Graduation Speech Season!

May makes me giddy, because I love to track the line-up of celebrity graduation speeches. Most are not noteworthy, but there's usually one or two worth checking out.

This year, I marked Amy Poehler's speech at Harvard on my calendar, video above. She calls Harvard grads "wicked smott" and has many funny lines.

The gems of past years include Samantha Power's inspirational speech and Will Ferrell's hilarious one, where he pretends to arrive at a boat show, dressed as a captain.


I started my hobby of following graduation speeches when I first read Will Ferrell's address at Harvard's Class Day in 2003. Text link. Video link.

If you have the graduation speech fever like me, here's a link to CNBC post on "The 10 Best Graduation Speeches."

Summers Meadows

Photo: Summers Meadows property on Twin Lakes near Yosemite National Park.

In an effort to explain The Conservation Fund and my job, here's an example of one of our latest projects we completed: Summers Meadows, California.

On the eastern edge of central California between Yosemite National Park and Bridgeport, the 880-acre Summers Meadows property was the largest single private property within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest on the east slope of the Sierra Nevada Range. The property on the glacial Twin Lakes with a view of towering mountains is important for backpackers, hikers and campers and the protection of Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep, deer, grouse and quail.

Photo: Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep

During 2009-2011, our southwestern director worked with a willing-seller landowner and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in order for the property, a priority for the agency, to be transferred to the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

In order for the USFS to buy the property, they needed $2.4 million. The USFS cannot contract or buy from a landowner until they have the money in hand, and the money comes from Congress during its yearly appropriations bill. While USFS can list a project in its budget, federal agencies are prohibited from lobbying for funding.

This is where The Conservation Fund comes in. The Fund can contract with landowners and lobby. The USFS approached us and asked for our help. Our non-profit's mission is to conserve land on behalf of agency or private partners and this deal fit. We spoke with the landowner and negotiated a contract with him, securing the deal for a time.

I am The Conservation Fund's "western lobbyist," so I met with the staff of California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and told them about the opportunity for USFS to purchase this priority parcel in their state. We had several meetings over the years and I would bring in photos and fact sheets and discuss real estate/legislative details in order to compel them to request funding for this project. It's a beautiful project, but A LOT of California is beautiful, and many projects were competing for funding. The Senators would select only a few conservation requests.

During the Spring of 2010, Senator Feinstein sent in a request Congress to appropriate the money. In the Fall of 2010, Congress passed its "Fiscal Year 2010 Appropriations Bill," which included a line-item for $2.4 million for USFS to acquire Summers Meadows. A large real estate deal like this takes time, and The Conservation Fund spent the next months finalizing the details so that USFS could purchase the land. In March 2011, USFS bought the property and it is now in public ownership. We celebrated.

Photo: Summers Meadows, California!!

I work on dozens of these western conservation deals a year, which is very rewarding. I enjoy working with an expert staff, learning the process, and visiting Capitol Hill to discuss these important, beautiful, land and water saving properties. Each project has up to hundreds of components and nothing is guaranteed until the project is completed. Changing politics and the risks of land deals keep us on our toes through this month-to-month, year-to-year process. Each time a property is protected is truly a success to be celebrated. The Summers Meadows property is now YOURS! It is public land.

Link: News story about Summers Meadows.

Paul Simon Invites DC Patent Lawyer to Sing with Him

Photo: Paul Simon in concert in DC last Wednesday. Photo by John Sisk, Washington Post

Sometimes wonderful moments happen in DC. The other night Paul Simon and a patent lawyer created one.

During Simon's concert at DAR Constitution Hall last week, he seemed to have difficulty remembering the words to his song "Gumboots" from Graceland. A patent attorney in the front row shouted out the words and Simon invited him to sing the rest on stage.

Enjoy this hilarious display of talent! Could you sing the rest of this song?

Fan's lawyer photo

Full story here.

