Box 3357, Bakersfield, CA 93385-3357
(661) 323-5569
E-mail: kern-kaweah.chapter@sierraclub.org
Cover Photo by Lorrraine Unger: President Clinton Dedicates Giant Sequoia National Monument
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) 861-1186 for details.
June 3-4 (Sat-Sun) Kern River Preserve Bob Barnes, <bbarnes@lightspeed.net> or call Theresa, 559-781-0594.
Jun 17 (Sat) Climb a peak in the Cottonwood Lakes area, possibly Wooly Back, a 12,840 ft peak east of Mt Langley. Meet at Ridgecrest Cinemas at 7:30. For more info, call Dennis 760-375-7967 or Don 760-375-8599.
June 17 (Sat) N fork of Kern River from Johnsondale bridge. Meet at 9 a.m. at former Cadillac Ranch/Casa Ramos Parking lot, just East of Mesa Marin. Leader Larry Wailes, 661-861-1186.
June 19 (Mon) Owens Peak Group Monthly Meeting. Meet at Maturango Museum,100 E. Las Flores. 7:30 p. m. Ridgecrest. Call Dennis at 760-375-7967 or Jeanie at 760-375-8973 for program. Supervisor Jon McQuiston's presentation will be rescheduled for the fall.
June 22, Thurs. 6pm Mineral King & Kaweah Group, get together at the Wildflower Cafe, 121 S "E" Street, in Exeter. Join the group for dinner and conversation. For more information phone Theresa 781-0594 or Beverly 592-9865.
July 7-9. (Fri-Sun) Explore the new Giant Sequoia National Monument. We will explore the southern end of the Monument the weekend after the Fourth of July. Friday evening will include an evening climb of Sunday Peak for an overview. On Saturday we will enjoy a drive along the Western Divide Highway, a view from the Tobias Peak Lookout, and an overnight camp at Frog Meadow. On Sunday we will hike along the old California Riding and Hiking Trail from Sand Flat to the Packsaddle Giant Sequoia Grove and back. For those who wish to stay until Monday there will be an optional climb of Slate Mountain. The trip will include two or three nights of car camping, moderate day hikes, or lounging around for the camp potatoes. Help us celebrate the new Monument in style. Contact leader Joe Fontaine for details. 661-821- 2055 or fontaine@lightspeed.net.
July 15, (Sat) Salmon Creek Falls from Horse Meadow on the Kern Plateau. Meet at 9 a.m. at former Cadillac Ranch/Casa Ramos Parking lot, just East of Mesa Marin. Leader Larry Wailes, 661-861-1186.
July 22-30 (Sat-Sun) Kearsarge Pass / Forester Pass. Explore the high Sierra lake basins and headwaters of the Kern River. Start Saturday for a 9-day sttrenuous backpack which will take us over Kearsarge Pass and Forester Pass, to Lake South America. Most of the trip will be above 11000'. Enjoy wilderness at its best: high mountain lakes, lush meadows, mountain streams, waterfalls, and wild flowers. Approx. 60 mi. R/T and 13,000' gain/loss. No beginners, no tigers. Bearproof container required. Send 2 large SASE, resume of recent backpacking experience, H&W phones, rideshare data, and 2 checks (payable OCSS) for $20 (refundable at trailhead) and $10 (non-refundable) to Asst/Reserv: Paulette Landers, 2740 Pine Creek Circle, Fullerton, CA 92835. Phone: 714-529-8154. Limit 8. Leader: Gary Landers.
July 29 - Aug 6 (Sat-Sun.) Piute Pass Backpack, This nine day outing will include some cross-country hiking into several lake basins west of Piute Pass. The trip is limited to eight well-conditioned, experienced backpackers. Call the leaders, Gordon and Eva Nipp, at (661)872-2432 for details and reservations.
August 12 (Sat) Packsaddle Cave. Meet at 0900 at former Cadillac Ranch/Casa Ramos Parking lot, just East of Mesa Marin. Leader Larry Wailes, 661-861-1186.
