Protect America's Environment: For Our Families, For Our Future
Box 3357, Bakersfield, CA 93385-3357
(805) 323-5569
E-mail: kern-kaweah.chapter@sierraclub.org
Conservation News
Help Preserve an Historic Trail
An historic cultural heritage Native American trail 34E24, an entry into Domelands Wilderness, needs to have documentation of hikes taken to maintain this access to the Sierra Nevada. If you have hiked the old Pacific Crest Trail in either direction in the past two years, (Cane Meadow, Sequoia National Forest, to the end of county maintained Fay Ranch Road, about six miles north of State Highway 178, in Weldon, CA) I would like you to document your hike. Please state the date and approximate time, the number of persons, the name, address and phone number of the leader and any other persons. If you hike this Trail in the next three years, please also send your documentation to me to verify the need for this trail.
Ara Marderosian, P.O. Box 988, Weldon, CA 93283-0988, sfa@lightspeed.net
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USE WASTE TO SAVE TREES
In addition to the environmental damage and the increase in risk of forest fires caused by logging, there is no need to cut down our National Forest habitats. Only 3.9% of our nation's total annual wood consumption comes from our National Forests and less than 5% of the wood is used for construction. There are hundreds of tons of useable fiber that are wastefully burned in our rice, sugar and other agricultural fields each year that could be made into all the paper we require. Burning any material is not only wasteful but it adds carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide to the atmosphere which increases the Global Warming gasses that increase global temperature and mutate sensitive species like frogs. If the National Forest timber sales program were ended, $25,000 could be paid to each public lands timber worker from the program's expenditures to retrain them for ecological restoration work. The leftover money could be used to reduce the federal deficit by $200 Million Dollars in the first year alone. On August 22, 1997, the Congressional Research Service confirmed the report, which contains these statistics, written by Chad Hansen of the John Muir Project. The proper use of agricultural fiber can prevent the continued destruction of our National Forests by the National Forest timber sales program. Tell your representatives that you want this costly, wasteful and destructive timber sales program to end. Ara Marderosian, P.O. Box 988, Weldon, CA 93283, (760)378-4574
To all Forest Advocates,
The previously announced Southern Sierra Nevada Forest Activists Conference scheduled for Jan. 30 in Lake Isabella has been cancelled. However, the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign is holding a Los Angeles Sierra Nevada Forest Activists Conference on Saturday, February 27, 9am-4:30pm at the Angeles Chapter office of the Sierra Club, 3435 Wilshire Blvd. #320 in Los Angeles. Agenda items will include a workshop on new science findings from the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project report with Louis Blumberg of The Wilderness Society defending the southern Sierra Nevada from timber cutting, road building, and other destructive activities, permanent protection for Sequoia groves, Forest Service regional plan for the Sierra Nevada, the Quincy logging bill and the regional planning process, fire management, and more!
This conference will be a great opportunity to meet fellow activists and learn how to be more effective forest defenders. If you are interested in John Muir’s “Range of Light,” this is an important event that should not be missed. We hope those who had planned to attend the Jan. 30 conference will be able to attend the Feb. 27 conference instead. If you do plan to attend the Los Angeles conference, please preregister so we will know how many lunches to provide. There is no cost for either the lunch or the conference. Please let us know if you have any particular needs such as babysitting at least a couple of weeks before the conference.
To preregister, please contact:
Bob Brister
Outreach Coordinator
Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign
PO Box 2808
Oakhurst, CA 93644
(209) 641-7427
sierra_outreach@friendsoftheriver.org
Around the Chapter
Mineral King Group Seeks Volunteers
If you are a member and live in Tulare or Kings County, and are ready to become more involved, the executive committee is the place to be. The Ex Comm provides vital functions such as organizing events and engaging in issues. Election of officers will take place in a future meeting. If you would like to serve on the Ex Comm call Mary at (559) 625-0287. Mary Moy
Kaweah Group also seeks volunteers, for their executive committee. The same group of people have been serving for many years, and would like to see some new faces. All meetings are held in Porterville, and are held several times a year. To volunteer call Theresa at 209-781-0594.
