things, that was alittle different for me. You
know, I hadn't ever sat in frontof somebody who is responsible
for voting on certain laws orthings like that, things that

(09:11):
are that are being presentedthat could impact our way of
life. And so that sort ofimportance of what you're there
for it just, sort of, you know,you almost have to, kind of,
like, let it sink in a littlebit, which there's not a lot of
time to do that. But if it'ssomething that for folks that
are interested, if it'ssomething that they're
passionate about, you know, justthink of you're a constituent

(09:34):
and, you know, and it'simportant for them to hear your
voice, because that's what it'sall about.

Jessica Bowser (09:39):
When you went into the first meeting, do you
recall what you were feelinglike? Were you nervous? Did you
feel comfortable talking tolegislators right from the
beginning? I mean, what? Whatdid it take for you to warm up
to it? Thankfully,

Unknown (09:51):
I was not on my own right. I was put into your
group, which was great, becauseyou've done this a lot, and so
walking in. To the firstmeeting, the atmosphere was, was
welcoming. Obviously, you're ina professional setting, so
there's that sort of addednervousness to that, but, but
kind of watching you, and acouple of the other folks that

(10:13):
had done this before talking tolegislators, it was like
watching a play, so to speak,and so, you know, seeing how it
was done. And then as we keptgoing the rest of the day, I
personally felt more comfortablewe were talking about the same
things with each of those folksreally kind of just emphasizing
the importance of thepriorities, the legislative

(10:35):
priorities that we were therefor. And so once you kind of get
those in your head and get thatsort of like way to have that
conversation down, then it waskind of smooth sailing. But I
would add too that if you'resomebody who doesn't like to
speak up, but still wants toparticipate like they're you
know, even just being present isjust as important, because that

(10:59):
that sort of like showing ofyour 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 isalways at least one person in
every group who says to Me, Idon't want to talk. And that's
fine. Somebody is always toonervous to speak up, and that is
totally okay, like it is okayfor you to just show up and be
supportive, by like you said,showing your presence, but also

(11:27):
in every single instance, thatperson might be dead silent in
the first meeting and maybe evenin the second meeting, but by
the third meeting, they startspeaking up, and nobody asks
them to. Nobody expects them to.
But like that person alwaysseems to find a level of
comfort, like, Oh, this isn't sobad, you know. And then they
start talking, and then they getto share their personal stories.

(11:49):
And I love watching people sortof blossom and open up and go
from being terrified to, I'vegot this and talking about parks
like a champion, yeah. So Irecall

Unknown (12:03):
when we were kind of meeting with all the different
delegates. We had gone intodelegate trans office, and we
were meeting with herlegislative aide, and we were
talking about the All Terrainwheelchair pilot program, the
bill that she was puttingforward for the pilot program,
and all of us were just reallyexcited to kind of like talk
about it, because it looked likeit was gonna go through. I can't

(12:25):
remember if by that point, weknew whether or not it was
passed, or if it was still likemoving through everything, but
one of the things that her aidhad said was that they were
trying to figure out where thenext issue would be, to figure
out sustainable funding for thatparticular pilot program if it
did well. And so in my head, myfirst thought was, well, you

(12:46):
know, I asked him, Have youthought about talking to the VA?
And he kind of looked at me, andI said, Well, you know, Virginia
is one of the has the thirdlargest number of veterans in
the state, you know. And then ontop of that, you look at the
percentage of disabled veteranswho might benefit from this
accessibility in the state parksystem. And so, you know, the

(13:08):
look on his face, kind of whenit was almost like that light
bulb came on. And so to me, thatwas, like, my aha moment, like,
yes, you know, I contributed insome way to, you know, to
today's events, not just beingthere, but, like, also
contributed some sort of contentto, you know, what was going on.
And so that was, that was reallyexciting to kind of be part of

(13:30):
that. And that was probably oneof, one of the highlights of my
day, being at Advocacy Day. Soyeah,

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 thatwould make all terrain
wheelchairs available to thepublic for free in state parks.
And just a few months ago, therewas a ribbon cutting ceremony
for the first All Terrainwheelchair at Mason Neck State

(13:58):
Park, which is my home park, andalso big shout out to the
Friends of Mason act State Parkfor being huge champions of this
idea and of the bill. But to gofrom like what was a talking
point on a piece of paper toreality, to watch that process
is so rewarding, and witnessingthe ribbon cutting at my home
park was just an incrediblefeeling, knowing that I had been

(14:20):
a part of that process, anddelegate Tran was there. It was
her bill that passed thelegislature, and she talked
about how she would like to seeour parks be more accessible to
everyone, and now, now they are.
Now there's an alteringwheelchair at at least one state
park in every region of thestate, and hopefully more will
be coming in the future, but wehave a much needed improvement,
and it started with people likeyou and me, Michelle, having

(14:44):
conversations to promote thisgreat 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 init. You know, it's, it's just,
it's really cool, and I wouldsay that that's part. Probably,
like, one of the big thingsabout advocacy days, you just
don't know, you know, what kindof 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, onceit was over and you were already
at home and you were thinkingback on the experience, was
there anything that came to mindthat you want to share?