Aug. 15-18 (Tue-Fri) White Mountains car camp and possible climb of White Mountain Peak (14,000). Call James Geyer if interested. 661-837-8893.
Sept. 2-4 (Sat-Mon) Climb Telescope Peak (11,000) Death Valley. Good trail and bristlecone pines on the summit. Car camp at the trailhead. Call James Geyer if interested. 661-837-8893.
Condor Gp Activities. For the year 2000, The Condor Group's potlucks will be on the 1st Saturdays, every other month, the hikes on the 4th Saturdays every month.
The Kern-Kaweah Chapter Website is http://kernkaweah.sierraclub.org. There you will find links to the Chapter's Condor, Kaweah, Mineral King and Owens Peak groups and the current and back copies of The Roadrunner. If you wish to receive the current Roadrunner online, contact Arthur or Lorraine Unger at <alunger@juno.com>. Please specify whether you still wish to receive a paper copy of The Roadrunner by U.S. Mail.
The Forest Service released their draft alternatives on the Wild Forest Protection Plan - the historic initiative that could protect 60 million acres of our last pristine wild forests. The release kicks off a comment period that will last through July 17th with nearly 400 public meetings scheduled nationwide!
Unfortunately, the Forest Service's draft plan does not recommend full protection for our last wild forests. The preferred alternative does not end logging in unspoiled forest areas, but only prevents road building. Additionally, the plan does not protect the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. The Tongass is America's largest national forest and the largest temperate rainforest remaining on earth.
The good news is the Forest Service has recommended ending road building and has included policy options that could - if added together - protect the wild areas of our National Forests. That's why it is so important for Sierra Club members to comment on the plan and call for full protection of wild forests. The Sierra Club is organizing a massive effort to turn people out at the public hearings and collect written comment calling for the protection of ALL roadless areas over 1,000 acres - including Alaska's Tongass National Forest - from logging and all damaging activities.
In Sequoia Nationl Forest there about 350,000 acres of areas without roads that would be covered by the Wild Forest Protection Plan. If roadless areas less than 5,000 acres are included there would be much more. One of the largest areas is the Rincon Roadless Area, more than 50,000 acres,mostly on the Kern Plateau along the upper Kern River. We had hoped this would be included in the newly established Giant Sequoia National Monument but unfortunately most of it was left out. The Forest Service will conduct a meeting on June 24 in the Visalia Convention Center, 303 East Acequia in Visalia, to take oral comments on the plan. Written comments will be accepted until July17.
Check out the updated Sierra Club website with links to local hearing dates
and locations across the
country
Please write a letter to the Forest Service. Your personal letter will count towards the final decision. Letters and e-mails should be sent to the address below.
USDA Forest Service-CAET
Attn: Roadless
PO Box 221090
Salt Lake City, UT 84122
By e-mail to roadlessdeis@fs.fed.us
By fax to 877-703-2494
For the last few years the Forest Service has been working on a plan to improve protection of the natural ecosystems found in the National Forests of the Sierra Nevada. A Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Sierra Nevada Framework for Conservation and Collaboration was finally released to the public in May. As with all such documents there is a range of alternatives. The Forest Service has two preferred alternatives, 6 and 8. Alternative 6 would result in an increased amount of logging while alternative 8 would slightly reduce the amount of logging.
In addition to logging other issues include management of fuels to reduce the risk of fire, protection of wet areas and streamsides, the preservation and restoration of old growth forest, and the protection of sensitive wildlife species. The California Spotted Owl, the Pacific Fisher, and the Red Fox are just a few of the wildlife species whose numbers have been dropping, primarily due to a loss of habitat caused by logging of old growth forests and other development activities in our public forests.
The Sierra Club believes a more aggressive approach needs to be taken if we are to reverse the damage caused by decades of logging and road building. Taking the biggest and oldest trees out of the forest has drastically reduced the habitat needed by old growth-dependent wildlife species. It has also increased the fire hazard by opening up the forest to sunlight causing the forest floor to dry out instead of being shaded by a closed canopy forest. In addition thickets of small saplings and brush have replaced the older mature forests in many places creating an additional serious fire hazard. We believe the solution lies in controlled fire, not more logging. For example in the last forty years over two billion board feet of trees have been cut in Sequoia National Forest. If logging is the solution to the fire problem as logging advocates proclaim, then Sequoia National Forest should be nearly fireproof. Nearby in Sequoia National Park prescribed burning has resulted in a fire resistant healthy forest.
