Box 3357, Bakersfield, CA 93385-3357
(661) 323-5569
E-mail: kern-kaweah.chapter@sierraclub.org
Cover Photo by Andy Honig - Moon From Cerro Gordo Road.
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.
Mar. 14 (Tue) Kaweah & Mineral King Group meeting, 6 p.m. Dinner meeting at Los Portales Restaurant 210 N Santa Fe, Visalia. Updates on projects and group plans. For additional information phone Theresa Stump 781-0594 or Beverly Garcia 592-9865.
Mar. 18 (Sat.) Hike a scenic Panamint Valley west side canyon, probably Bendire Cyn. Up to 9 to 10 miles round trip, 3000 ft gain. Meet at Cal Trans Park & Ride lot at E. Ridgecrest Blvd and Richmond Rd. at 7:30 am. For info, call: Don, 760-375-8599 or Dennis, 760-375-7967.
Mar. 20 (Mon) Owens Peak Group Monthly Meeting. Dave Wash of BLM will discuss the intensive land rehabilitation work ongoing in the Ridgecrest Resource Area. Meet at Maturango Museum, 100 E. Las Flores. 7:30 pm, Ridgecrest. Call Dennis at 760-3757967 or Jeanie at 760-3758973 for details
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
Apr. 8 (Sat) Lower Kern Canyon Flower Hike with the Kern River Valley Hiking Club. Easy to moderate. Leave from the parking area just below the 1st bridge heading up canyon. (Don't park upstream from bridge opposite trailhead. You may get a citation.). Call Ruby or Bill Jenkins, 760-376-4628, or Roberta Abbe, 661-871-5594, for meeting time.
Apr. 11 (Tue) Kaweah & Mineral King Group meeting, 6 p.m. We would like to ask our Kings County Sierra Club members to join us for a dinner meeting at a Hanford restaurant. Details will be announced in the next Roadrunner.
Apr 22 (Sat) Annual Kern-Kaweah Chapter Banquet. Note change from usual March date. See article on page 3.
June 3-5 (moved from 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.
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 change is due to conflict with PMC group activities, such as the tennis club.
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.
Keep March 16 to 18, 2000 open on your calendar for a possible one day Congressional hearing in Fresno where all conservationists should gather in mass to show our support for the creation of the Giant Sequoia National Monument proposed by President Clinton.
-Ara Marderosian
This Year's Annual Awards Banquet is going to be held Saturday Evening April 22. It will be at the Veterans Hall on Mt. Vernon Ave. in Bakersfield and will be catered by La Costa Mexican Restaurant. The price will be $17 each.
Reservations may be sent to Michele Hoffman at 120 Portales Real, Bakersfield 93309, (phone 661-835-8599).
We will be celebrating Earth Day and John Muir's birthday as well as honoring some of our outstanding members.
The speaker this year, Ted Ayers, will help us do that with his program, "A Photographic Tribute to John Muir and Ansel Adams". Ted's program will focus on the lives of these two icons and their contributions to environmentalism. The program will be a slide show covering the beauty of many areas in Southwestern USA.
We hope you will join us and help make this banquet a real celebration of what this club stands for.
Well the primary election is here.
It's becoming more of a chore each election to know how to vote. The issues grow more complicated, and it takes a considerable amount of reading, studying and discussion with my friends to decide how I want to vote. Oh yes, the choice of candidates is tough too.
But I'm not complaining. I appreciate the opportunity to involve myself in the governance of our locality, state and nation. On Election Day, I can do my bit to see that things go my way. Yes, I know my vote is an infinitesimal blip in the balloting process, ... but it is my blip.
Of course, I lose much of the time, but I can't let myself get too frustrated. After all, I'm on the fringe (how dare you suggest lunatic). I say fringe because of the way environmentalists seem to be perceived in the southern San Joaquin Valley. We want to preserve ancient forests, wildlife, wilderness, clean rivers, scenic streams and underground water, and clean air. We want our community and society to address overpopulation, global warming, societal pollution (industrial, governmental and individual), social justice and many other quality of life issues.
I know we can't win them all, but I will not quit trying. Often our political candidates fail us, yet we go to the polls hoping they are serious about their promises. I have discovered that promises unlikely to be delivered can be evaluated against the past record of the one making the promise. I generally rely on the record of the candidate rather than on the personality or quirks of the candidate. Also, I look to whether or not the candidate is likely to put people in power positions that will carry out the promises of the campaign.
