A lesson in grassroots advocacy
Have you heard of the Save the Drew Forest campaign? The answer, if you live in Madison or its surrounding towns, or if you went to Drew University, is very likely yes.
That is a credit to the volunteer members of the Friends of the Drew Forest, who have put on a master class in grassroots advocacy for close to a year in response to the university’s designs to sell a portion of the forest preserve to a housing developer.
By our count, supporters of the cause have spoken at every single Madison Borough Council meeting since last spring. They might as well be added to the council agenda alongside the minutes and flag salute.
Group members were a weekly fixture at the Madison Farmer’s Market, gathering petition signatures every Thursday before the market season ended in November.
What happened when the weather grew cold and the market closed? The advocates moved one town over to the Morris Winter Farmers Market, where they stand in the cold each Sunday to educate shoppers on the plight of the forest and its value to the ecosystem.
The group created a float for the Madison Christmas Parade that was simply a massive, mobile board displaying a huge QR code that directed onlookers to a Change.org petition that as of this writing had garnered more than 11,000 signatures to save the forest.
The clever display was as impressive as any guerilla marketing campaign. Maybe the cryptocurrency company that suckered many of us into pointing our phones at our TVs this past Super Bowl Sunday took a page out of the Save the Drew Forest playbook.
This past week, the Friends launched a Valentine’s Day e-card campaign, in which supporters were invited to share virtual Save the Drew Forest cards with friends or Valentines — and to send one to Madison Mayor Bob Conley as well.
Significantly, the group also got the governing bodies of Chatham and Chatham Township to pass resolutions, like Madison did last May, to formally support the conservation of the forest.
From tours of the preserve to Christmas caroling about ecology at a Borough Council meeting, there are countless other examples of the volunteers’ efforts.
All this is to say that we are impressed with the seemingly boundless energy and creativity of the Friends of the Drew Forest, whose spirited advocacy for the cause is now swaying governing bodies of other towns and bringing high-profile environmental experts to speak at Madison meetings.
Though the goal is as yet unfulfilled and the forest’s fat remains unclear, the campaign is as clear an example as any of the power of grassroots advocacy at the local level.
We are reminded of area residents’ efforts several years ago to oppose the Pilgrim Pipeline. In both cases, advocates have been aided by supportive and proactive municipal governments.
We applaud the relentless volunteers and encourage readers to sign their petition here: http://tinyurl.com/3cxawv8u. Learn more about the group at www.friendsofthedrewforest.org.