The Roadrunner

WEEKLY

Visalia: (wed) 5:30 PM. EARLY-EVENING WALKS thru mid-June. St. John’s Parkway parking lot at north end of Lover’s Lane. 559.739.8527 (Mineral King Grp.)

Bakersfield: (thurs) 7 PM. CONDITIONING HIKES. 4-5 miles Corner of Highways 178 & 184. 661.872.2432. or 861.1186. (KK Chapt.)

SPECIFICALLY

May 4 (sat) 9AM. WINDMILL-WILDFLOWER HIKE ON PACIFIC CREST TRAIL. Meet at junction of Cameron Road and Tehachapi-Willow Springs Road. 6 miles. Call 661.324.1923 to verify.

May 4 (sat) Buena Vista Gp Clean-Up on 119 (Taft Highway). Call Kevin at 661.664.5808 for details. Volunteers really needed.

May 8 (wed) 7 PM. FRONT COUNTRY TRAILS OF THE TULE. Presenter: Carla Cloer. Porterville Community Center. 466 East Putnam.

May 11 (sat) 7PM. WILDFLOWERS OF MT. PINOS AREA. Display of actual specimens. Preparer: Mike Foster, Los Padres Botanist. Pool Pavilion Rm. Pine Mountain Clubhouse. Info? 242.0423. (Condor Gp)

May 18 (sat) 7:30 AM. LOST VABM (on the way to Troy Mdws.) 8483 ft, 1423 ft gain, 5 mile rt) Moderate hike through beautiful meadows to little visited area of the Kern Plateau. Meet Ridgecrest Cinema parking lot. Call Dennis 760.375.7967 or Jim 760-375-8161 (Owens Peak Gp).

May 20th (mon) 7:30 PM. Supervising Ranger Mark Faull will discuss RED ROCK CANYON AND TOMO KAHNI STATE PARKS. Maturango Museum, 100 E. Las Flores, Ridgecrest. More info? 661.375.8973. (Owens Peak Gp).

May 21 (tue) 7 PM. LIFE OF SEA TURTLES. Presenters: Mitch Bolt and Karen Smith. Tejon Room. Beale Library. Bakersfield. More info? 661.833.3795 (Buena Vista Gp).

May 25 (sat) 8 AM. FISHBOWLS OF PIRU CREEK, Frazier Park area. Moderately difficult trail. 1800 ft altitude gain. 12 mi. rt. Meet at PMC tennis cts., other pick-ups can be arranged. Call Dale 661.242.

1076 (Condor Gp.).

June 1 (sat) 6PM. Sedgewick Preserve. Presenter: Rick Skillin. Slides and History. Potluck 6 PM, program, 7 PM Pine Mntn Clubhouse. (Condor Gp).

June 7-9th (fri-sun) First BUENA VISTA GP CAMPING TRIP. Tehachapi Mountain Park. Call Elaine, 661.833.3795, for details.

June 15 (sat) 7 AM SIERRA CREST LOOP IN COTTONWOOD AREA (up to Poison Meadow) max. elevation 11570 ft, 1900 ft gain, 7.8 mi. Easy/ moderate loop, great views on both sides of the crest of Mulkey Mdws. Meet Ridgecrest Cinema parking lot. More info? Dennis 760.375.7967 or Jim 760.375.8161 (Owens Peak Gp).

June 17 (mon) 7:30 PM. OHV GRANT PROGRAM MONITORING. Presenter: Marty Dickes, a BLM Recreation Planner. Maturango Museum 100 E. Las Flores, Ridgecrest. More info? 661.375-8973. (Owens Pk. Peak Gp).

June 22 (sat) 8 AM. CABALLO, MARION CAMPGROUNDS AND ON UP. Fine views over San Emigdios and more. Meet at PMC tennis courts. More info? Call Dale, 661.242.1076.

LOOKING AHEAD

July 14 (sun) CNRCC SECTION MEETING. Los Angeles Sierra Club offices.

July 27 (sat) 8AM. ANNUAL PEAK (Mt.Pinos) TO PEAK (Cerro Noroeste) HIKE. 8000 plus feet on both ends, with ups and downs in between. 4 hrs. plus. Fairly strenuous. More info? Dale, 661. 242.1078 ( Condor Gp).