Unknown (15:18):
I think, you know, just kind of the something that I
think gets lost in the day whenyou're there is that you're by
participating in something likethis, like that's kind of almost
like our civic duty, you know,as residents of the state, you
know, we forget sometimes thisis how it's supposed to work.
You know, we're we are supposedto share what our feelings are

(15:40):
and what we want to go on. Andso to kind of sit back and and
look at the day itself, just alland then to see all of the other
people surround sometimes youthink you're alone, you know, in
a lot of these things, and tosee all of those people that are
really, you know, just aspassionate as you are, it kind
of helps you to understand likeyou're not alone in this. And

(16:01):
there are other people who arevery passionate about this too.
And I was really pleased to see,you know, the younger folks that
were there, there were a lot ofschool groups that were there
that, back when I was their age,these things were not on my
mind. You know, the idea ofgoing to a lobby day at the

(16:22):
General Assembly was not even onmy mind so so I was really
impressed with that and and itwas refreshing to see their
engagement in something likethis. I

Jessica Bowser (16:34):
call this paying it forward, when I think about
how much enjoyment andfulfillment I've gotten from our
state parks, and I see all theother people around me having
similar experiences, then I feellike it's my obligation, to some
extent, to get involved and toensure that our parks are going
to be there for everyone,because if we all sit back and

(16:56):
do nothing, they're not going tobe there forever. I mean,
somebody has the foresight tomake the investment in state
parks going all the way back tothe 1930s here in Virginia, when
they opened hungry mother StatePark and then five more. So we
had six original Virginia stateparks, and they saw then how
valuable they were, and havecontinued to grow the system and

(17:17):
invest in it. But in recentyears, it seems like a lot of
those investments have whileother priorities have come
around, and those investmentsdon'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 isimportant that legislators hear
from people, because they act onthe issues that they hear about

(17:38):
from their constituents, and ifthey don't hear about parks as a
priority from theirconstituents, and they're going
to assume that there's not anissue here, right?

Unknown (17:46):
Yeah, it's, I think it's really important. And, and
even if, like, you know, in mycase, I don't have, I'm not co
located with a state park in myarea, but we have them all
around us, within, you know, 45minute drive, 30 minute drive
and and so even, even folks thatdon't necessarily live near
parks, I mean, it's stillimportant, because if those

(18:08):
parks aren't there, you havenowhere to kind of escape to. So
so it's just as important forpeople who maybe are not
directly affected by it, even ifthey just use it every once in a
while, it's important not tomention, you know, the the parks
serve as these great greenspaces that are not, you know,

(18:28):
not just for recreation, but forconservation. And so if those
parks go away, then it's kind oflike this domino effect that
people don't recognize until ithappens. You know, yes,

Jessica Bowser (18:41):
absolutely. I find it so inspirational,
Michelle, that you went fromsomebody who has never
participated in advocacy day toparticipating and now actually
becoming the co chair of theadvocacy committee for vafp,

Unknown (18:56):
yeah. So I find it interesting too. It's happened
so fast. As soon as advocacy daywas over and I had an
opportunity during all the prepwork to figure out and
understand what the Virginiaassociation for Parks was, I
knew immediately that I neededto be involved in some way and

(19:17):
joining the VA FP, and thenbeing invited to kind of watch
some of the board meetings, andthen, you know, now, as you
said, be voted in as co chair ofthe advocacy committee. I'm just
ready to go and ready to, youknow, share and spread the good
that's being done by VA FP toother people who also love

(19:39):
parks, you know, and getting themessage out to folks so that
they can, you know, be involvedin something as well. So

Jessica Bowser (19:47):
for anyone who's listening to this right now
who's thinking maybe they mightwant to join the next advocacy
day, what do they need to knowabout 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 forparks website, which is Virginia
parks.org and then become amember of the AFP. And it's
really easy to do. There aresome a few perks involved with
that. So once you join the AFPas a member, then we that

(20:21):
triggers us to get you theinformation needed to register
for advocacy day and be put intoa group. So you won't be by
yourself. You'll be assigned toa group, and you'll have a group
leader that will kind of helpthroughout the day. So so that
would be the first, the firststep 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 andthat 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 thatno one needs to have prior
experience. People will be putinto small groups, and each
group will have a leader, andthat leader is somebody who is
experienced doing this. So ifyou have never done this before,
it's no big deal, because yourgroup leader will prep you, and
you can be as involved as youwant, right? Like we said