A few years ago I was unable to vote because I could not get back to town before the polls closed. From then on I have routinely requested an "absentee ballot" so that I could vote at my convenience and avoid the lines at the polls. Try it, you'll like it, but regardless of how you vote, please vote.-Glenn Shellcross
Paul Gipe , Monte Harper, Mary Ann Lockhart, Glenn Shellcross, and Arthur Unger were elected to the Kern-Kaweah Chapter Executive Committee. Paul and Monte are returning to the Ex-Com having served before. Mary Ann, Glenn and Arthur served on last year's Ex-Com. They will join Bonnie East, Richard Garcia and Gordon Nipp whose terms of office are continuing. Many thanks are due to Neil Fernbaugh and Mel Rubin who have retired from Ex-Com service.
Lorraine Unger was elected to be Chapter Rep to the Sierra Club Council succeeding her husband, Arthur Unger. We thank Arthur for his service, but he will remain no less involved in Chapter activities than before.
What is taller than the Statue of Liberty, over three thousand years old, and more than thirty feet in diameter? You guessed it. The Giant Sequoias, the largest trees on earth. Millions of years ago members of the Sequoia family grew across much of North America. Today they are found only on the western slope of the southern Sierra Nevada. On February 15 President Clinton proposed creation of a Sequoia National Monument to protect the Giant Sequoias found in Sequoia National Forest. Although some of the sequoias are protected in Sequoia National Park, half of them are found in Sequoia National Forest where they have no long term legal protection from logging. In the 1980s the Forest Service clear cut some of the groves and removed everything but the giant old monarch trees. They were left towering over piles of logging slash, bare dirt, and ashes, a scene of utter devastation. With a lawsuit the Sierra Club got the logging in the groves themselves stopped, but the Forest Service is still logging the surrounding forests. A walk through a Giant Sequoia Grove is a humbling experience. The immense size and rugged beauty of the trees is overwhelming. Staring up into the canopy of these behemoths and realizing some of them were 1000 year old giants at the birth of Christ, puts things into perspective. It should be a no brainer that these trees deserve the best protection we can give them.
We know that the Sequoias are part of the larger old growth ecosystem of the surrounding Sierra conifer forests. Many rare and sensitive wildlife species such as California Spotted Owls and fur bearers live in the ecosystem. The nest of the last California condor chick hatched in the wild was in a cavity in a giant sequoia. It was discovered while the forest surrounding its nest was being clear cut. The scientific community that knows the most about these trees and their ecosytem readily admits that we need to know much more to assure their survival as we know them today. And yet the Forest Service continues to log in the forest around the groves.
For almost ten years legislation has been before Congress to give the sequoias and their ecosystem permanent protection. Congressman George Brown, from southern California who was the chief sponsor of the legislation, unfortunately passed away last summer. Now the President has stepped in to finish what he started. He has given the Forest Service sixty days to report back to him with a recommendation based upon George Brown's bill. Approximately 400,000 acres would be protected from logging, road building, off road vehicles, and other destructive influences upon the sequoias. When the Sierra Club's honorary President, Dr. Edgar Wayburn, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom last summer he asked President Clinton to take action to protect the sequoias. In 1911 John Muir wrote, "Walk in the Sequoia woods at any time of the year and you will say they are the most beautiful and majestic on earth" Ironically the report from the Forest Service to the President is due on John Muir's birthday, April 21, and the day before Earth Day. Help us finish what John Muir started and give him a birthday gift and all of us a special Earth Day this year by sending a message to the President, your senators, and your congressperson asking them to support fully protecting the Giant Sequoias in a 400,000 acre National Monument.
-Joe Fontaine, Sequoia Task Force
**Here is a sample letter you might write President Clinton supporting his proposal to protect sequoia groves:
To: President Bill ClintonDear President Clinton:
The giant Sequoias of Sequoia National Forest are a treasure I want to pass down to future generations. Please declare a Sequoia National Monument of at least 400,000 acres that preserves the groves and their surrounding watersheds and forest ecocsystem. Be sure the sequoias are truly protected by eliminating commercial logging, new roadbuilding, off-road vehicles, mining, and all destructive influences on the forest.
Send a copy of the above to: U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein (senator@feinstein.senate.gov) and Barbara Boxer (senator@boxer.senate.gov), U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510 and your Representative, Bill Thomas or Cal Dooley, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515.
