As so many historic events do, it all started with a meeting at the Watergate. On a rainy but mild Sunday in mid-September, nine public lands activists gathered in an apartment at the once­notorious complex along the Potomac River.

We came without duct tape, but with enough olives, cheese, water crackers, red-pepper hummus, beer, wine and Milano cookies to see us through an afternoon of strategy, planning and preparation for the week ahead.

This Foggy Bottom confab constituted Day One of the National Public Lands Grazing Campaign's inaugural Autumn Stampede, a week of grassroots advocacy focused on the halls of Congress and their denizens.

Our group included Andy Kerr, director of the NPLGC; Mark Salvo (on loan from American Lands Alliance) and yours truly (on loan from Oregon Natural Desert Association), also with the NPLGC; Keith Raether, media director with Western Watersheds Project and coordinator of NPLGC's public information effort; Katie Fite, director of the Committee for the High Desert (formerly Committee for Idaho's High

Desert); and four representatives of the Great Old Broads for Wilderness: Libby Ingalls (president), Wendy Mimiaga, Connie Kay and Maureen Kielty

The goal of the Stampede was three-fold:

• Talk with members of Congress and their staffs about the ecological devastation wrought by domestic livestock grazing on publicly-owned lands in the arid West;

• Share with the same congressional members and staffs NPLGC's voluntary buyout proposal for federal grazing permittees as a fundamental way to reverse this devastation;

• Hand-deliver copies of George Wuerthner and Mollie Matteson's new book, "Welfare Ranching: The Subsidized Destruction of the American West," to as many House and Senate offices as time and upper­body strength would allow. (As devoted readers of the Watersheds Messenger already know, "Welfare Ranching" is a 7-pound, 348-page, richly photographed indictment of the federal grazing program.)

We nine Stampeders represented a fair chunk of the western states, where livestock grazing is most ubiquitous and pervasive: California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico and Oregon. With a day of orientation and planning behind us, we were eager to set out on the great Stampede, a week of meetings with the delegations of cattle-grazed western states.

I also set up meetings with key decision-makers at the U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service.

Each of the Stampede days adhered to a relatively consistent schedule: We gathered at a Capitol Hill coffeehouse at what some thought to be an ungodly hour. (It may have even been as early as 8:30 a.m., but then, Washington goes to work late.) We fueled up on assorted caffeinated beverages supplemented by baked goods of questionable nutritional value, reviewed the day's meetings and strategies, and packed all kinds of materials into all manner of carrying cases.

Watches synchronized, we set out on our respective morning rounds of meetings with stacks of "Welfare Ranching" in hand.

At lunchtime we regrouped to restock our individual supplies of "Welfare Ranching." Then we went forth to our afternoon meetings. Same game plan, same resources.

At 5:30 p.m. we met at the Wayburn Wilderness House near the Capitol for a daily debriefing session. (Many thanks to the folks at WWH for allowing us to use their conference room.) Notes from the various meetings were shared and compared, issues raised, follow-up actions proposed and logged. An hour or two later, feeling spent if not somewhat woozy from lots of meetings and not enough eating, we found our way to the nearest Thai or Ethiopian or Greek or Indian restaurant for a much-needed meal.

From time to time, our public information coordinator, who learned on Day One not to walk to work from the Watergate to Capitol Hill in sultry Washington weather, beat a retreat from the Hill to meet individually with reporters, editors and producers at various papers, news services and network TV offices. The D.C. media list started with NBC News and ended with USA Today, and though some contacts are temporarily assigned to a daily nightmare called the "War Beat," most indicated they'll continue to follow the public lands issue and federal buyout proposal. To a reporter, all were impressed by the scope (and size) of "Welfare Ranching."

Even with our regimen, every day of Stampede Week was distinguished by unexpected encounters, unique happenings and sundry twists and turns. Little did we know, for example, that many senators host weekly breakfasts for their visiting constituents.

This revelation afforded us a brilliant opportunity to personally deliver copies of "Welfare Ranching" to several Senate and House members. Katie attended a breakfast with Larry Craig (R-Idaho), Keith and Connie with Max Baucus (D­Montana), Mark with Gordon Smith (R-Oregon). The complimentary breakfasts also allowed some of us to vary our morning routine by eating different baked goods of questionable nutritional value - at no cost to the

campaign. Another Stampede moment to remember came at a constituents' reception hosted by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-California). During the reception, Boxer read from a list of names and affiliations of the Californians in attendance, one of whom happened to be Libby Boxer's announcement that a Great Old Broad was in the house met with a near standing ovation from the crowd of about 100.

The brightest highlight of Stampede Week arrived like a lightning bolt on the final day of our effort. Late in the afternoon we received a firm commitment from a highly respected member of the House of Representatives to introduce voluntary permit retirement legislation in the 108th Congress.

This congressman (whose name can't be revealed until he and his staff have the opportunity to further develop legislative language and strategy) is passionate about protecting public lands and equally passionate about finding a permanent solution to the current grazing calamity -- a solution that benefits taxpayers, livestock operators and the myriad plants and animals that rely on western wildlands.

Voluntary grazing permit retirement is such a solution, and we're honored to have the chance to work with this lawmaker as he prepares to introduce a bill in early 2003.

WWP and NPLGC's first crack at a grassroots lobbying effort was a resounding success. With an urgent issue to advance and an indispensable reference - "Welfare Ranching" ­- to back it up, nine activists were able to open many eyes in the nation's capital to the daily damage visited by domestic livestock upon America's public lands.

Equally important, the Stampede set in motion what we believe will be workable, innovative legislation that creates options for ranchers and a future for imperilled species and western landscapes.

Oh, and the Ethiopian food was pretty darn delicious, too.

Gilly Lyons, eastern representative for NPLGC, lives in Washington, D.C.

Editor's note: NPLGC will embark on a second Stampede sometime after the 108th Congress convenes in 2003. To learn more about participating in, or contributing to, the next Stampede - and to find out which senators provide the best baked goods -please contact NPLGC at glyons@onda.org or (202) 547 9267.