Box 3357, Bakersfield, CA 93385-3357
(805) 323-5569
E-mail: kern-kaweah.chapter@sierraclub.org
Cover Drawing by Georgette Theotig
Every Thursday Evening Conditioning Hike. 4-5 miles in northeast Bakersfield area. Meet at 7 pm at the Casa Ramos (formerly Cadillac Ranch) parking lot just east of Mesa Marin on Hwy 178. Call Leaders Eva & Gordon Nipp (661) 872-2432 or Larry Wailes, (661) 873-8060 for details.
Dec 4-5 (Sat-Sun) CNRCC Desert, Kern-Kaweah & Santa Lucia Chapters Carrizo Plain Study Trip & Car Camp, SE San Luis Obispo County. Contact Ldr: Joe Fontaine, (661) 821-2055, joe.fontaine@sierraclub.org or Asst: Cal French, (805) 239-7338, ccfrench@tcsn.net.
Dec 4 ( Sat.) 7:30 am. Nightmare Gulch hike, Red Rock Canyon State Park. Hike the "Jurassic Park" Montana Scene and Nightmare Gulch loop. A moderate 9 mile round trip, rough and rocky at times, with 800 ft elevation gain. Ridgecrest hikers meet at Ridgecrest Cinemas at 7:30 am. Others call Don; 760-375-8599 or Dennis; 769-375-7967.
Dec 11 (Sat) Come celebrate the Annual Christmas Party on 6:00 p.m. at the home of Tony and Michele Hoffman, 120 Portals Real, Bakersfield, 835 8599. It will be our club's usual pot luck with Michele providing a main course. To get there, go west on Stockdale High Way. At the Los Portales signal, turn right at the security gate. Someone will be there to open the gate. Drive to end of street. Any questions, call Michele. Hope to see you all there.
Dec 11 (Sat) Cross-country skiing Big Meadow, Sequoia National Forest. This day of skiing will be ideal for those who enjoy an easy day of skiing in beautiful terrain. Intermediate level skiers will complete a seven mile loop. Stacey Chicoine (559)734-8830 (Stacey Chicoine transferred to our chapter from the Tehipite chapter where she was an Inner City Outings leader. She has been an active hiker, backpacker and skier for 24 years.)
Dec 18-19 (Sat-Sun) Aububon Christmas Bird Count - Springville and Visalia area. Looking for volunteers to help with the census of local bird populations. No need to be an experienced birder, just need to help with a fun outdoor project. Information call Rob Hansen 559-627-5473 or E-mail at birdman@lightspeed.net.
Jan 15-16 (Sat-Sun) Montana De Oro State Park Car camping and hiking in a beautiful ocean park. Hiking in the hills above the ocean, tide pool exploring, birding, and enjoying the sunsets. Sat night luck dinner-bring food to share. May extend camping to Mon. if interested. Information call Theresa 559-781-0594.
Jan. 17 (Mon) Owens Peak Group Monthly Meeting. Ted Schade of the Great Basin Air Pollution Control District will speak. Meet at Maturango Museum, 100 E. Las Flores. 7:30 pm, Ridgecrest. Call Dennis at 760-375-7967 or Jeanie at 760-375-8973 for details.
Jan 28-30 (Fri - Sun) X-C Ski Tour in Sequoia Natl Forest. Intermediate or better X-C skiers come join us for a weekend of day skiing on meadows, mountains, and roads at "The Ponderosa" in Sequoia National Forest above Porterville. 6-8 mi RT, 800 - 1000 ft. gain. Fri night (optional) and Sat night sleeping accommodations will be at the leader's cabin at Camp Nelson. Includes 2 breakfasts and 1 dinner. Group size limited. Send 2 large (4 x 9) SASE, resume of recent skiing experience, H & W phones, rideshare data, and 2 checks (payable OCSS) for $20 (refundable at trailhead) and $35 (non-refundable to RESERV/ASST: Paulette Landers, 2740 Pine Creek Circle; Fullerton, CA 92835. E-Mail: cavebear2@aol.com
Feb 11-13 (Fri - Sun) X-C Ski Tour in Sequoia Natl Forest. Intermediate or better X-C skiers come join us for a weekend of day skiing on meadows, mountains, and roads at "The Ponderosa" in Sequoia National Forest above Porterville. 6-8 mi RT, 800 - 1000 ft. gain. Fri night (optional) and Sat night sleeping accommodations will be at the leader's cabin at Camp Nelson. Includes 2 breakfasts and 1 dinner. Group size limited. Send 2 large (4 x 9) SASE, resume of recent skiing experience, H & W phones, rideshare data, and 2 checks (payable OCSS) for $20 (refundable at trailhead) and $35 (non-refundable to RESERV/ASST: Paulette Landers, 2740 Pine Creek Circle; Fullerton, CA 92835. E-Mail: cavebear2@aol.com
Jan. 15 (Sat) Climb Slate and Searles Peaks, seldomly visited summits in the Slate Range. An 8 mile round trip, cross country hike to the 5093 ft summit of Searles Pk, with 2600 ft gain. Ridgecrest hikers meet at Cal Trans Park & Ride, at East Ridgecrest Blvd and Richmond Rd. at 7:30 am. Others call Don; 760-375-8599 or Dennis; 769-375-7967.