On February 23 Jeanie and Stan Haye, Owens Peak Group Chair Dennis Burge and Owens Peak Outings Chair Don Peterson attended a meeting of the Access Task Force for the BLM's West Mojave Management Plan (WEMO) in Ridgecrest. The purpose of the meeting was for the task force to study preliminary versions of detailed maps prepared for a draft route designation plan.
Local "Wise Use" leaders, upset that "BLM was closing more routes," had urged like-minded people to take off work and attend to protest. Perhaps 80 "Wise Users" attended, overflowing into the hall and an adjoining conference room. This contrasted to a small handful of Plan supporters. "Wise Use" leaders were polite, but they and their supporters clearly vented their strong displeasure with BLM and WEMO, airing old complaints and much misinformation. The BLM stood firm and conducted the meeting very professionally.
However, Bill Haigh, BLM person in charge of WEMO, will be scheduling a another meeting in Ridgecrest soon. Help is needed to support the right things that BLM is doing. If you can be of help please contact the Kern-Kaweah Chapter of the Sierra Club through andym@lightspeed.net.
Local Sierra Club members have become involved with the Ridgecrest Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Adopt-A-Cabin program. The program enlists volunteers to do clean-up,repairs and maintenance on abandoned cabins on vacant BLM land. There are about 30 cabins in the program.
Formerly mining cabins, homesteads or squatters' cabins, these "orphan" structures are now used recreationally by off-road enthusiasts and desert explorers as shelter from the often extreme desert weather, or as a base of operations from which to explore the surrounding areas. Overnight stays in these dilapidated structures are common. The BLM allows public use of these cabins but they are concerned about safety. They are also concerned about Hanta Virus, a rare but sometimes fatal disease that is carried by rodents that often nest or forage in the cabins.
One such cabin is the Minnietta, located in the Argus Range in Panamint Valley. Formerly a mining cabin, it has long been abandoned. Owens Valley residents say it was lived in until the fifties. Indeed, evidence of modern plumbing and electricity exist. However, the cabin is believed to be much older than that. An archaeologist is currently assessing its historical value.
Small, with one bedroom, the Minnietta boasts a living room/dining room area, a bathroom and a large kitchen. At one time, water was piped in from a distant spring. Outside is a stone barbecue, a "laundry" area, and a large windowless concrete structure that is believed to be a cold storage room. A front yard, porch and back yard complete the exterior. Leading up to the cabin is a semi-circular gravel "driveway." However, because of large boulders, ruts and potholes, the cabin is accessible only by high clearance four-wheel drive vehicles.
Under the umbrella of the BLM Adopt-A-Cabin program, an "adoption" group, composed mostly of Sierra Club members, has formed. Headed by Ridgecrest member Don Peterson, the group, informally known as The Friends of the Minnietta Cabin (FOMC), numbers 13 and continues to grow. It meets several times a year at the cabin to perform general upkeep tasks. Recently the cabin was reroofed.
But it's not all hard work. The group has hiked to Lookout City, a ghost town located in the mountains above the Minnietta. It has made exploratory trips to other cabins and toured China Lake's Little Petroglyph Canyon. Plans are in the works for side trips to other ghost towns. But the satisfaction of giving something back is the greatest reward. "Restoring these old cabins helps to preserve an important piece of local history," says Don Peterson. "Plus it's great for the desert environment. A cabin that is well cared for discourages vandals, and responsible off-road enthusiasts are motivated to contribute to its upkeep"
Volunteers are always welcome. For more information, or to help the Friends of Minnietta Cabin reach their goals, contact Don Peterson at (760) 375-8599 or donpete@ridgecrest.ca.us. Visit the FOMC website at http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/5721.
- Lygeia de Jesus
The Sierra Club and The Sierra Club Foundation have received many of their most significant commitments in the form of bequests. We are deeply grateful to those friends who, through their wills or living trusts, make gifts to support the environmental work of future generations. Because bequests to The Foundation are generally exempt from federal or state inheritance taxes, and subject to an unlimited deduction, you may find that a commitment through your will-combined with an outright pledge or a life income gift-results in a much larger donation than you might have thought. While gifts left to the Sierra Club are not deductible, with proper estate planning it may be possible to make a significant bequest to support the Club's legislative work and avoid estate taxation. Please consult with us and your tax advisor for assistance in establishing a legacy that will reflect your concern for the environment. If you have made a provision in your estate plans for Sierra Club or The Sierra Club Foundation, please let us know so that we may recognize you as a member of the Rachel Carson Society.