Appalachian Trail Days

Despite living in Virginia for three years, I've never been to the western side of the state (it's over six hours away). After a week of 12+ Capitol Hill visits, I'm ready to hike other hills, specifically the Appalachian Mountains and the Appalachian Trail. Tomorrow I head to Abingdon, VA, in the western tip of the state to attend the Appalachian Trail Days and the Partnership for the National Trails System conference.

I'll present on The Conservation Fund's work to protect the Appalachian Trail and dozens of other trails around the nation. For instance, this week I lobbied with the guy in charge of the North Country National Scenic Trail, which runs through seven states, from New York to North Dakota. You may have never heard of it, but it's twice as long as the AT, 4,600 miles.

Mainly, I'm ready to hang out with hikers and see more of this "great outdoors" that I spend so much time indoors talking about.

Photo: Parade for the Appalachian Trail in Damascus, VA. This year's parade will take place on Saturday.

Supreme Court Mock Trial

Photo: Justices Alito, Ginsberg and Sotomayor residing over the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Supreme Court Mock Trial performance. Photo by Wall Street Journal's Jess Bravin

Last month I attended one of my favorite events of the year, the Shakespeare Theatre Company's "Supreme Court Mock Trial." It's an event where the best lawyers in the nation use the "facts" of a play to argue an issue before a Justice. A few years ago attorneys debated whether Hamlet could plead the insanity defense in his killing of his step-father (if Hamlet was still alive), presided over by Justice Kennedy. One one hand, Hamlet knowingly plotted out the murder...on the other hand, Hamlet talked to ghosts!

This year's event debated an issue from Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, a political themed play. THREE JUSTICES presided this year, more than ever. The panel also contained four other famous judges. Since this is D.C., where I always have the sense that there are more lawyers in D.C. than skiers in Colorado, the event sold out within the first 10 minutes. I was glad to get a ticket! Since the Supreme Court does not allow cameras, to see the Justices is a rare treat. To see them seriously question a facetious play was a comical experience.

More about the event at WSJ.


The recent movie version of An Ideal Husband is pretty good.

Easter in Ohio

Celebrity Trees

Image: "Cover" from The Onion Magazine

I meant to post about trees on Arbor Day last week, but we're still celebrating Spring, so here's a tribute to trees, via a great article on Slate about celebrity trees, like the Joshua Tree on the U2 cover and General Sherman, the giant redwood in California.

I learned that the Mormon's gave the Joshua tree its name because they likened the trees' skyward-crawling branches to the hands of the biblical character Joshua leading them to the Western promised land.

Photos: Joshua Tree National Park, November 2010 trip, Cotter

Photo: Grant's apple tree

The article did not cover Grant's apple tree, which will surely make the celebrity list once it grows and Grant becomes a famous conservationist because he was inspired by his tree :).

Link to Celebrity Trees article.

Peeps Diorama Contest Winners 2011!

Washington Post has posted their Peeps Diorama contest winners! This year's winners include the Chilean mine, cherry blossom peeps, and movies like Inception and The King's Speech.

Gettysburg

Photo: Gettysburg pajama pants. Historic military battle pink plaid fleece pants are funny to me.

If some of the people in this photo look extra Parks-y, it's because that's the Director of the National Parks Service, Jon Jarvis (beige hat), with Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar (middle) and The Conservation Fund team.

On Friday I attended work at a golf course. However, no golf. Instead, we celebrated The Conservation Fund's accomplishment of assisting Gettysburg National Military Park in acquiring a 95-acre golf course/country club located on an important historic site of Day 1 of the battle, one of the largest remaining unprotected parcels.

In March 2010, it appeared that the property was headed for a worst-case scenario in terms of battlefield preservation: a developer bought the property and created a development concept plan for over 200 housing units on the site.*

The Conservation Fund worked to successfully negotiate an option with the developer to acquire title to the land, and subsequently conveyed it to the Park Service. National Park Service intends to restore the landscape to its historic 1863 setting, in preparation for the upcoming anniversary of the start of the Civil War.