The management of Sequoia National forest, including much of the new Giant Sequoia National Monument will be determined by the final decision for the Sierra Nevada Framework. You can learn more about what is proposed by attending two informational meetings sponsored by Sequoia National Forest. The first is June 5 at the Porterville Veterans Building, 1900 West Olive from 3:00 to 9:30 PM. The second will be June 7 at the Kern River Veterans Hall, 6405 Lake Isabella Boulevard, Lake Isabella from 4:00 to 9:30 PM. Oral comments on the plan will be taken on July 10 in Porterville and July 13 in Lake Isabella at the sme times and locations as above. Written Comments will be accepted until August 11 and should be sent to:
USDA Forest Service--CAET
Sierra Nevada Framework Project
PO Box 7669
Missoula, MT 59807
The Kern/Kaweah Chapter of the Sierra Club has lost another of its stalwart leaders. John Harper passed away the morning of May 13, 2000 after a lengthy illness in San Luis Obispo California. John was the chair of the Chapter in 1965 when we learned the Forest Service wanted to develop a huge ski area at Mineral King. The Walt Disney Corporation was awarded the contract to develop the resort. John did not hesitate to lead the way in opposing what seemed like insurmountable odds. He was instrumental in convincing the Sierra Club to make an all-out effort to oppose the project. As a result the Sierra club embarked upon one of its first attempts to use litigation to achieve its goals. Mineral King was added to Sequoia National Park in 1978, capping a long campaign initiated by John Harper. John wrote Mineral King Public Concern With Government Policy, published in 1982, that documenting the history of that campaign.
John taught Geography for many years at California State University at Humboldt before he retired. He leaves his wife Joan of San Luis Obispo and his two children Richard and Susie who currently live in the Pacific Northwest. Many of John's friends are still members of the Kern/Kaweah Chapter and have fond memories of his fine leadership and dedication to the environmental cause we all support. Watch for more about John in one of Ann Williams upcoming Midgebuzzings in the Roadrunner.
- Joe Fontaine
Bequests have played a key role in the Sierra Club's environmental successes over the years. Planning now may make your gift more meaningful and reduce taxes on your estate. For more information and confidential assistance, contact: Sage Kuhn, Sierra Club Planned Giving Program, 85 Second St., 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105, 415-977-5639 or e-mail: <planned.giving@sierraclub.org>.
In this fast - paced world, we often find that the regular mail system isn't fast enough to keep up with news and events of your local Sierra Club. To address this issue, the Mineral King Group, serving Tulare and Kings County, is compiling an e-mail list of its members. If you would like an occasional e-mail announcement of upcoming local news, events, and outings, (once or twice a month) and you live in Tulare or Kings County, please send us an e-mail message containing your e-mail address with the request to be put on the Mineral King Group e-mail list to Harold Wood, <hwood1@mediaone.net>.
The Sierra Club announces its summer season of regular evening and daytime programs at LeConte Memorial Lodge in Yosemite National Park. These free programs on natural history, outdoor adventure and conservation issues are presented several evenings each week at 8 P.M., and special outdoor discovery programs for children and families are scheduled throughout the summer. The Memorial is open from Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m.. to 4 p.m. from May through September. You may read the schedule for Summer, 2000 online at: <http://www.sierraclub.org/education/leconte/2000_programs.asp>. For more information, visit our website or contact the curator: <http://www.sierraclub.org/education/leconte>.
Carolyn Johnson, Curator,
Sierra Club LeConte Memorial Lodge
P.O. Box 755, Yosemite, CA 95389
(209) 372-4542.