Bequests are a vital and continuing resource that strengthens the Sierra Club's ability to preserve our natural heritage for future generations. Most donors plan their gifts in the form of general bequests. This general support is most helpful because it allows us to direct funds to our most crucial conservation priorities. The aggregate of these bequests amounts to a significant portion of the resources available for ongoing projects. However, should you have a specific environmental or programmatic interest, or if you wish to fund an endowment, we would be happy to assist you in planning a gift that meets both your interests and the goals of the Sierra Club.
Bequests to the Sierra Club can fund national and regional lobbying activities. This support is particularly valuable because legislation is usually the final step in formally establishing national parks and wilderness areas, setting standards for clean water and air, promoting population control, protecting our coastlines, and achieving other environmental goals. However, since lobbying is not a charitable activity, bequests to the Sierra Club are not tax-deductible for estate tax purposes. Charitable bequests should be made to The Sierra Club Foundation. Under the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, the federal estate tax shelter will amount to $1,000,000, beginning in the year 2006. In 1999, the current shelter is $650,000, and will grow incrementally until 2006. In most instances, estate taxes will not apply until the value of an estate exceeds the sheltered amount. In that case, bequests may be made to the Club without adverse tax consequences. In the event your estate exceeds the estate tax shelter, you may wish to make your bequest to The Foundation so that your estate may claim a charitable deduction.
If you are planning a bequest, you may wish to consider the financial benefits of a life income trust. Many people have realized significant advantages by using a major portion of a planned bequest for the establishment of such a trust. If you would like to see how a life income trust might benefit your specific situation, the Planned Giving Office would be happy to prepare a financial analysis for you.
Sierra Club Planned Giving Program
85 Second Street, Second Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
Phone (415) 977-5639
Fax (415) 977-5797
E-mail: planned.giving@sierraclub.org
After much needed storms, the last two days have been gorgeous, with winds which have the feel of March in them, with clouds and with horizons all around, green and shadowed as they appear to us here in the best hours of spring. Hiking down the bluffs this morning I felt especially appreciative of news sent to me by Jeanie Stillwell Haye from Ridgecrest: the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles has declared that this will be a year of study and action in the matter of "stewardship of all creation for the next century", and its members have passed a resolution to that effect at its Diocesan Convention. Because this emphasis upon stewardship is so thoroughly covered in "The Episcopal News" for November/December, I cannot do better than to quote from the extensive coverage given there, which should be a great interest to all of us, and particularly to those of us who are members of a community of faith. This year The News, which is bi-monthly, will feature issues devoted to the following themes: Time, Simplicity, The Garden, Globalization, Biodiversity and Gratitude. According to the editor, "One dimension of this mission is in the care of all creation by protecting the intricate eco-systems of the environment, making just the global imbalance of economic resources, stopping the proliferation of weapons capable of annihilating the human race, embracing humanity in all its richness...and affirming, as the Book of Genesis puts it, that the fullness of creation is, indeed 'very good.' " The resolution proposed to the convention is quoted in its entirety in The News for the months of November and December.
Jeanie has graciously given me permission to keep the copy, and I will send for the others which will follow throughout the year, to share with those who are interested in their content.
Certainly the language of the resolution is not equivocal, as evidenced by the following excerpts:
"We recognize that unless human beings take responsibility for caring for the earth, the consequences will be catastrophic because of overpopulation, unsustainable levels of consumption, poor quality of water, air pollution, eroded and impoverished soil, forest destruction and plant and animal, extinction...that...unbridled capitalism, selfishness and greed cannot continue to be allowed to pollute, exploit and destroy what remains of the earth's indigenous habitats...that the future of human beings and all life on earth hangs in the balance as a consequence of the present unjust economic structures, the injustice existing between the rich and the poor, the continuing exploitation of the natural environment and the threat of nuclear destruction."
Clearly members of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles are among those people who ascribe to the words of the psalmist who wrote: "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof," rather than to the literalists' self-serving interpretations of the imperative in Genesis to "subdue" the earth and "have dominion" over "every living thing." Amen to that.
© Ann Williams, 2000
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: 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; 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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