Aug. 6 - 13 (tue-tue), SUMMER BACKPACK. Piute Pass - French Canyon Backpack. Lake-hopping in the high Sierra with some cross-country hiking. Not for beginners. Call leaders Gordon and Eva Nipp at 661.872.2432 or email at gnipp@att.net for information and reservations. (KK Chapt).

Sept. 20-23 (fri-mon). CHANNEL ISLANDS NATIONAL PARK. Transportation on TRUTH, '68 twin diesel. $575 for bed/board. Call 626.443.0706 for more info. Money raiser for Sierra Club.

It never ends—

SEQUOIA MONUMENT NEEDS YOUR HELP! LETTERS VITAL!

Public meetings on the Draft Alternatives for the Giant Sequoia National Monument Management Plan were held in early March. After considering the alternatives offered by the USFS, the following points have been communicated to the officials in charge of preparing a Draft Environmental Impact Statement, as there continues to be a disregard for the conditions laid out in the Presidential Proclamation for management of the Sequoia Monument:

First: There is a pressing need to have a general fire plan in place before setting up various means of dealing with fire.

Second: The role of fire in ecosystem function must be recognized, especially in cases where it could be damaging to habitat or long-term function of the riparian community. Actions should be adjusted accordingly.

More precise comments are as follows:

1. There is no alternative presented that specifically says that there should be no more logging in the National Monument or use of any other objectionable fire suppression techniques such as bulldozing fuel breaks, dropping retardant, maintaining roads for firefighter access, etc. Too much logging and fire suppression are the reasons given for restoration in the Presidential Proclamation declaring Sequoia National Monument.

2. It is proposed that urban-wildland fire protection strategies would take place around the owner’s property line, not about the house. It is easy to see how much more land would be disturbed if a house were to sit on 20 acre plot vs a quarter acre lot.

3. Emphasis should be placed on fire resistant construction and/or removal of flammable materials in present homes. Jack Cohen, research scientist at the Fire Sciences Laboratory in the Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station, stated, “Home ignitability, rather than wildland fuels, is the principal cause of home losses during wildland/urban interface fires. Key items are flammable roofing materials and the presence of burnable vegetation immediately adjacent to homes. Intense flame fronts (e.g. crown fires) will not ignite wooden walls at distances greater than 40 meters (approx. 130 feet).”

4. The cutting of roads over mountain ridgetops (defensible fuel break zones) and strategically placed area treatment (splat) to be used for staging fire-fighting activities could result in more fires as more flammable shrubs and grasses grow up in those areas. Maintenance requirements for such constructions would be expensive

5. Strategies to be used for hazardous fuel reduction should be focused on hand piling and burning fuels on site. All standing and downed trees 4” in diameter and above should be allowed to remain on site.

6. Entire watersheds containing Giant Sequoias are not specified for protection as part of the Giant Sequoias ecosystem. The watershed is a basic geographical unit and watersheds are the most logical place to start when beginning to define a true, science-dependent definition of a Sequoia ecoystem. Not only do watersheds (actually subwatersheds in most cases) indicate areas that influence a grove hydrologically; they also generally coincide with firesheds or areas that most influence fire behavior in a specific area.

7. The Hazard Tree Reduction Project proposes to remove trees for public health and safety reasons by using timber sales and forest products contracts. Alternatives such as simply cutting trees to ground level, leaving trees to decay, and closing the road or trail until a tree falls should be considered. Treatment of trees designated as hazardous must be evaluated for the effect on ecological restoration goals of the monument as well as other possible impacts on the ecosystem.

8. Recreational activities in the monument are to be encouraged. Existing roads to trailheads, campgrounds and interpretative sites should be maintained. Other roads and existing trails should be designated for specific users: bicyclers on some trails, hikers on some trails, and OHV users on some present roads only.

No definite time limit is stated for input. The Forest Service anticipates releasing the Draft EIS in late May so your letter should get in the mail as soon as possible. Help shape that EIS with your words. Write right now! Address: Supt. Gaffrey, Sequoia Natl. Monument, 900 West Grand Ave., Porterville 93257. Basic information from Ara Marderosian, Carla Cloer.