Help Chapter Save Money The Kern Kaweah chapter
newsletter, the Roadrunner, is now available at the Sierra
Club web site. We invite members who wish to view the
newsletter only on the web to instruct us to discontinue
mailing them hard copies. We will save $0.10 mailing costs
with each edition we do not send you, this could come to
over $200 for the entire chapter each year plus printing. We
will also save paper. The entire Roadrunner is on the web
at
http://www.sierraclub.org/chapters/kernkaweah/
If you wish to discontinue receiving hard copies, send an e
mail to:
alunger@juno.com Make the message: "Please
do not produce a label for me when the Kern Kaweah Chapter
orders newsletter labels." You must include your
membership number, as it appears on a Roadrunner label,
name, and address. If e mail is not convenient, please
mail your entire Roadrunner label to PO Box 3357,
Bakersfield CA 93385 Any one who wants an extra hard copy
anytime should call 805 323 5569.
Acting
Content Editor: Larry Wailes (805) 873-8060
Contributions of news, articles, press releases, opinion,
art and photographs (black & white), letters to the
editor, should be sent to: lewailes@lightspeed.net. Want to submit an article for the
Road Runner or express opinions? Suggested length: 650
words or less. That’s about a column or 2 1’2
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 owner’s 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.
Midgebuzzings
Four days ago (as this was written), in unexpectedly clear weather, I drove home from what had been an extraordinary two days with college friends in Los Altos Hills. The visit included an afternoon with the Christmas program at Filoli, a great estate turned public garden in the hills above Stanford University. One of our hosts has long been a docent there, and her understanding of the history of buildings and gardens is comprehensive. Our tickets allowed us a tour of the gracious interior and grounds of the estate, a concert by a first-rate choir, and our choice of many exquisitely hand-crafted gifts whose sale each year helps to support the amenities so enjoyable to people from near and far.
There is a great deal of undeveloped woodland in the hills above and around Stanford and Los Altos, and it is the intention of the university and of the residents to keep it that way. The happy consequence of this determination is miles of beautiful trails over hill pastures and through woods, leading, if one wishes to go so far, all the way to the sea. We spent the morning on some of those trails, three old school friends with hilarious shared memories of pranks, sweethearts, and all-night gab sessions, all with habits of daily walking that made it possible to cover a lot of ground before lunch.
That evening we were driven by the hosting husband into San Francisco for wining and dining, and for a performance of "Turandot" in the original opera house, which was successfully restored after the last earthquake to all its antique glory. First the hills, and then Puccini's lavish fairy tale made even more enchanting by the incomparable artistry of David Hockney's sets and costumes, all in primary reds and blues and yellows.
No wonder my journey back was so enriched by pleasant recall. At breakfast we'd enjoyed the entertaining stories of one of our company, an artist with a studio in Pasadena, who is acquainted with Hockney and with other luminaries from the worlds of art and entertainment from coast to coast. Besides, everyone so appreciated my gift of homemade peach and apricot jams that I was made to feel a kind of celebrity myself. The miles of Highway 101 flew by, and I was in Paso Robles before I knew it.
Now most of us know the dramatic transitions, in either direction, on Highway 46 - going to coastal California or coming from it. For some, as I have been told many times, the valley portion of that route is a rude shock after the experience of coastal hills, and of days, or even hours, of surf and shore. But for me there is another emotion altogether.
The valley floor is as flat as flat, and what I pass is not the stuff of garden estates or of Italian opera: sometimes something like an out-of-control and blazing flame from a vast underground store of natural gas; the bleak little settlement of Lost Hills; signs that mark the comically named Main Drain and Brown Material Roads; drab fields of picked-over cotton waiting to be plowed under. Yet the farther I go, the happier I get, for I am coming home, to a landscape that is mine, in the sense that the beauty of it moves me more and more the longer I am in it. I speak of the hills east of Bakersfield and of the mountains behind them. My favorite walking places now are in those hills, whose ancient soils have yielded up the greatest percentage of known marine fossils in the world, and whose shadowed folds and clefts murmur the history of earth as surely as a composer's finished staff suggests music to anyone with the ability to read it. To my mind, one day there in perfect light is worth a hundred misty mornings in coastal mountains.
