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Contact your Representives in Support of NRP

This page is intended to assist you in making a contact with your representatives. You are encouraged to cut and paste whatever you like into your U.S. Mail letter, email, or personal notes for a visitation to your official. There is no limitation to the number of contacts you can make with your representatives, either in person, by phone, or by written communications.

INTRODUCTION

Government officials get stacks of communications daily. With our representative government, communicating with your representative is an expected part of our system. There is a preferred protocol for titles of officials, but they are much less important, and the priority is to get your idea across to them. Officials certainly do not expect to receive only well written, scholarly documents. They prefer to know what "real people" are interested in, rather than what paid lobbiest have to say.

Form letters have very little impact of officials because they require little thought or effort by the sender. Create your own document content.

To find your representative with his phone number, email address, U.S. Mail address, and office, use the State Elected Officials Website for the legislature. If you need specific directions on how to use that Elected Officials Page, refer back to the SupportNRP page. There are directions there that can lead you through the steps to finding your officials.

INFORMATION FOR CONTENT

If something just occurred in the news which caused your concern, certainly use the information you have. There is likely more information about it online. You could query a search engine like Google or Yahoo to find that information on new Who left to help?or old topics! Just put something you know in the seach box on either an old or new topic. For example, you could use google.com , yahoo.com or msn.com by putting "Illegal Rockfish" in the search box. Today, the first item is "Watermen Applaud Illegal Rockfish Ring Bust" from ABC 7 News. If the results are not what you want, change your search words. If the topic is hot off the press, it may take a day to have that information posted online.

You are also encouraged to read our Data and News pages for information the Lodge has found. Further, the About and History page will provide additional background on the NRP. The links to these pages are in the header at the top and also at the bottom of this page.

DRAFTING THE DOCUMENT

With the addresses in hand with the information you need, it is time to write your document. Minimally, put the date at the top of the document, followed by the greeting.

The body of the letter is the key. Using the information you have assembled, create your unique, personal document. Below the line on this page there is has a full draft of our president's letter written to the governor in December of 2008. You could use that as a model. Feel free to cut and paste information from the president's letter to your document.

We have an advantage that when people like you draft documents to the officials, they have more impact than lobbyists, mass mailings, reproduced documents, and form letters. Express your own position on the issues that impact the NRP.

As you add the closing and signature to your document, PLEASE be assured that the Lodge appreciates your support for our issues which impact Maryland's Natural Resources as well as the Maryland Natural Resources Police.

Hoping the Lodge is not becoming to presumptious, if you have the time, calling, or even better, making an appointment by calling the numbers provided for a representative and having a visitation, has no equal.

NOTE: Although accurate, things have changed since the letter was sent:

December 16, 2008

Dear Governor Martin O'Malley:

As we, the Maryland Natural Resources Police (MNRP), continue to proactively fight to protect Maryland's natural resources, the Governor's Office and staff appear to just as actively continue to make budget cuts that affect the state's ability to protect these Thomas Johnson Bridge - Solomons valuable resources. The reductions in our staffing have had a negative affect on the morale of our dwindling numbers. In October, your office mandated personnel cuts from the state work force. Department heads from all agencies were requested to make a 5% reduction in their staffing. However, the Natural Resources Police were reduced by over 11%. This action appears to be greatly outside of your own guidelines. In fact, it is more than twice what you requested. This action does not appear logical or reasonable. As the MNRP is Maryland's only conservation and boating safety agency, why was this allowed to happen? In addition, this agency is recognized by Natural Resources Law PS 3-101 section 3, ii, 11 as part of public safety. It was stated by your office that public safety agencies were spared from these cuts. So why did the MNRP suffer such a significant reduction?

In the best interest of the public, the governor's office is continuing to pass and enact laws that would help clean up and protect the Chesapeake Bay. The health of the Chesapeake Bay greatly affects many aspects of our state and its citizens. Your office is also striving to establish green initiatives to better serve the general public and save energy. In addition, private lands are still being purchased to preserve our rural areas. If the MNRP continues to be reduced who will be left to enforce these laws and initiatives that protect our wildlife and open spaces? The MNRP is the primary agency that protects our state's natural resources and enforces the laws designed to make sure what we have continues to exist. The loss or further reductions in this agency will deeply affect all the citizens in our wonderful state. As the law enforcement community in the state now exists there is no other agency that is prepared to take over the functions and provide the protections that are currently being provided by the MNRP.

The MNRP have taken a substantial reduction already. It has lost 29 vacant law enforcement officer (LEO) pins and two public communication officer positions. The loss of these vacant positions is hard to understand when the agency had been placed under a 29 Officers 3 Aviation Cutor old topics! hiring freeze which prevented it from hiring the work force needed to do the job properly. Subsequent to this loss, Colonel Johnson sacrificed two actual peoples' jobs in order to try to save five new hires in our new academy class. This reduction has decreased our numbers to 249 authorized law enforcement officers. When this agency was at its combined strength of MNRP and Maryland Park Rangers, it had 451 law enforcement officers with a support staff of 58 civilians to protect our natural resources and enforce conservation laws. As an agency we are empowered to protect all forms of Maryland wildlife and the Chesapeake Bay with its vast variety of fish, crabs and oysters. In additional this agency is charged with the enforcement of our state's park laws and regulations which protect the thousands visitors that visit our state parks every year. Futher this agency ensures boating safety for all who travel the many waterways. Perhaps one of the most critical aspects of this police agency's tasks in our current troubled time is the responsibility to protect the multiple Homeland Security sites along the Chesapeake Bay. These sites include Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant; the liquid natural gas platform and storage facilities located in Calvert County; the new National Harbor; the Piney Point petroleum terminals; and the many bridges our citizens use every day. It is the responsibility of the MNRP to ensure that all these sites are protected.