MARCH REGIONAL CONSERVATION COMMITTEE (RCC) TREATS ISSUES OF LEGISLATIVE CONCERN

Background: The conservation issues of the chapter and the Club are decided by elected delegates from each chapter in California. Twice a year delegates meet to hear about state conservation issues, make proposals on actions, and vote on those proposals. The delegates representing interests of the Kern-Kaweah Chapter were Mary Ann Lockhart, Harry Love, Arthur Unger, and Lorraine Unger. Two non-delegate members from the Condor group, Ches Arthur and Dale Chitwood, also attended. This means two more dedicated volunteers!

The RCC Committee backed the Parks Bond issues with a 56% vote. As you probably know, this bond issue was passed in the March election. (Interesting note: Of the Latino voters, over 70% were for passage; Anglo voters were approximately 55% in favor.

Proposition 42, public transportation alternatives, was supported by the RCC by an overwhelming 69%. However, this proposition was not passed in the March election.

Of the six state candidates endorsed by the Club, five won. As to the governor’s race, the Club will soon begin the process of interviewing the three major candidates from the Democratic, Republican, and Green parties.

Delegates voted in favor of endorsing the Heritage Tree Initiative, which might qualify for the November ballot. It will protect commercial grade trees of over 150 years of age on both state and private lands.

Water Issues: A resolution to oppose the proposal by a private company to take water from two northern California rivers and ship it to San Diego was strongly supported. No action was taken on California ’s November Water Bond Issue.

Walker Lake, a unique lake in Nevada that receives water from the eastern Sierras drainage, is in jeopardy of losing its native trout due to decreased flows and increased salinity. The RCC voted to support legislation that reduces the taking of water from the upstream sources of the lake.

The court-ordered plan by Los Angeles DWP to divert water to the Owens Lake for the control of dust is being monitored by Club members to ensure that dust is reduced sufficiently.

The reappraisal of the National Forest Management Plan for the four national forests in southern California (Los Padres, Cleveland, Angeles, and San Bernardino) has caused concern because of efforts to increase ORV and other damaging uses. The Southern Forests Committee has prepared a 300-page alternative in addition to the officially proposed alternatives.

Nevada Issues: Being reminded that the Toyiabe Chapter includes both California and Nevada, we became aware that California environmental issues are also Nevada’s. The Yucca Mountain proposal by the federal government for the storage of nuclear waste was discussed along with a proposed 4 million-acre wilderness area in Clark County, near Las Vegas.

UC Merced Issue: The proposed campus of the University of California to be sited in an environmentally critical area outside of Merced was explained, along with changes that have been made by the university within the last year. Many issues are still unresolved, but there is hope that movement of the campus closer to the metropolitan area of Merced will occur.

Wilderness Issues: Besides the area in Nevada, large sections of national forest land in California with wilderness characteristics have been catalogued. The national forest lands range from north of Lake Tahoe to the Tehachapi Mountains. Senator Boxer will soon introduce legislation to give it wilderness protection. Club members have labeled the effort the California Wilderness Heritage Campaign.

Desert issues: The BLM desert management plan is under scrutiny and is being derided for its failure to limit cattle grazing in the desert. The plan to increase Ft. Irwin near Barstow has brought concern over the taking of environmentally sensitive areas.

In the State Legislature, legislation to control growth, to decrease car emissions, and to support renewable energy sources has been introduced and is being debated.

After attending such a meeting, one realizes that the environmental issues we face in California are diverse and complicated. Decisions with desirable outcomes will take persistence and lots of homework,

Harry Love

Websites: Here is a list of websites to visit for additional information on the topics above:

To contact Senators Box and Feinstein: http://www.senate.gov

To learn more about desert issues: http://www.desertreport.org

To learn more about the wilderness bill and the areas included:

http://www.californiawild.org

To learn more about UC Merced proposal: http://www.vernalpools.org

To learn more about the Heritage Tree campaign: http://www.ancienttrees.org

The next meeting of CNRCC is divided into two sections, with the day-long Southern Section meeting on Sunday, July 14th at Sierra Club Headquarters in Los Angeles. More details in the next Roadrunner.

*THE PLANET*THE PLANET*THE PLANET*

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Office Of Volunteer And Activist Services.