Even as I write, I know that I will put down my pencil before I've added the finishing touches, because the sun has come out, and sunshine in December must not be wasted. The hills are waiting, and I am on my way to see one of the best sets ever designed. I will probably hum themes from "Turandot" as I have been doing for days, but the accompaniment will be from another orchestra altogether: gusts of wind in dry grasses, and the calls of valley birds. There is no finer opera house anywhere! © 1999 Ann Williams
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LOCAL SIERRA CLUB OUTINGS & EVENTS
These are local Kern-Kaweah Chapter, Sierra Club outings, except as noted.
Everyone is welcome; you need not be a Sierra Club member.
Space on some outings may be limited by the leader.
So as not to hold back the other participants, you should be in appropriate condition and have
appropriate expertise for the outing you choose.
Note that Sierra Club outings rules are in effect! Call (805) 872-2432 for
information about future outings.
Regular Events:
Thursday Evening Conditioning Hike
4-5 mile conditioning hike in the northeast Bakersfield area every Thursday evening to keep us in reasonable shape. Meet at 7pm at the Cadillac Ranch parking lot, just east of Mesa Marin. Call leaders, Eva or Gordon Nipp, at (805) 872-2432 for details.
Tuesday Morning Birding in the Bakersfield Area. Every Tuesday from 7:30 to noon, at various local birding hot spots. Novice to expert birders are welcome! For locations, call La Dona Matthews at Kern Audubon Society, (805) 831-5637. Please note this is not a Sierra Club event.
Special Events:
Feb 6, 9:00 AM Condor Group, Frazier Park. Snow stuff (Skiing or another section of Pacific Crest Trail. Meet at PMC Clubhouse or Flying J. Be sure to call first for final plans, 805-242-2009 or 242-0423.
Feb. 10 Wed. 6:00pm - Bakersfield Drop-in dinner with a few Sierra Club friends - Join Arthur and Lorraine at The Garden Spot, 3320 Truxtun Ave. (NW corner of Truxtun and Oak). All you can eat for about $7. Leaders will arrive at 6:00 p.m, you may arrive latter, the restaurant closes at 8. Look for the Sierra Club sign on our table. Call 323-5569 if questions. This is an opportunity for anyone, including non-hikers and currently inactive members, to talk about conservation.
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Feb 13-15, Sat-Mon Kern-Kaweah Chp/CNRCC Desert Carrizo Plain Study Trip & Car Camp/SE San Luis Obisbo Co: Join us w/Naturalist to explore, photograph & map proposed Caliente Mtn Wilderness Area. Explore Soda Dry Lake (good birding) & San Andreas Fault Zone. Trip will include: area's visitor cntr; Painted Rock (pictographs) & if conditions allow, an easy paced hike to Caliente Mtn (5106') and more. This BLM mgt area has some cattle grazing & is home to pronghorn antelope, kit fox, kangaroo rat & raptors. 2WD cars OK. Dry carcamp w/potluck, campfire, sing-a-long. Send lg SASE or e-mail w/rideshare info, H & W phones to Ldr: JOE FONTAINE, Box 307, Tehachapi, CA 93581, (805) 821-2055, joe.fontaine@sierraclub.org.
February 15 Mon., 7:30 pm - Owens Peak Group Monthly Meeting - Katie Wash of BLM will discuss the Sand Canyon Environmental Education Project and other BLM projects.
Meet at Maturango Museum, 100 Las Flores. Call Dennis at (760)3757967 or Jeanie at (760)3758973 for more info.
Feb 20, Sat. 7:30 am. An exploratory, moderate, cross country hike up one of the Panamint Valley west side canyons, likely Shepherd, Bendire or Revenue Cyn. Meet in Ridgecrest at Cal Trans Parking Lot, (corner of E. Ridgecrest Blvd & Richmond Rd) at 7:30 am. For info call Don, (760) 375-8599 or Dennis, (760) 375-7967.