For more about this project see this link and for more about battlefield protection, see this link.

Photo: Robert E. Lee word searches, gift shop

D.C. Sunrise

Photo: D.C. Sunrise. Morning run in Virginia through Theodore Roosevelt Park. 3/22/2011

Daughter of an Irish Citizen

Congratulations to Ireland's newest citizen - my Dad! He received his citizenship on St. Patrick's Day. I think the requirements included having a grandfather who was born in Ireland and telling the leprechauns to color the milk and pancakes green every March 17.

We celebrated with a Cotter-style Irish party last night :)

Photo: some of Dad's siblings/future Irish citizens. We toasted with green champagne.

I made pickles shaped like shamrocks.

Historic Trails in KC - Santa Fe, Oregon and California National Historic Trails

The Santa Fe, Oregon and California National Historic Trails all run through the Kansas City area. On Monday, I toured some of the historic sites with the President of the Santa Fe Trail Association. Many of the sites were near where I grew up and where my parents live now.

We first visited Minor Park and to view some of the trail swales by Red Bridge. I grew up biking in Minor Park and had never realized the trail history. I had to ask what a "swale" was - it's the remnants of where the trail went through! We drove by some sights near the old Bannister Mall (now demolished) and Hickman Mills H.S. (now closed). It was a drive down memory lane for me. We then drove to Olathe and saw where the people would camp after a 1-2 days journey after stocking their wagons at the trading post in Westport (now Kelly's Bar!).

We visited Gardner, KS, where the Santa Fe trail splits from the Oregon/California trails.

Map: Trail sites in KC. Minor Park, Red Bridge Crossing, Lone Elm Campground and others.

Map: Santa Fe Trail. "In 1821, the Santa Fe Trail became America’s first great international commercial highway, and for nearly sixty years thereafter was one of the nation’s great routes of adventure and western expansion." - Santa Fe Trails site.

I'm excited to learn more about trail history in Missouri, Kansas and beyond. You can learn more, too, at the Santa Fe Trails Association, Oregon/California Trails Association and Partnership for the National Trails System sites. Or if you're in KC, you can visit some of the sites for yourself!

"Great Outdoors" Meeting in KC

Photo: Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, by Chris Oberholtz/The Kansas City Star

It didn't realize the irony in traveling from DC to KC for a conference until I talked to someone in KC who said, "Oh, you're from DC? I just attended a conference there last week!"

I gladly traveled to KC this week for the Wildlife Management Institute conference, where I spoke about all things FLTFA, hung out with a bunch of sportsmen, and highly enjoyed reminiscing around Crown Center, a kids' paradise where I spent my youth dazzled by the fountains, theaters, Crayola store, visitor's center and everything Hallmark.

On Wednesday, another DC-ite came to KC, the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, who spoke about the importance of protecting the "great outdoors," even in a time of economic downturn and war.

He provided the examples that during the Civil War, Lincoln signed the first declaration to set land aside for recreational use, which led to the establishment of America's first national park, Yellowstone.


During the industrial revolution, Theodore Roosevelt orchestrated one of the greatest conservation movements to protect the nation's forests, rivers, and treasured lands from industry decimation, including establishing Grand Canyon National Monument, Mesa Verde, Petrified Forest and Devils Tower.

During his first visit to the Grand Canyon in 1903, TDR famously stated:

"Leave it as it is.You cannot improve upon it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it. What you can do it to keep it for your children, your children's children, and for all who come after you, as the one great sight which every American...should see."

In the 1930s during the times of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps, creating jobs that built many park facilities, reservoirs and other recreational sites. New parks and monuments during Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency included Great Smoky Mountains, Joshua Tree, and Olympic National Park.
To read more about the Secretary's new "America's Great Outdoors" plan, see this site.