Feb 26 (Sat) Pinnacles National Monument. 7 mile loop through caves and over the high peaks of the mountains near Holister. Moderate to strenuous. Stacey Chicoine (559)734-8830
Mar 18-19 (Sat-Sun) Kern River Preserve- near Kernville. Car camping and hiking in the scenic beauty of Kern Valley. Bob Barnes will lead hikes exploring the South Fork area, the largest riparian forest in Cal. Bring food to share for Sat. night pot-luck dinner. Information call Bob Barnes at 760-378-3044 or E-mail bbarnes@lightspeed.net. or call Theresa, 559-781-0594.
Apr 1 (Sat) Sequoia National Park - Marble Falls is a lower elevation, moderate, all-day hike. This should prove to be a great day for wildflowers and rushing water. The falls are on a white marble bed with interesting formations carved out of the rocks. Stacey Chicoine (559)734-8830
Condor Gp Activities. For the year 2000, Due to conflicts with PMC group activities such as tennis club, the Condor Group's potlucks will be on the 1st Saturdays every other month and the hikes on the 4th Saturdays every month.
Kern-Kaweah Chapter Website www.sierraclub.org/chapters/kernkaweah/
Condor Group Website: http://www.frazmtn. com/~localtlk/SierraClub.html
For complete list of CNRCC desert outings go to: http://www.sierraclub.org/chapters/nv/rolgroup/text/desert.html
The ballots for the election to the 5 open positions on the Chapter Executive Committee will not appear in The Roadrunner until January 2000. This is due to there being only 4 candidates so far. If you are interested in running for the Chapter Ex-Com, please contact Georgette Theotig, 661-822-4371.
It is gratifying to see that many publications are helping to educate the public about threats to the environment. Take, for example, an article in the August issue of Popular Mechanics in which reporter, Jim Wilson, writes about a microorganism, Pfiesteria pisecicida (fee-STEER-ee-uh-piskuh-SEED-uh), that kills fish along coastlines from Delaware to Alabama. Scientists discovered the cause is in the water. Also, the scientists studying the problem suffered headaches, memory loss, and crushing fatigue while handling the affected fish. The research team leader, Joann Burkholder of North Carolina State University, is quoted: "Fish health and human health are more strongly linked than we ever thought."
In June the magazine reported that 9 species of salmon are now on the federal endangered species list, and fishery experts say the salmon are threatened because of logging and runaway housing developments altering the salmon's natural habitat. Also, bottlenose dolphins in Texas's Matagorda Bay have toxic levels of PCBs. People living near the bay may be at toxic risk if they eat its seafood. Also, the magazine reports that a 7000 square-mile "dead zone" in the gulf of Mexico can be eliminated only if farmers along the Mississippi River keep more of the fertilizer they put on their land from washing into the river and polluting the Gulf.
Environmentalists are often maligned in Kern County and surrounding areas for raising concerns about environmental degradation or endangered species. It is encouraging to see magazines, not known for reporting on the environment, yet evidently compelled to warn about human-caused threats to its well-being. We need and appreciate all the help we can get. As Sierra Club members, we believe that once people know and understand how our environment is being compromised, we trust they will support legislation and legislators that act to make our world a better place.