(21:21):
earlier, you have everyopportunity to speak up if you
want, and if you just want toquietly tag along. That's okay,
too. So nobody goes alone. It'scompletely up to you how
involved you want to be. Andthen I also wanted to point out
that it's a half day event. Wedid say that we started with
breakfast and ended with lunch,and that's usually because
legislators have committeemeetings and other commitments

(21:43):
that they have to attend in theafternoons, so it really is just
the morning and it is on aweekday. So that that part can
be a little tricky for peoplewho have day jobs and might need
to make arrangements to be awayfor the morning if they want to
attend, but we're done bylunchtime. So after the last
meeting around lunchtime, youknow, you're welcome to join us

(22:05):
for lunch, or if you need to getback 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, andthen, you know, once
everything's done, it's sort ofthat like, release of like, all
that energy is expelled. Or youmight be, like, riding this high
of, like, oh my gosh, what didwe just do, you know? And so it
is. It can feel like a long day,but, yeah, by lunchtime. So if

(22:33):
you are someone who can onlyeven, I would say too, and maybe
you would agree, Jessica, evenif you can only spend like, an
hour with us, you know, andattend like, two meetings, I
think that that's still betterthan, 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 welcomethat, especially if somebody
just really wants to show theirsupport, and that's the most
they can commit the most timethey can commit to that works
too. I mean, really what we needis we need your we don't just
need your presence. We need yourstory too, like we want to hear

(23:09):
what people's connections are tothe parks when we talk to
legislators. I mean, yes, youwill have an advocacy agenda
that lists all of our talkingpoints and and all of the
reasons why we're there to meetwith legislators, but those are
all just facts and numbers andthings on a piece of paper. What
makes it real is when we thepark users and visitors who go

(23:30):
in and who have connections theparks, go in to meet with a
legislator, and we start talkingabout what the meaning of parks
are in our lives. That's whatmakes it real, and that's what
makes a legislator say, Oh, thisis more than just about money.
This is more than just aboutfacilities or whatever it may
be. This is what parks mean toVirginians, and this is why it's

(23:53):
so important to have a strongpark system. It's those stories
that tug on a legislator'sheartstrings, right? And on our
own too, and that's whatmotivates them to want to help
and to be a part of a solution.
So we need those stories we needto hear from people like, Why do
you love state parks? Or why doyou love your neighborhood park,
whatever park it is. For me, I'mat Mason Neck all the time

(24:15):
because that's my home park. Soit's very easy for me to talk
about why Mason Neck is such anintegral part of my life, and
what it would mean if that Parkwent away, or even if it just
diminished to the point where itdidn't have the same amenities
or accessibility that it hasnow, and what that would mean
not just for me, but for thecommunity. And those are the
stories that we're looking for,if you're comfortable telling

(24:38):
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 storythat starts out with this one
time, you know, when I was atthis park or something, you
know, so. So I think if you'resomeone who is working on your
trail quest, and you're hittingall the. Different state parks,
like you have, you have a parkstory for every park that you've

(25:03):
been to, you know. So, so Ithink, yeah, getting the story
out, which is, I think, too,what motivates folks to get
involved is, is their parkstory. This is my story, and
this is why, you know, now I seeit, as you said, like, as a way
to give back, you know, I lovethe state park system, and by
advocating for it, I feel likeI'm I don't think I could ever

(25:25):
repay the cost that that camefor creating these state parks,
but this is my smallcontribution to to thank the
folks that came before us forfor establishing all of it. So
yeah,

Jessica Bowser (25:38):
thank you, Michelle. Thank you so much for
sharing your story of your firstadvocacy day experience. I am so
excited about Advocacy Day thisyear. 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 brightand early. Yes, on Wednesday,
January 22 I do hope thateveryone listening here will
consider joining us. If anybodyhas questions about advocacy day
on january 22 you can send me amessage by going to your show
notes and clicking on SendJessica a text message, and that

(26:12):
will send a message directly tomy cell phone, and I am more
than happy to answer yourquestions, just make sure you
put your name in there and yourcontact 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 andforth text. It's just a message
that comes to my cell. So if youhave a question, you can reach
me that way, or you can go onany of the social media

(26:34):
platforms for the podcast andmessage me there, or email me at
Jessica at Virginia outdooradventures.com, and I will put
all of those links in the shownotes. Michelle, thanks again
for joining me on Virginiaoutdoor adventures. I will see
you in Richmond on january 22adventure on you.
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