85 2nd St.,

San Francisco, CA 94105-3441

or email:

activist.desk@sierraclub.org.

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2002 TOP STATE LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

The following listing was issued by our California Sierra Club lobbyists. These issues are controlled by us in California. and therefore have more of a chance of action that is environmentally friendly than federal legislatiion. Please keep this list handy. We may be calling on you to call specific legislators to support (or oppose) the following proposed bills:

Air quality/water quality:

AB 2682 (Chu)/SB 1994 (Soto): California Clean Communities & Pollution Prevention Clean-up Act of 2002. These bills would fund the purchase of low-emission schoolbuses, reductions in diesel emissions, and water pollution cleanup.

AB 1058 (Pavley): would regulate the emission of carbon dioxide from passenger vehicles. This bill would make California the first state to regulate gases that cause global warming. Global warming threatens California’s public health and economy.

Energy:

SB 532 (Sher): creates the Renewable Portfolio Standard Program, which would encourage the development of renewable and clean energy sources.

Toxics/landfills:

SB 1623 (Romero): would reverse California’s deregulation of radioactive waste and ensure that low-level radioactive waste is disposed of in designated radioactive waste facilities and not recycled into consumer products or dumped in public landfills, schools, or farms.

Electronic waste: toxins from electronics products, especially those containing cathode ray tubes, threaten human health when discarded and impose unfair costs on local governments.

SB 1619 (Romero): would set recycling goals for hazardous electronic scrap, require labeling of all hazardous electronics, and make electronics manufacturers responsible for establishing or funding recycling.

SB 1523 (Sher): would require sellers of cathode ray tubes to collect advance recycling fees to pay for recycling.

Land use:

AB 2028 (Canciamilla): encourages urban growth within a preset area and discourages uncontrolled sprawl.

AB 2290 (Kehoe) requires an EIR pursuant to CEQA for projects that impact wetlands, including isolated marshes, vernal pools, and terminal basins.

AB 2685 (Cox) requires compensation to any landowner whose property value is diminished by any governmental action. (OPPOSE!)

SB 482 (Kuehl): would make problematic changes to the California Endangered Species Act and has vague mitigation for impacts to the Salton Sea caused by transferring water from agricultural use to urban areas. (POSSIBLE OPPOSE)

Forestry:

Top Priority: Ending or scaling back the practice of clearcutting in order to protect water sources, habitat, and recreational and scenic resources.

Protecting water quality from damaging logging practices that cause excessive sedimentation.

Coastal zone:

SB 1962 (Polanco): would expand public access to California’s coastline by preventing pending easement dedications from expiring and by requiring the State Coastal Conservancy to open more public accessways.

SB 1966 (Murray) would require an environmental impact report before any governmental or nonprofit entity can accept an offer of dedication for an easement (OPPOSE)

AB 2162 (Negrete-McLeod) allows the money collected for the “Whale Tail” license plate to be used solely to improve and maintain coastal access.

DISASTROUS PRUNING

Pruning, cutting, twisting, are all part of the gardener’s strategies to produce what the gardener thinks would be a beautiful product, but the present "gardener-in-chief" (coincidentally named Bush) of our environmental laws is consciously pruning, cutting and twisting those laws with results that are and will be directly devasting to our natural world and ultimately to our human world.

Let's look at the record to see what is happening and has happened!

The rule is that when power plants update their facilities they must install equipment to reduce pollution. Proposed change? Not necessary to do that.

The rule was that polluters will pay for clean-up of the pollution they have caused. Reagan, Bush, Sr., and Clinton supported this. Now Bush, Jr. has specifically said he will not reauthorize taxes from industry to build up clean-up trust funds. Result: WE pay when trust-fund runs out IF any clean-up is authorized at all.

The rule was that rivers and streams were to be protected from pollution. Change already in action: Mining companies are allowed to dump sediments into streams after cutting off tops of mountains to get at the coal inside. (Did you know that the last sediments from hydro-mining in the late 1800’s just cleared the American River in the last 10 years? What does that tell you?)

The rule is that the federal government is in charge of the federal lands. There is a big move to put more control of federal lands in the hands of states and local groups. Local input may be good but local control? Think about what a lot of “local” groups would want—more ORV trails, more timber cutting, more roads, and on and on.

