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

Executive Committee

Chair & Treasurer: Dennis Burge
Vice Chair: Steve Smith
Secretary:
Conservation Chair -
Outings: Dennis Burge
At Large: Paul Colter, Donna Leech, Stan Haye

Web Stats

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

Outings:

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

Apr 20 (Sat) FLOWER HIKE (Mill Creek, max elev. 3300+ft, 900+ ft elev. gain, 4+mi RT) This is a nice hike to an area which has had abundant wildflowers in the past. There may be some even this year. But it also is a hike into a beautiful drainage which has many natural delights besides seasonal flowers. There are still pools and sycamores. There are rumored newts (little salamander-like things, with gills) in the pools, and wild cucumbers (not really edible) most years. We can stop 2 mi in at a nice viewpoint with a spot with bedrock mortars called Indian Pothole Rock, or go on a bit further for more exercise and better views. This will be an easy hike and a great photo opportunity. Meet Sat, Apr 20, at 7:30 AM at the Ridgecrest Cinema parking lot. For more information, call Dennis Burge at 760-375-7967 or Jim Nichols at 760-375-8161.

May 18 (Sat) LAMONT POINT (South of Chimney Meadows along the PCT, 7621 ft max elevation, 2100 ft gain, 9.6 mi RT) Nice views of the Kern Plateau to the west and Sand Canyon to the east from this local high point along the PCT. Lamont Point has a "memorable" summit surprise. Moderate hike due to distance. Meet Sat, May 18 at 7:30 AM at the Ridgecrest Cinema parking lot. Call Dennis Burge at (760)375-7967 or Jim Nichols at (760)375-8161 for more info.

June 15 (Sat) LONG LAKE SCENIC AREA (In a western amphitheater of the Cottonwood Basin, along the New Army Pass trail, 11145 ft max elevation, 1500 ft gain, 10.5 mi RT) Beautiful Long Lake, nestled in a arm of the Cottonwood Basin, makes a fine objective for a day hike in the Basin. Hikers usually speed past it on their way to or from New Army Pass. But Long Lake and its neighbor lakes are scenic, photogenic, and inviting. This is a moderate/strenuous hike due to the distance, but a bit easier because of the low net altitude gain. Meet Sat, June 15 at 7:30 AM at the Ridgecrest Cinema parking lot. 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. Marty won a very prestegious award from BLM for her work with volunteers and special projects! Yeah! (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!! Monument Management Plan has been released.
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. Forest Planning is ongoing now.

Sequoia National Forest contact points, etc; Just started revision of the 1988 Forest Management Plan. See their web page to get in on this

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.

California State Parks Who knows what the newest budget will do to our Parks...

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. Kelso Depot is OPEN as a Visitor Center- drop by to see this most elegant building in action. Lunch counter is now serving too. Great displays.

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

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 2/13