Letter to the Editor guidance

Its easy! Writing a letter to the editor is an opportunity to widely spread public awareness on important issues such Trump’s Executive Order attacking national parks, monuments, and public lands and oceans in your own voice.  

Newspapers generally limit letters to the editor to 150-200 words or less, so a concise but personal message is important.  Try to choose one main issue or personal experience to discuss related to the need for protecting national monuments.

Include your full name, home address, and phone number so the newspaper can confirm you wrote your letter. The newspaper will not print your address or phone number.

examples

National monuments threatened. Terry Dickey, Ashland Daily Tidings, May 3, 2017.

Help save our national monuments. Susan Roudebush, The Oregonian. April 30, 2017.

Oregon’s monuments need protection from logging. Michael C. Blumm, High Country News. May 4, 2017.

Sample

Feel Free to use the following for guidance in writing your letter.

To the editor,

I’m deeply disturbed by Donald Trump’s Executive Order attacking national parks, monuments and oceans.  Public lands and waters help define who we are as a nation.  This attack jeopardizes the uniquely American idea of safeguarding our natural and cultural wonders for the enjoyment of all.

For more than 100 years public lands, cultural and historic sites have been preserved as national monuments. These are places that today drive a thriving outdoor economy, that serve as family vacation destinations, and that raise the quality of life for nearby communities.  Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument is a hotspot of biodiversity, worth preserving for future generations.

In Oregon we love our public lands and monuments.  I urge Secretary Zinke to stand up for protected public lands and the people and economies they support.