Ask Your Legislator to Support Wildlife Conservation

Let’s tell our politicians to pass Oregon’s most significant conservation opportunity in decades - a historic action for fish, wildlife and habitats, and our growing tourism industry that depend on them.

UPDATE: We're onto the Senate! Most things remain the same, but just double-check you're contacting your Senator, not your Representative.

How to contact your legislator:

1. Find your legislators. Follow this link, type in your address, and voila! You've got your state senator's phone number, email, and mailing address.

   1. Please consider sending the same message to Governor Kotek as well. Find her contact info here.

   2. Emails, phone calls, and physical letters all work well, and you can use a similar script for each. Just pick whichever works best for you. Want to chat face-to-face with your rep? Join our Day of Action!

What to Write:

1. Identify yourself as a constituent. This will hold more weight if they know they represent YOU specifically. Consider thanking them for being your representative after you identify yourself.

   
   

2. Explain why wildlife matters to you. Are you worried about biodiversity loss? Pollinators supporting crops? The overall health of our wild spaces? Oregon’s responsibility to care for our wild neighbors? Scroll down for talking points.

   1. Get personal here! Politicians hear the facts and figures from our teams frequently; they want to hear why it matters to you. Tell a story of when you started birdwatching, or showing visiting family gray whales. Make your letter or call stand out.

      
      

3. Specifically ask them to support HB 4134 (1.25% for Wildlife). Don't be vague, and remember that they work for you!

   
   

4. Sign off by thanking them for considering your request. It never hurts to be polite!

... and you're done! This doesn't have to be a long essay, a brief letter or call (think one or two sentences per point above) is also considerate of the legislators' time.

After you've sent this, consider turning your letter into a Letter to the Editor for your favorite news outlet.

HB4134 Talking Points:

• Investment into Oregon’s Natural Legacy: It will conserve and restore Oregon’s 300+ vulnerable species and their habitats that support Oregonians livelihoods, quality of life

  and recreation needs.

  
  

• Diverse Stakeholder Support: It will solve a long-standing funding gap for wildlife and habitats, and is widely supported by a diverse group of stakeholders with a

  presence in all parts of Oregon.

  
  

• Investment in Wildfire Risk Reduction and Workforce Development: It includes stable funding for the Oregon Conservation Corps to keep Oregon’s communities safe

  from wildfire and help build Oregon’s workforce.

  
  

• Reinvestment in Oregon’s Tourism: Outdoor recreation is an $8 billion industry in Oregon and makes up 2.6% of the state’s GDP. This concept would reinvest in our natural

  resources, a major draw for out-of-state tourists, which helps attract more visitors (“if you build it, they will come”).

  
  

• Not a Cost-of-Living Increase: The majority (65%) of those who pay the tax are visitors from other states and countries.

  
  

• Establish Stable Funding: It would make these programs more resilient in an uncertain funding environment.

  
  

• Doesn’t Change Low Tax Ranking: Oregon has the third-lowest state lodging tax rate out

  of all 50 states, and raising the rate by 1.25 percentage points would not change that

  ranking. Even considering local lodging tax rates, Oregon’s communities are still below,

  or significantly below, similarly situated out-of-state communities.