[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 145 (Wednesday, September 18, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S6140]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                TRIBUTE TO HOPE PORTER AND MARIE RIDDER

 Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I rise to recognize two champions of 
Virginia's outdoors, Hope Porter and Marie Ridder, as they both 
celebrate 100th birthdays in the coming months. I offer these comments 
with the support of my colleague Senator Mark Warner.
  Hope Porter's activism and advocacy for open space dates back to the 
1940s living in Fauquier County, VA. Hope had the foresight to see that 
the postwar boom in growth and automobile travel would require new 
safeguards to ensure that growth was sustainable and would not erase 
what makes Virginia's historic Piedmont region a special place. Through 
leading a series of campaigns over many years, she helped pioneer land 
preservation tools that are known across America today, from zoning to 
comprehensive land-use planning to private conservation easements. 
Another legacy is an open space advocacy group, the Piedmont 
Environmental Council, which she helped found and which for over 40 
years has scrutinized proposed commercial ventures and asked tough 
questions while protecting hundreds of thousands of acres of Piedmont 
lands under conservation easement. Hope's love for Virginia's outdoors 
extends to her own land. She has protected 47 acres of Wildcat 
Mountain, a 200-acre farm near Marshall, and the farmland where she 
currently lives. Hope continues to follow Fauquier County government 
and shares her wisdom with a variety of current and aspiring leaders.
  Marie Ridder has been a one-woman force of nature on behalf of the 
outdoors in Virginia and beyond. She chaired the Virginia State Parks 
Commission and Virginia Council on Environment and served as vice chair 
of the Landmarks Commission of the U.S. Department of the Interior. She 
was instrumental in the growth of organizations like the Virginia 
Outdoors Foundation, Piedmont Environmental Council, Chesapeake Bay 
Foundation, the Nature Conservancy, Trust for Public Lands, and the 
American Farmland Trust. Her individual investments and land donations 
have literally shaped the landscape of Virginia, protecting countless 
farms and viewsheds and historic properties through conservation 
easements. She has influenced Presidents, Governors, and international 
leaders. She has given of her own time and resources and spearheaded 
efforts to mobilize other resources to protect open space. Any person 
walking or bird flying through the Virginia Piedmont has Marie to thank 
for the natural landscape they encounter.
  I will join Hope and Marie, together with their families and friends, 
as the Piedmont Environmental Council celebrates their leadership this 
Saturday, September 21. We will also celebrate that Hope and Marie have 
been friends for 70 years.
  As Senators and Governors, Mark Warner and I have supported 
preserving Virginia's open space for future generations to enjoy. 
Whenever we close the deal on a particularly beautiful parcel, we get 
to make a speech, cut a ribbon, bask in the applause. But those moments 
don't happen without years of effort and persistence from people like 
Hope and Marie--and the organizations they have founded and the dollars 
and hours they have put in over many decades. I wish Hope Porter and 
Marie Ridder a very happy birthday and celebrate their life 
achievements that will be felt in Virginia for 100 more years and 
beyond.

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