VT Sierra Club Public Lands Discussion and Hike at Vermont Law School

Bob and Taylor
Last week, thanks to Taylor Schaefer, the Sierra Club joined students from the Vermont Law and Graduate School Outdoors Club for an access to #publiclands discussion and the attempts to gut the #RoadlessRule. The event featured two VLGS alums who work for Sierra Club, Nat Shoaf, Environmental Law Program Senior Attorney, and Robb Kidd, Vermont Chapter Director. The event also included Alex Craven, Sierra Club Forest Campaign Manager, and Bob Galvin, Vermont Volunteer Coordinator, and Vermont Executive Committee Member Neil Gowsami (also a 2L student.) The event was sponsored by Sierra Club Conservation Campaign's America 250.
See here Taylor's thoughts on organizing the event:

When I was asked to help coordinate an event with the Sierra Club and Vermont Law and Graduate School, I was nervous but confident that we could pull it off. 

After connecting with the right people, momentum built fast. We worked well coordinating with the school and student organizations (Outdoors Club and International Comparative Law Society) to ensure everything was in place on the day of the event.

Since it was a joint event with multiple student organizations, we didn’t have a head count and I didn’t know how many people to expect. I showed up with the food for the event and hoped for a successful turnout. When I saw the number of people that returned from the hike, I was amazed because our combined group now numbered in the 30s.

The event itself exceeded my expectations. I can’t speak for the hike, but the speaking and eating portion of the event went really well. Students were attentive to the speakers and many chatted with the speakers afterwards. I thought it was clever to give away the shirts and stickers as a reward for them submitting public comments on the Roadless Rule. 

I am really appreciative of the Outdoors Club for leading the hiking portion of the outing, and for them and ICLS promoting the event within their organizations and campus-wide. I am also really grateful that the Sierra Club wanted to host an event with VLGS. I think this event benefited all who attended, and I hope that it opened the door for future collaboration! 

Best,

Taylor C. Schaefer
 
See the Facebook post for photos: