Zumach, Hafner

1. 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

2. Advocacy Affiliations
Minnesota Shade Tree Advisory Committee
Minnesota Society of Arboriculture

3. Advocacy Affiliations
Minnesota’s Urban Forest Council

4. Is this what advocacy looks like?

5. Is this what advocacy looks like?

6. Photo courtesy Don Willeke
MN Gov. Wendell Anderson
signs the original Shade Tree
Legislation. (1976)
40

7. 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

8. 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
NumberofTreeCityUSAs
Minnesota's Tree City USA Communities
1978-2015

9. 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

10. Copyright 2009 Star Tribune Reprinted with Permission

11. How Do We Define Priority?
MN Department of Natural Resources FY2014-15 Budgeted Expenditures by Program
$890.2 Million
Forestry
$128.5
14.4%

12. MN DNR FY 2014-15
Community Forestry
Expenditures:
~$300,000
FY2014-15 Budgeted Expenditures by Fund
Forestry
$128.5 Million
$300,000 / $890,000,000 = .0003%

13. 2013: A chance to do it differently

14. Proposal to Create the
Minnesota Ash
Tree
Preservation
Program
Jeffrey M. Hafner and J. Michael Orange
2013: A chance to do it differently

15. 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
Supervisor
Department 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 Specialist
Pollution 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 Minnesota
City, 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

16. 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

17. Annual Cost
Estimates for
Statewide Program
(millions of dollars)

18. How we thought The Process
worked
General Population
Council or
Advisory Board

19. 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

20. State
Agency
General Population
Provide expertise and advice
Request
$$$
Share
Benefits
Council or
Advisory Board How we thought The Process
worked

21. MN Urban Forest
Council
State Agency

22. How we think The Process
actually works
State
AgencySends a list of issues
Sends a proposed
budget
Sends a list of priorities
Sends a Budget
MNSTAC

23. Seeking
Legislative
Champion
How we think The Process
actually works
House of Representatives
Senate
Policy Committee Finance Committee
MNSTAC
Finance Committee
Policy Committee
Joint Committee
House Bill Inclusion
Senate Bill Inclusion

24. • 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:

25. The types of people you will meet and
their 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

26. 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

27. 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?”

28. We’re Not Lobbyists
Karen Zumach,
Director of Community Forestry, Tree Trust
Karenz@treetrust.org
Jeff Hafner,
Director of Municipal Consulting, Rainbow Treecare
jhafner@rainbowtreecare.com