- Glenn Shellcross
A large "kettle" of Chapter members, friends, and guests were seen gathering the evening of Friday, November 5. The setting was Chateau Basque Restaurant for "Fall Chapter Dinner Social". for which 60 attendees enjoyed a delicious Basque dinner and enlightening program.
Recognition was given to 25 and 50 year members of the Sierra Club. Although none were present to receive a Certificate of Recognition, the following were recognized for their sustained 25 year support: Carol Raupp, John and Patricia Collins, GlennGregory, Claire Hemingway, Scarlett Renn, Robert Richmond, and for 50 years, Ann Reimers.
In addition, several new members joined the group for theevening. We heartily welcome the following: Phil and Phyllis Allin, Kim Anderson, Stacy Arambula, John and Diane Duggan, Kenneth Fry, Grant Hoffman, Lee and Bernice Huggard, Jerry and Penelope Kelley. Unable to attend were Kersten Britz and Steve Macias.
Happy Birthday was sung to Jim Clark, our Chapter Elder, who will be 93 years young on November 20!
Following dinner, Bob Barnes, our guest speaker, gave a lively and humorous slide presentation about the turkey vulture migration in California. Bob, who is the State Director of Bird Conservation Programs for Audubon California, is a master ornithologist and one of the organizers of the annual Turkey Vulture Festival in Kernville.
While we are aware of these gentle birds migrating over our heads each fall, Bob's inspiring words created a greater understanding of just how lucky we are to witness this grand migration each year.
If you couldn't join us this year, we'll see you next year for breaking bread with friends and enjoying another great program.
- Georgette Theotig
The Sierra Club published another document that contradicts the "will" of 60 percent of the membership of the Sierra Club for "no more logging" in the National Forests.
This document is "Comments on the draft environmental impact statement for the Herger-Feinstein Quincy Library Group Act," submitted by the Sierra Club July 26, 1999
The Quincy Project proposes to log a total of 300,000 acres, or 60,000 acres each year, in one-quarter mile wide swaths along the ridgelines in the Lassen, Plumas and Tahoe National Forests as a five year pilot project experiment to see if logging will reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires. This project would more than double the current logging rate for these forests. The growing body of scientific evidence proves that logging reduces the forest canopy cover and increases the intensity and severity of wildfire by increasing surface winds, by increasing solar radiation that causes increased forb production (grasses), by increasing fuels temperature and by decreasing fuels moisture.
The official Sierra Club comments ignore the science and the "will" of the Sierra Club membership by stating that "the Sierra Club urges the Forest Service to evaluate an alternative that would phase out commercial logging altogether over a period of 10 years or less." If this Sierra Club recommendation were carried out, it would permit the Forest Service to implement this destructive Quincy experiment and another logging experiment, equally damaging to the environment, in the next ten years.
If logging continues in the National Forests for ten more years, as suggested by this Sierra Club document, there would be little National Forest left in which the public could recreate and for the native species to inhabit. The impacts to water quality from this logging project alone would be reason enough for this project to be stopped. Ara Marderosian,Weldon, California
Among the finest experiences shared by backpackers are those enjoyed just before sunsets in the highest reaches of the great Sierra Nevada. In the last half hour or so of slanted light, granite peaks are illuminated with such radiance that very often watchers are made speechless by the sight - a daily benediction for the pleasure of which routine chores are rushed to completion and spectator seats are chosen with care. One of the first mountaineering terms a backpacker learns is the name of this phenomenon. It is the alpenglow and it is one of the reasons we are drawn to the mountains for as many years as we are able to carry a load and climb the trails.
Happily, we can experience alpenglow long past our backpacking days, as I did very recently from the deck of Gordon and Eva Nipps' mountain house-in-progress in Sequoia Crest, above Springville and deep among giant redwoods. Maggie Mountain and her craggy neighbors glowed warmly for us as we snuggled in our jackets and meditated, between sips of wine, upon the passing of time and upon advancing age that will eventually force all of us from the rigors of backpacking.
