The last few days of April, Surfrider activists from across the country came together for our 10th annual Coastal Recreation Hill Day, meeting with members of Congress to advocate for clean water, healthy beaches, and resilient coastlines. It was our most highly attended Hill Days ever, with more than 180 activists from 28 states and territories participating in meetings with federal lawmaker!
This year, advocates in Washington and Alaska elevated the unique priorities and challenges facing Pacific and Arctic coastlines. Our amazing delegates met with eight congressional offices to discuss the urgent need to fully fund the BEACH Act, defend critical NOAA programs, and oppose expanded offshore oil drilling proposals that threaten coastal economies, Tribal sovereignty, fisheries, recreation, and marine ecosystems.
Our small but mighty Alaska delegation had a great meeting with Senator Murkowski’s office
For Alaska, we met with Senator Murkowski’s and Representative Begich’s offices and had great conversations about the devastating impacts the cuts to federal programs have been for Alaskans. In a state where a huge proportion of the land is federally owned, the economy is heavily reliant on tourism and fisheries, and where many communities can only be accessed by boat or plane, the budget and staffing cuts have been economically devastating. Cuts to NOAA programs, such as real-time oceanographic and weather data, literally put lives at risk. We emphasized the need for federal investments in coastal resilience, water quality monitoring, and habitat protection and how these investments directly support the communities, economies, and ecosystems that define our region. We also discussed the risks posed by new offshore drilling in Arctic and Alaska waters, while also underscoring the importance of Tribal co-management, sustainable fisheries, and protecting subsistence and recreation-based coastal economies.
Our Washington delegation held meetings with offices for Senator Murray and Representatives Larsen, Jayapal, Randall, Strickland, and Gluesenkamp Perez. Conversations focused heavily on protecting clean water at our beaches, supporting NOAA and coastal resilience programs, and ensuring nature-based approaches to erosion and climate adaptation remain priorities for our state.
Hill Day serves as a reminder that coastal advocacy is strongest when local voices are at the table. From the beaches of the Olympic Peninsula to Alaska’s Arctic coastline, our communities depend on healthy oceans and accessible shorelines. We’re grateful to everyone who participated, shared their stories, and helped ensure that Washington and Alaska, though far from D.C., are represented.
Huge shout-out to the incredible volunteers who make this happen!
A Florida native, Liz started her career as a marine biologist, working with sea turtles and commercial fisheries in the Florida Keys and spending her vacation time teaching at Duke University's marine science summer camp. While completing her master's degree in Sustainable Development & Conservation Biology from the University of Maryland, she taught sustainability to undergraduate students while also volunteering as a docent at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum’s Ocean Hall and leading overnight camps at the National Zoo. After graduating, she got hitched and moved out west, where she’s spent several years studying salmon and streams and trying to embrace this thing called elevation. She learned about Surfrider’s programs and campaigns as the Olympia Chapter’s Volunteer Coordinator before being hired on as the Washington Regional Manager. When she’s not supporting our five Washington chapters and three BC chapters in their amazing work, she likes to run on trails, bike around volcanoes, freedive, play frisbee, read in the sun with her chickens, play guitar when no one's around, and make maps. Liz has a special fondness for swamps, cypress trees, and thunderstorms, is recreationally obsessed with ocean sunfish, and will shamelessly eat any unattended leftovers.