It is time to take action to protect the MNRP. This agency is charged with the protection of Maryland's many natural, cultural, historical and recreational resources. It is this agency that provides boating safety on the Atlantic seaboard; the many lakes in the state; and the Chesapeake Bay with its tributaries. It is this agency that is the lead agency for the Homeland Security along our coast lines. The MNRP are on constant guard to protect Maryland's many resources. We are a service-oriented organization that you can see in action. Often we can be seen doing this alone due to our dwindling numbers. You will see us working on big and small patrol boats, patrol vehicles, ATV'S or on foot. As our numbers dwindle, we frequently are working by ourselves as we are asked to cover as large and area as possible. This frequently puts us at risk as we have no back up should something happen. We are a group of proactive officers who are dedicated and loving our jobs. We want to protect the natural resources of this state but we are limited in what we can do as a result of the continue loss of personnel. It is our hope that you, as Governor, and your staff can find some means of protecting Maryland's oldest (1868) and only statewide Conservation and Boating Law Enforcement Agency. We are serious about protecting the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, as well, our Homeland Security sites. We are serious about protecting the residential and migratory waterfowl, protecting the blue crab and the bay oysters, the many species of fish in our waters and the varied wildlife, as well as it many other natural resources. Can this state afford to lose their only Conservation and Boating Safety Law Enforcement Agency?

At the Board of Public Works hearing on October 15, 2008 many new construction projects were approved. The Department of General Services approved the construction for a Montgomery County, Rockville District Court House new construction $59,939,300.00. In addition, the DOT/MTA A/E Statewide Contract Comprehensive Traffic Engineering and Miscellaneous consulting services was funded at the cost of $10,000,000.00. In the document distributed at this hearing, there are 20 pages new construction projects with a total cost of approximately $300,000,000. In light of our currently financial crisis would it not be in the best interest of the citizens of our state to limit these new endeavors to only those that are the most critical. Deferring these projects would assist in reducing the massive deficit we are facing and put the best interest of our natural resources; our preservation of our rural nature and the protection of our public lands above buildings.

The state cannot continue to spend money it does not have. However, it must always remember that the protection and welfare of its citizens and its resources are of prime importance. The construction of new building should not take precedence over continuing to employ state workers whose function it is to protect what we already have. The purchase of additional land by the state needs to be carefully examined. It is more important to add more land and lose those who are charged with protecting it or should be first make sure that what we are about to buy can be protected when it becomes state lands. Would it not be in the best interest of all of the citizens in our state to put an immediate freeze on all new building and purchases of land until our financial picture has improved? Most citizens would agree that preserving essential employees who protect not only our safety but the safety of our natural resources, should be a top priority.

Aviation Unit Cut

It also appears that this agency is slowly being dismantled. This cannot be allowed to happen as no other agency is trained to do what we do. Last year a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and the Superintendent of the Maryland State Police, which took away part of our investigation unit's responsibilities (the Part One Crimes) in the parks. This responsibility was given to the Maryland State Police. In addition, the governor's office has proposed taking away one of our widely used tools, the MNRP Aviation Unit. This unit is not only used for conservation efforts, it is used in search and rescue efforts; enforcing boating safety; and to assist in marijuana eradication programs in connection with multiple police agencies. The State Police helicopters primary mission is Medical Evacuations from accident scenes, as they are currently operating they will never be able to dedicate themselves to performing the multiple functions of the MNRP Aviation Unit.

We, the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodges 8, with our brother and sisters Natural Resource Police officers need for you and your office to make a commitment to strongly protect the Maryland Natural Police Agency. The Maryland Natural Resources Police is currently the primary force in the state charged with the protection of its natural resources through conservation which are cherished by all the citizens. It also is the only public safety agency that actively protects the safety of our citizen's while on the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and its many tributaries.

In conclusion, if the devastating reductions in the Maryland Natural Resource Police Agency are not stopped, we will no longer continue to exist. Currently, the Natural Resource Police, the principle enforcement branch of the Department of Natural Resources, has been reduced from 451 Law Enforcement Officers in 1990 to only 249 today.

There is the promise of a 16 new recruits to start in January 2009, from the 30 positions you gave us earlier this year. These two classes do not begin to make up for the losses we have incurred. The Maryland Natural Resources Police is an aging agency with more retiring officers than we are currently hiring. If this agency no longer existed what would happen to the safety of our citizens while on the waters of the state and who will protect all our natural resources from further destruction. The citizens of the State of Maryland deserve the right to have an active, vital agency that is charged with primarily protecting and conserving all our natural resources as well as the public's safety when on the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

With a concerned hearts, sincerely,

Michael P. Dyson

President Lodge 8 mdyson@mdfop8.com