Under the direction of the present administration, there are attempts to allow more decisions to be made without public input. The courts cut that down in Montana when Chief Bosworth issued an order allowing timber companies to go into a fire area to cut trees. But when will that be tried next?

You have read more than once in the Roadrunner about the attempts first to declare the Sequoia Monument Proclamantion null and void, and now of the USFS “inclination” to stray from the Presidential Monumental Proclamation’s requirements.

There is more: opening huge areas of “Algodones Dunes” to Off-Road Vehicles, attempting to allow more snowmobiles into Yellowstone Nat. Park, thus polluting air and harassing wildlife.

Are you convinced that the executive branch is changing the rules by edict, without full public input or responsible consideration of the effects on the air we breath and the water we drink?

What can you do about all this?

Congress is in session now. There is no predicting when bills important to the environment will be introduced Please sign up for Unger’s hotline so you can respond to issues when needed most. alunger@juno.com. Also check Sierra Club homepage for more action info.

What else to do? *Write letters. *Help get environmentally sensitive folks elected to Congress. *Support environmentally oriented folks already in Congress to keep them on their positive paths. *Encourage more in Congress to take courage to OPPOSE the president’s “pruning” in the name of the War on Terrorism. *Encourage friends and neighbors to join in the battle to preserve our environmental laws and to have those laws enforced the way they were meant to be enforced.

MIDGEBUZZINGS:

One of the blessings of living in the southern San Joaquin Valley is easy access to splendid trails in the foothills and on the Western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. Our rivers, and the canyons down which they descend from Sierra watersheds, are beautiful and approachable year round in their lower reaches.

Hikers have favorite trails along the Kings, Kaweah, Tule and Kern rivers, and for people living in Bakersfield, one of the best, especially in spring, is the Mill Creek Trail, which starts from the old Kern Canyon Road. Among its many virtues is its enjoyability for children, even for the very young. In March, I took the grandcreatures and their parents up for a flower hunt. Annie is only four, but she had no trouble walking the gentle slopes as far as the first stream crossing and back.

All the senior women in our family are addressed as “Grandma.” which charms me right down to my socks. Thus venerated, I am privy to some very interesting observations. A granite rock I’ve passed many times became something else when it was noted that the crack which runs nearly vertically through it makes it look alive. “It’s an eel, Grandma, with its head up!” Well bless me now, so it is, and why haven’t I noticed that before? Wonderfully it was also discovered that when you stand just so and shout down a little canyon and up the other side, your voice comes right back to you, but with a lingering and haunting effect.

Best of all was the creek. You hear it before you reach it, singing down over granite rocks through stands of sycamore, buckeye and digger pine, a soft accompaniment to the songs of birds. The first crossing is far enough for little people to go, and besides, there are just too many good things to wade through in a hurry. There is mottled and moving light falling through sycamore spaces, sparkling the water and enriching the colors of submerged leaves. There are sandy shallows to splash in and unthreatening rocks to test your balance on. (If you like testing your balance. Grandmas generally like other things better.) In spring, if you look closely and pay attention, you can find salamanders! They are lovely, slow, four-toed creatures all in shades of red-orange and brown. They have yellow eyes with dark horizontal lines through the pupils, and are so appealing it’s hard to remember that they are happier if not picked up.

Have there ever been creatures more opposite to us than these? As far as I can tell they have no genes for violence, panic, rage, jealousy, or lust for accumulation beyond the rituals of reproduction. They are beautiful in nudity as only the youngest and most fortunate of our species are, and they enrich their environment rather than plunder it. My advice to those who are ambitious for influence in the world is this: consider the newts. Go to a stream like Mill Creek in the spring and sit as long and inconspicuously as you can. Observe them as they engage in the beautiful intricacies of ceremony that assure their continuation on earth. Then leave the way you came, and on the way back, count the flowers.

We did that, more or less. None of us is particularly ambitious for possession of much beyond the happiness of our days, but we are all very flawed, from Grandma on down to Friskie the dog, and our adventure was not without complaint, especially toward the end. Nevertheless, as days go, that one was a keeper. Next time, you come too.

By Ann Williams

May-June, 2002

A Bi-monthly Publication

of The Kern-Kaweah Chapter Of The Sierra Club