Harold Wood
Chair, Sierra Club Le Conte Lodge Committee
harold.wood@sierraclub.org
To subscribe to our the Sierra Club Conte Lodge Forum mailing list, send in the message
body (Subject is irrelevant):
SUBSCRIBE CE-LECONTE-FORUM
to: listserv@lists.sierraclub.org
( These are impressions from the Fire and Fuels Workshop of The Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment by Ara Marderosian)
The Forest Service's Framework DEIS (Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment Draft Environmental Impact Statement) analyzes 8 alternatives which vary the amount of logging to be implemented followed by "controlled burning". It does not contain Alternatives that analyze the benefits of non-logging mechanical treatments for dealing with excess forest fuels, according to Project Manager Kent Connaughton.
Two mechanical treatment methods that should be analyzed are manually cutting of lower limbs of trees followed by chipping and scattering of the chips as a nutrient mulch and manually chipping the brush below the trees followed by scattering of the chips.
Logging removes the canopy cover, which is required for song birds, spotted owls, goshawks, American martens, and Pacific fishers, whose populations are in annual decline and whose habitat is shrinking because of logging. Removing the canopy cover causes the sun to heat and dry the ground, the surface fuels, and the habitat, causes more surface fuels to grow in place of the removed trees, and increases the surface winds in the forest, all of which increase wildfire severity and intensity.
According to the latest scientific study, the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project (SNEP), "logging increases fire severity more than any other recent human activity". A forest plan that specifies logging as the solution to increased surface fuels in the forest would further damage an already damaged ecosystem,would further stress declining species populations, and would be harmful to the environment.
The BLM California Desert District Advisory Council has scheduled a public meeting at the Kerr McGee Center, 100 W. California Ave.Ridgecrest on June 10, to accept public comment on the development of the BLM's National Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) management strategy. The OHV strategy presentation and discussion is scheduled to begin at 10:15 a.m.
BLM will accept written and oral comments regarding the development of the strategy. Written comments also may be submitted to Mark Conley, BLM OHV Coordinator, Bureau of Land Management, 2800 Cottage Way, Room W-1834, Sacramento, CA 95825.
On June 9, the advisory council and interested members of the public will assemble at 7:15 a.m. at the Best Western China Lake Inn parking lot, 400 South China Lake Blvd. in Ridgecrest for a field tour focusing on BLM-managed pubic lands within the West Mojave planning area. Tour stops will include the Rand Mountains, Desert Tortoise Natural Area,and Jawbone Canyon Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Area. Discussions will focus on off-highway vehicle management, route designation, and habitat reclamation.
The 7th Annual Channel Islands Fundraising Cruise is scheduled for September 22 - 25. The proceeds go to help the programs of the Sierra Club California.. Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands will be visited. The $550 cost includes bunk space, all meals and guided tours. To reserve space, send a $100 check (payable to Sierra Club California) to leaders: Joan Jones Holtz & Don Holtz, 11826 The Wye, El Monte, CA 91732-1450. Phone 626-443-0706 for more information.
Tejon Industrial Complex is a 325 acre site on I-5 just south of the junction with freeway 99. Kern County recently accepted an EIR for the site and zoned the site for roadside business, a warehouse and medium industry. Inevitably, housing developments will go in thereabouts, possibly on other Tejon land, to accomodate the several hundred workers at the complex. This additional housing will also become home, no doubt, to commuters to job-rich Santa Clarita and LA.
The Tejon Industrial Complex will harm three small creeks and consume Kit Fox and Blunt Nosed Leopard Lizard habitat. There will be a "Joint Powers Agreement" which we think means the County will unnecessarily limit the developer's liability. Is there a lawyer in the readership?
Tejon will seek a "Development Agreement" at the Board of Supervisors June 13 meeting. The Development Agreement would exempt the complex from any new County regulations for ten years. Other businesses, including competitors of the complex, do not have this benefit. Perhaps if the Development Agreement is denied, the Tejon Industrial Complex will not happen. Several years ago Kern-Kaweah opposition delayed a nearby development called San Emidio New Town. Other circumstances then caused that sprawl not to be built.
