Kern-Kaweah Chapter Owens Peak Group P.O. Box 1569 Ridgecrest, CA 93556

Executive Committee

Chair & Treasurer: Dennis Burge
Vice Chair: Steve Smith
Secretary: Stan Haye

Conservation Chair - Jeanie Haye
At Large - Donna Leach
Outings: Dennis Burge
Conservation: Jeanie Stillwell Haye
At Large: Joann Barbee

Meetings: are held monthly usually on 4th Mondays , 7:30 p.m.at the Maturango Museum, 100 E. Las Flores Ave, Ridgecrest, CA. and are open to all. Call Dennis (760) 375-7967 or Jeannie (760) 375-8973

Oct. 26 meeting cancelled and topic moved to Nov. 23.

Nov. 23 (Mon.), 7:30 pm. Stan and Jeanie Haye and a representative from the Mojave Region State Parks will give an update on planning for Red Rock Canyon State Park and on the State Parks situation in general.

No program in December.

Outings:

"All participants on Sierra Club outings are required to sign a standard liability waiver."

Nov 21 (Sat) FABULOUS MINER'S CAMP (a few mi NE of Ridgecrest in the Argus Range, 5000 ft max elevation, 2400 ft elev gain, 5.7 mi RT (maybe only 1300 ft elev gain, 4.2 mi RT, more about this later!). This cabin is a little visited treasure from a lost age. Historical and cultural aspects of these early times are documented here at this site in a most unusual fashion. Bring your camera. We have a known route, a moderate hike, but there is a possibility of an easier route. Watch for a hike reminder email, or call Dennis Burge at (760) 375-7967 or Jim Nichols at (760) 375-8161 for more info.

Dec 12 (Sat) GREAT TRONA SAND DUNE (5 mi NE of Trona, 3000 ft max elevation, 1100 ft elev gain, 5 mi RT) We will visit this unusual deposit of blow sand in the Searles Lake valley. We will learn how dunes can form in the most unexpected places. Looping on up and around, we will descend into an interesting drainage via burro trail. We will visit a peculiarly eroded canyon and explore the ruins of a mine and mill site. This will be a good photographic and physical workout for December. Easy hike. Call Dennis Burge at (760) 375-7967 or Jim Nichols at (760) 375-8161 for more info.

BLM is always looking for volunteers to help with various projects - contact Marty Dickes for more info, (760)384-5444:

To Kern-Kaweah Chapter page and Roadrunner Newsletter on-line

Back issues here too. Get ALL the news!!

Local and regional environmental Links

Giant Sequoia National Monument Planning Process - VERY important that you pay attention to what's going on!!
see at http://www.r5.fs.fed.us/giant_sequoia.index.htm

Owens Valley Committee keeping an eye on the Lower Owens River rewatering project and what's going on at the Lake. ***!!! December 6, 2006, WATER PUT INTO THE OWENS RIVER. !! The river is recovering nicely! Go visit it at any one of the bridge crossings.

Mono Lake Committee Links page - an incredible resource of links to birds, government stuff, everything about the lake, etc. etc.

Ridgecrest area BLM has some issues going right now. Check news.

Active Fire Maps - wanna see what burned this calendar year? Or where active fires are now in CA and NV. A most interesting map!! Takes a while to download.

Inyo National Forest page with lots of great info about the attractions nearby, planning documents, etc. Also place to comment about the proposed Roadless Areas in National Forests, Inyo wants to get into logging now too.

Sequoia National Forest contact points, etc;

Region 5 USFS You can get a whole bunch of info here, find out about Giant Sequoia National Monument, see what other issues are being worked on right now.

Giant Sequoia Natl Monument planning efforts

California State Parks Closure on hold, but visitor centers being closed! Our Parks are in very poor shape!!

National Parks ; revised front pages not much good - click on "in depth" button to get to the original pages with lots of info.

Death Valley National Park official web page

Death Valley Tourist Info lots of info, numbers, etc. which is not on the official DV page; done by Janet W.

Mojave National Preserve , lots of useful stuff on our lovely park. Major fires and floods hit the place lastAugust!! Kelso Depot is OPEN as a Visitor Center- drop by to see this most elegant building in action, finally!!

1. Meet the new Sierra Club President
http://sierraclub.org/currents/fahn.asp

2. Sierra Club 101, the long-awaited primer for new volunteers
http://sierraclub.org/101

3. A new Board of Directors list
http://clubhouse.sierraclub.org/go/committees/board_of_directors.asp

4. An updated volunteer leaders directory
http://clubhouse.sierraclub.org/go/docs/volunteerleaders.doc

5. A call for nominations for the 2007 board
http://clubhouse.sierraclub.org/go/committees/call_for_nominations_board.asp

6. New schedules for the Sierra Club Training Academy
http://clubhouse.sierraclub.org/leaders/training/

and the Sierra Student Coalition summer trainings
http://www.ssc.org/trainings.html

7. New talking points on forest fires and the horrendous energy bill.
http://clubhouse.sierraclub.org/go/talking/

8. New stories, art for chapter and group newsletters.
http://clubhouse.sierraclub.org/go/tools/newsletters/

To Kern-Kaweah Chapter page, and Roadrunner Newsletter on-line and links to local issue items

Sierra Club, California Chapters

The Sierra Club Home Page

Owens Peak Webmistress
Janet Westbrook

Updated 6/09