Feb 21, Sun noon, Kern-Kaweah EXCOM meeting @ Arthur Unger’s house 2815 La Cresta Dr
Mar 6, 9:00 AM, Lockwood Creek Trail. Easy hike in riparian area. Good for birding and flowers. Children over 10 accompanied by adults are welcome. Be sure to call for final plans. 805-242-0423.
Mar. 6-7, Sat-Sun. – Death Valley Car Camp – Car camping with dayhiking in northern end of Death Valley in Racetrack area. Possible destinations include Ubehebe Peak area, mining camps, and Fall Canyon. Two wheel drive OK, but there are rough dirt roads. Call leaders Claus and Connie Engelhardt at (805)589-5196 for information and reservations.
Mar 13, Sat. 7:30 am. Climb Haiwee Ridge, the prominent ridge just east of Haiwee Reservoir. A moderate cross country hike, rugged ridge, and great views. Meet in Ridgecrest at Ridgecrest Cinemas at 7:30 am. For info call Don, (760) 375-8599 or Dennis, (760) 375-7967.
Annual Awards Banquet, March 13, Veterans’ Hall 2101 Ridge Road, Bakersfield, $17.00, Mexican Food, Program: Nevada Wilderness Slide Show, for information and reservations call Michele Hoffman, 661 835 8599.
Mar. 20, Sat. North Fork of Kern River Children's Hike Easy hike from the Johnsondale bridge to the falls (1.5 miles one way). Have lunch and return. Children welcome. Bring lunch and water. Meet at 8am at the Cadillac Ranch parking lot east of Bakersfield. Call leader Ann Williams at (805)324-1055 for details.
March 27-28, 1999 Sat-Sun CNRCC Desert/Kern-Kaweah Chp Southern Sierra Exploratory: 8 mi rt mod x-country hike into Pine Tree Cyn, transition zone betw Mojave Desert & S. Sierra Nevada. Perennial stream flows thu cyn floor strewn w/Buick-sized boulders, accented by small waterfalls & framed by 1,000' shear cliff walls. We usually spot golden eagle or falcon as well as high desert wildflower displays, as we make our way into the cyn. Car camp in Red Rock Cyn SP Sat night w/potluck & campfire. Sun, we hope to join ranger led hike in the State Pk. Send SASE, H & W phones, carpool info to Reserv: SANDY HARE, 22601 Valley View Dr, Tehachapi, CA 93561, (805) 822-0703. Co-ldr: Georgette Theotig, (805) 822-4371.
April 10-11, Sat-Sun. – Flock Together with Birds of a Feather – Enjoy a springtime car .camp as Audubon and Sierra Club members commingle at Audubon’s Kern River Preserve. There will be walking, talking, hiking, and birding aplenty. Bob Barnes and others will lead easy to moderate birding walks. Included will be an early Sunday morning walk for beginners as well as more avid birders. Potluck Saturday evening; so bring favorites to share. Hot barbecue grills will be available. Bring binoculars, scope, camera, boots, and dress warmly. For reservations and directions, call leader Mel Rubin at (805)831-3333.
April 23-25, Fri-Sun Angeles Chp/CNRCC Desert Panamint & Death Valleys Sampler: Hiking & driving tour with springtime wildflower poss. Meet in Ballarat ghost town Fri eve. Sat nite we'll car camp in Stovepipe Wells. Hiking will be easy-moderate. Trip will incl: charcoal kilns in Wildrose Cyn, hist miners camps, hike into Mosaic Cyn, Keane Wonder Mine, Titus Cyn, Scotty's Castle, Ubehebe Crater, the Racetrack. Street cars OK. Potluck, campfire. Expect $10 DVNP ent fee & $10 per nite camp fee. Send lg SASE, H & W phones, rideshare info to Co-ldr: RICH ABELE, 8442 Naylor Ave, LA, CA 90045, (310) 649-5403/H, (562) 982-2869/W, rich.s.abele@boeing.com. Asst: VERONICA GRAY.
