Advocacy

Description
How can your Friends Group effectively communicate and advocate with elected officials?

This session will provide practical advice and tips on the best ways you and your Friends group can connect with your Members of Congress and how you can conduct a successful advocacy visit to Capitol Hill or district office. Bonus: Volunteer Friends members will conduct a mock visit to Capitol Hill and you get to critique how it goes. No matter your knowledge of Congressional affairs and advocacy skills, this session will have value for everyone.

Speakers

Richard Dolesh
Rich has been a volunteer at Patuxent for nearly three decades and a board member of the Friends since the Friends began. He worked to support the proposal for the construction of the National Wildlife Visitor Center and served as the co-chair of the long-running and successful Patuxent Wildlife Art Show for its first 10 years.

Rich has had a personal and professional dedication to conservation during his nearly five-decade career beginning in 1972 at the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission, to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and since 2002 at the National Recreation and Park Association. Rich is a member and former chair of the Conservation Committee of the Maryland Ornithological Society and serves on the boards of the Patuxent Riverkeeper, the Black Swamp Creek Land Trust, and the Park and Resources Conservation Foundation.

Rich writes extensively about conservation and nature and has written articles in National Geographic Magazine, The Washington Post and Parks and Recreation Magazine. He was recently awarded the Cornelius Amory Pugsley Medal by the American Academy of Park and Recreation Administration in national recognition of his service to parks and conservation.

Greg Knadle
Greg Knadle brings over 30 years of distinguished experience in wildlife conservation, federal policy, and strategic advocacy to the Board of the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA). His career began with hands‑on internships at wildlife refuges such as Bitter Lake and Bosque National Wildlife Refuges in New Mexico, where he developed an early commitment to natural resource protection and wildlife conservation. 

He holds both a B.S. and M.S. in Wildlife Science from New Mexico State University.  Greg’s professional journey includes pivotal roles within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, such as Refuge Operations Specialist and Refuge System Budget Specialist, contributing to on-the-ground refuge stewardship as well as national budgetary formulation and planning. 

In the legislative arena, Greg served as professional staff on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee from 2003 to 2009, advising across multiple federal accounts including the National Wildlife Refuge System, Bureau of Land Management, National Forest Service and National Park Service.  In 2009, he joined the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation as Vice President of Government Relations, where he led efforts to secure and shape funding for wildlife and natural resources programs.  Most recently, Greg worked as the Federal Grants Coordinator for the New Mexico Congressional Delegation in both the House and the Senate. 

Greg is now a natural resource and federal budget consultant, wildlife and nature photographer and artist in Falls Church, VA.

Recording (11.5.25)