Please contact me for details and to suggest strategy, (661) 323-5569 <alunger@juno.com>. Please come to the hearing June 13, 2 p.m. I wrote a letter to the editor in The Californian but we need more. Thanks for your help.
During my twenty-five years of backpacking in the Sierra Nevada, I developed the enduring love and respect for wilderness that is common to most Sierra Club members. Before I became a backpacker, I had been camping in the California mountains all my life. In fact, some of the frosting on my second birthday cake was plundered by chipmunks on a tabletop in a Sequoia campground while my mother's back was turned.For all that, my understanding of the concept of wilderness, the value and necessity of it, was significantly enhanced by a recent conference in Sacramento sponsored by the California Wilderness Coalition.
In the next few weeks this column will be devoted to the remaining wildlands of America, and to the efforts of generous people whose passion it is to protect them from abuse, exploitation and developmnt. I am aware that our readers range in familiarity with this subject from those who worked as long ago as the l950's for passage of the Wilderness Act, (l964), to those whose ideas about wilderness are as general as mine have been. But I believe that I will be forgiven for the repetition of information already known by many for the sake of others for whom it will be new. In the process, I hope to learn much more myself. All of this, by the way, will be from the pen of one who is now past carrying a pack into wilderness, but who opposes any suggestion that vehicular accommodations should be provided for continued access.
My time for personal experience of deep wilderness has come and gone. My energy, hereafter, will be directed to the protection of it for generations to come.
Signed into law in l964, The Wilderness Act was the result of long effort by courageous and foresighted people who sought permanent protection for public lands as yet "untrammeled by man." Those lands were to be cared for in such a way as to leave them "unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness." In other words there would be no roads or structures built upon them, and no vehicles or mechanical equipment operated within them - hence no logging, off-road vehicle traffic, mining, military exercises, or drilling for oil or gas within their boundaries. To the credit of this nation, the act, approved and signed by President Johnson, created the world's first wilderness system!
Currently there are 635 areas within the National Wilderness Preservation System,altogether l04 million acres. Yet that amounts to barely over four percent of the nation's land base, and only two percent of the land in the lower 48 states. With a population growth in California alone expected to be over l8 million within the next twenty years, it is hardly presumptuous to push for continued protection of existing wilderness, and inclusion of more roadless areas within the system. About this effort, more next time.
© Ann Williams, 2000
Officers and Committee Chairpeople
Executive Committee (All but noted codes are 661)
Chair: Glenn Shellcross, shellcrossg@earthlink.net 832-3382; Vice-Chair: Monte Harper; Secretary: Bonnie East, 832-9775; Treasurer: Gordon Nipp; Assistant Treasurer: Larry Wailes; Conservation: Ara Maderosian sfa@lightspeed.net; At Large: Arthur Unger, , Mary Ann Lockhart; Richard Garcia, Gordon Nipp.
RCC Delegates: Bonnie East, Glenn Shellcross;
Alternates: Neil Fernbaugh, Lorraine Unger
Committee Chairpeople: Conservation: Ara Maderosian; Membership: Lorraine Unger, 323-5569; Political and Compliance: Harry and Kathy Love; Council Rep: Arthur Unger; Outings: Theresa Stump, 559-781-0594; Publicity: Paul Gipe; State and Local Government: Neil Fernbaugh; Legal:Georgette Theotig; Fundraising: Richard Garcia; History: Michelle Hoffman and amp; Ann Williams; Environmental Ed.: Joe Fontaine, ; Phone Tree: Mary Ann Lockhart; Air Quality: Art Unger; Biodiversity: Harold Wood; Endangered Species: Art Unger: Energy: Paul Gipe; Environmental Justice: Art Powell; Forest Organizer: Ara Marderosian; Population Growth: Glenn Shellcross; Urban:Lorraine Unger; Wilderness/Parks/Refuges: Joe Fontaine and Gordon Nipp; Waste: Lorraine and Art Unger.
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: Harold Wood harold.wood@sierraclub.orgOwens 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)
Chair: Chester Arthur ches@frazmtn.com ; Membership: 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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