The Secretary also announced a new website to encourage youth employment and activity in America's great outdoors. See www.YouthGO.gov

It's All Fun and Games til Someone Loses an Eye

Photo: Royals' mascot, Sluggerrr

In KC news, this month the Royals' mascot, Sluggerrr, faced trial for allegedly hurting a fan's eye when he threw a hot dog around his back and into the stands.

The fan says he suffered detached retina in his left eye from the incident, and has subsequently developed a cataract in the injured eye.

This led to Sluggerrr testifying in court! He brought his mascot outfit to the stand and set it at his feet. Sluggerrr said he usually made eye contact with someone before sending a frank their way. During cross examination, the attorney showed Sluggerrr video of a toss he made during a 2009 game and invited him to discuss the hot dog’s “arc” and “velocity” as it sailed away.

“I would try and put more mustard on it,” Sluggerrr said. “I guess that’s appropriate for a hot dog.”

Best hot dog testimony ever!

Sluggerrr won the case. A win for the Royals!!

(More about this story here and fun legal analysis by TortsProfBlog here).

Cruising in my Grandparents' Oldsmobile

In KC for the week, for work. I planned on renting a car, but I waited until the last minute and the prices jumped sky-high.

This led to the opportunity of driving my grandparents' Oldsmobile for the week, which with its couch like front-seat, A.M. radio and general pudge.

The car is my uncle's* now, but I still liked to think of it as "my grandparents Oldsmobile" and remember all the fun times I had with them cruising KC.

*Thanks for letting me borrow the car!

St. Patrick's Day Parade/Dog Show in Alexandria

Photo: Alexandria St. Patrick's Dog Parade, photo by FidoJournalism.

On March 5, Alexandria hosted its annual St. Patrick's Day Parade/Dog Show, kicking off March's Irish celebrations way in advance of St. Patrick's actual feast day. Tom and I attended, along with some co-workers to enjoy the festivities.

Photo: Dog/owner look-alike competition winner

Photo: Owner/dog matching hair competition

Photo: Irish dog


No Irish parade would be complete without an Irish car - the DeLorean!

Health Trends - Mr. Potato Head

Photo: Action Adventures Mr. Potato Head

Mr. Potato Head is the last "person" I expected to lose some weight this year, but he did. Nice job. This is for real. He is now thinner.

Photo: Action Adventures Mrs. Potato Head. She is thinner now, too.

Photo: Mr. Potato Head new slimmer version (left) and older version (right). Credit: Time/Hasbro

Cafeteria Trends

Capitol Hill has seen many changes this year, and another went into place this week in the cafeteria. After four years of biodegradable and/or recyclable food and beverage packaging, on Monday the House switched to using styrofoam for its food containers and non-biodegradable utensils. Some have called it the House's "return to the mid-1990's" program.

Sad news. I can appreciate each party's manuevers to try to out-best each other, but one party implementing styrofoam in the cafeteria to irk the other party's tendency to care more about the environment hurts everyone more than it helps. I can't find the exact number, but at least 10,000 people work on Capitol Hill and thousands more visit and eat at the cafefeteria each day, which creates a huge amount of waste that could be better managed if compostable and recyclable, in my opinion.



In another fascinating trend, did you know many college cafeterias no longer use trays? Most schools in the Washington region have gone "trayless" in at least one dining hall, and several nationwide have banned them altogether as part of an effort to encourage students to eat healthier.

"Without a tray, students have to be pickier during the first sweep of the cafeteria line and make trips back for more. It results in as much as 25 to 30 percent less wasted food, according to a 2008 study of 25 campuses by food services provider Aramark." More at Washington Post.

Sometimes You Need a Hat and a Hood

Tribute to Paul Cotter, and his first hike up Chautauqua in Boulder.

He actually insisted on hiking most of the way, contrary to these cute depictions of him swinging and shoulder-riding.

Sometimes you need a hat and a hood when you're a lil' person in Colorado.