Shortly after that I had another sunset experience very different from alpenglow, yet so oddly similar as to prompt an immediate connection. I took Amtrak to Oakland to visit my friend Helen Fitch, who, having reached the age of ninety-three, has left her home in Bakersfield and gone to stay with her son, King Oneal and his wife Susie. The Oneals live in a lovely old home on a hill overlooking Merritt Lake and the city of Oakland, with a sunny patio in the back, just off a quiet winding street, and another in the front from which the bustle of the city is a constant fascination. Oakland was a surprise. I'm afraid I had come to think of it as the poor stepchild of San Francisco, and a bit of a joke after the national fun made of the "Ebonics" proposal by the Board of Education. But my host is a long-time resident and a real estate man who seems to know the history of every building in the metropolis. From the gorgeous new steel and glass train station in Jack London Square across the street from mayor Jerry Brown's work/residence of corrugated iron and glass, through the clean, bustling streets, from one beautifully renovated building to the next, I must confess that I was dazzled and delighted.
That evening Helen and I sat on the front patio watching the glass windows of skyscrapers all across the city catch fire from the setting sun. I introduced her to the term alpenglow, and since then have pondered a more appropriate name for city light from setting suns. But I think that there is none, and that the connection, itself, is the wonder: Sierra peaks, and skyscrapers, all aglow at the same time with the same fire, and close enough to each other to be enjoyed by the same person within two days. Only in California!
© Ann Williams, 1999
Officers and Committee Chairpeople
Executive Committee (All but noted codes are 661)
Chair: Glenn Shellcross, 832-3382; VC: Neil Fernbaugh, 559-798-0343; Sec: Bonnie East, 832-9775; Treas: Mel Rubin 831-3333; At Large: Arthur Unger, Ara Maderosian, Mary Ann Lockhart; Richard Garcia, Gordon Nipp.
RCC Delegates: Bonnie East, Glenn Shellcross;
Alternates: Neil Fernbaugh, Lorraine Unger
Committee Chairpeople: Membership: Lorraine Unger, 323-5569; Political Committee Ch: Harry Love; S.C.Cncl Rep: Arthur Unger; Outings: Theresa Stump, 559-781-0594.
Kaweah Group (Porterville, area code 559)
Chair: Theresa Stump, 781-0594; VC: Diane Jetter; Conservation: Carla Cloer; Outings: Jim Clark
Mineral King Group: (Visalia & Hanford, 559)
Chair: Neil Fernbaugh, 798-0343; V.C. & Outings: Brian Newton,627-3571; Secretary: Nina Stone, Conservation: Mary Moy; Treasurer: Janet Wood, Membership: Patty Booth; Environmental Ed & Webmaster; Harold Wood; Fundraising: Richard Garcia; Social: Bev Garcia
Owens Peak Group (Desert Area Code 760)
Chair: Dennis Burge, 375-7967; V.C.: Steve Smith; Conservation: Jeanie Haye; Treasurer: Dolph Amster; At Large: Dororthy Vokolek; Outings: Don Peterson, 375-8599
Condor Group (Frazier Park & Pine Mountain, 805)
Chair: Chester Arthur; Mbrship: Barbara Matthews; Outings: Ray Albridge & Harry Nelson; Conservation: Kevin Royle; Hospitality: Elsbeth Feldman; Publicity; Karen Cotter: Treas: Jean & Ed Rustvold; Ast Treas: M Albridge; Newsletter: Mary Ann Lockhart; At Large: Marta Bigler
Editor: Andy Honig (661) 325-0026. Contributions of news, articles, press releases, opinion, art and photographs (black & white), letters to the editor, should be sent to: andym@lightspeed.net.
Want to submit an article for the Road Runner or express opinions?
Suggested length: 650 words or less. Thats
about a column or 2 12 pages double spaced.)
Deadline: 15th
of the month BEFORE desired month of publication-mail
Copyrighted articles, graphics and photos can only be reprinted with the owners permission.
Published 12 times per year by the Kern-Kaweah Chapter of the Sierra Club, Bakersfield, CA. All non-copyrighted material printed in the Roadrunner may be reprinted in any Sierra Club publications with acknowledgement.
The Kern-Kaweah Chapter newsletter is available at the Sierra Club website. You can save the Chapter mailing costs and save a tree by notifying us if you want your paper copy discontinued. Please e-mail Lorraine Unger at alunger@juno.com with your name and your membership number (found on the label). Any one who wants an extra hard copy anytime call (661) 323-5569.
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