May 8-9, Sat-Sun Angeles Chp/Toiyabe Chp/CRNCC Desert Owens Valley Desert Study & Car Camp: Sat, with Naturalist, MIKE PRATHER we'll tour Owens Lk wetlands, Lwr Owens R; learn how LA's DWP & Inyo Cty plan to manage Owens Lk restoration. Area is prime location for viewing seasonal neotropical migrants, waterfowl & shorebirds. Expl site of 1872 Lone Pine earthquake fault & visit hist Alabama gates. Sat eve potluck & campfire. Sun, leaders will provide Mother's Day breakfast. Afterwards easy-mod hike in nrby Alabama Hills (western movie site); opt trips to E Sierra Museum, Cerro Gordo Mine above Keeler. Expect $7 per night per vehicle camp fee. Send $5.00 (Sierra Club) for ldrs exp, SASE, H & W phones, carpool info to Ldr: BLAIR KUROPATKIN (Antelope Vly Grp), 3760 W Ave J-14, Lancaster, CA 93536, (805) 943-2603, blair@qnet.com. Co-ldrs: BARRY MC CORMICK, MIKE PRATHER (Range of Light Grp).
May 16 for training and May 17 (Monday) 3rd annual Sierra Club Lobby Day in Sacramento. If you are interested in participating call Art Unger (805)322-5569 or Glenn Shellcross (805)832-3382. More detailed information will be developed, but now is the time to start planning to attend. Food and some lodging assistance will be provided, but transportation will be up to us as individuals to work out. Early responses will help us to know how many will want lodging assistance and what kind of transportation arrangements to make. More next issue.
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OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE CHAIRPEOPLE
All but noted area codes are (805)
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Chair: Arthur Unger 323-5569
Vice Chair: Glen Shellcross 832-3382
Secretary: Ann Williams 324-1055
Treasurer: Larry Wailes 873-8060
AT LARGE:
Neil Fernbaugh, Kevin Royle, Mel Rubin, Georgette Theotig, Mary Ann Lockhart
RCC Delegates: Kevin Royle, Mary Moy
Alternates: Mary Ann Lockhart, Lorraine Unger
Committee Chairpeople
Membership: Lorraine Unger 323-5569
Historian: Ruth Allen
Political Committee Chair: Harry Love
S.C. Council Rep: Arthur Unger
Outings: Gordon Nipp 872-2432
KAWEAH GROUP (Porterville, area code 559)
Chair: Theresa Stump 781-0594
Vice Chair: Dianne Jetter
Conservation: Carla Cloer Outings: Jim Clark
MINERAL KING GROUP (Visalia & Hanford, 559)
Chair: Mary Moy 625-0287
Vice Chair: Neil Fernbaugh Secretary: Mike Stone
Conservation: Harold Wood Outings: Brian Newton
Treasurer: Janet Wood Membership: Nina Stone
Environmental Education & Computers: Harold Wood
OWENS PEAK GROUP (Desert area code, 760)
Chair: Dennis Burge 375-7967
Vice Chair: Steve Smith Conservation: Jeanie Haye
Treasurer: Dolph Amster Secretary: Helen Huntley
Outings: Don Peterson 375-8599
At Large: Dorothy Vokolek
CONDOR GROUP: (Frazier Park & Pine Mountain area)
Chair: Chester Arthur Outings: Harry Nelson
Historian: Marion Knapp Conservation: Kevin Royle
Membership: Barbara Matthews
Hospitality: Elsbeth Feldman Publicity: Karen Cotter
Treasurers: Jean & Ed Rustvold
Newsletter: Mary Ann Lockhart
SIERRA CLUB KERN-KAWEAH CHAPTER
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Bakersfield, CA 93385
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Acting Content Editor: Larry Wailes (805) 873-8060
Contributions of news, articles, press releases, opinion, art and photographs (black & white), letters to the editor, should be sent to:lewailes@lightspeed.net
Copyrighted articles, graphics and photos can only be reprinted with the owner’s 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.
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