Sierra Club Seal

 

THE ROADRUNNER

October, 2000

Volume 48 Number 9

A Monthly Publication

of The Kern-Kaweah Chapter Of The Sierra Club

Box 3357, Bakersfield, CA 93385-3357
(661) 323-5569

E-mail: kern-kaweah.chapter@sierraclub.org

October-November 2000 Calendar of Events

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.

Oct. 21(Sat.) Monache Meadows Area. Explore this area (access via the Monache Jeep Road) and climb a mountain, probably Monache Mtn. Moderate hike. Meet at Ridgecrest Cinemas at 7 am. Leader: Dennis Burge (760)375-7967.

Oct. 28 - 29 Sat-Sun Red Rock Canyon SP Backcountry exploration weekend We'll dry-camp in or adjacent to Last Chance Cyn in the colorful eastern part of the park added by the 1994 Calif. Desert Protection Act. Moderate hikes of 4-6 mi. rt each day to mines/geological/archaeological sites (lug soles required). High clearance vehicles required (4x4 preferred). Potluck Sat night. Send SASE or email with car pool info, H&W phones to Ldrs: Bob&Maureen Cates, 140 Healy Trail, Chatsworth 91311-7026 (818) 883-2165.

Nov. 11 (Sat) Chapter Ex-Com meets at Beale Library, Lake Room, Bakersfield. All members are welcome to attend. Call Glenn Shellcross, 661-832-3382, for time.

Nov. 17, Fri. Chapter Dinner Social Bill Lee's Chinese Chopsticks, 1203 18th St. (Bakersfield) call Georgette Theotig, (661-822-4371) for details.

Note: There will be no Oct. 16 Owens Peak Group Meeting

November Gathering

After all the fall leaves have fluttered to the ground and the last of the Halloween candy is gone, it's time to enjoy a long-standing Chapter tradition: the annual Chapter Dinner Social. This is a perfect opportunity to visit with friends over dinner, welcome new members, and honor our 25 year members. This year we will be dining the evening of Friday, November 17, at Bill Lee's Chinese Chopsticks Restaurant, 1203 18th Street, in downtown Bakersfield.

Social Hour begins at 6 pm, followed by dinner at 7 pm. After dinner, we are fortunate to have as our guest speaker Sandy Hare, a Tehachapi botanist, photographer, and hiker. Her slide presentation will be about the "Middle Knob", a vast area of scenic public lands east of Tehachapi. Rich in diverse plant and animal life, the rugged Middle Knob is a stunning transition between Mojave Desert and Southern Sierran habitats. Great place to go hiking!

A mere $14 reserves a delicious 5 entree Chinese dinner, which includes tax and tip. A no-host bar will be available during the Social Hour.

Reservations are a MUST, to be received no later than Monday, November 13, in the mail. Call Gerogette Theotig (661-822-4371) for details. Please send a check ($14 per person) written out to "Sierra Club, Kern-Kaweah Chapter", and mail it to: Georgette Theotig, P.O. Box 38, Tehachapi, CA, 93581.

The New Sierra Club Calendars will be available for purchase. Get them while they last! All "old" and new members alike are encouraged to attend this gathering. We promise you a memorable fall evening. Come join us!

From the Chair

At the annual Sierra Club dinner in San Francisco on Sept. 23, 2000, Kern-Kaweah Chapter member and Porterville resident Carla Cloer received the John Muir Award, the highest award the national Sierra Club gives to volunteer environmental activists. Cloer received the award for her more than 20 years of work to protect the giant sequoia trees in California. Her work culminated in the recent passage of the Giant Sequoia National Monument, which President Clinton signed in to law April 15. The bill made 328,000 acres of Sequoia National Forest a National Monument, thus protecting giant sequoias within the forest from logging. If it were not for the work Carla has done during the past 20 years, it is doubtful that we would have a Giant Sequoia National Monument today.

Cloer began working on sequoia issues in 1979 when she fought to stop development of the Peppermint Ski Area, which would have threatened three sequoia groves in the Slate Mountain Roadless Area. She became chair of the Kern-Kaweah Chapter's Sequoia Forest Committee in 1986 and chair of the Sierra Club's Sequoia Task Force in 1994.

Cloer used a variety of methods - including taking pictures, writing appeals on timber sale projects and pushing for legislation - to stop logging in giant sequoia groves. In 1986 she authored the administrative appeal that was the basis for the Sierra Club lawsuit that stopped modified clear-cut logging in the giant sequoia groves in Sequoia National Forest. She also testified before two Congressional committees on behalf of sequoia protection.

"Carla has worked harder than anyone in the Sierra Club for thelast 20 years to protect the southern Sierra Nevada, particularly the Sequoia National Forest," said Harold Wood, chair of the Mineral King Group of the Sierra Club. "She has completed John Muir's dream of preserving the Giant Sequoias from the Kings River to the Kern River and their entire watersheds."

Cloer is a fourth-generation Porterville resident and is currently in her 27th year of teaching elementary school in the town.

Harold Wood, another member of our Chapter, and resident of Visalia, was also among those receiving national awards from the Sierra Club this year.

Wood received a Special Achievement Award from the organization for his development of the John Muir Exhibit, a web site devoted to the life and legacy of Sierra Club founder John Muir. The 1,000-page web site includes everything from a detailed Chronology of Muir's life to updated reports of events pertaining to Muir around the world. Interactive features of the site include sound and music clips, a John Muir Discussion Mailing List for Muir scholars, a guestbook and a message board.

These resources have proven invaluable to students from kindergarten through graduate school, as well as editors and publishers of newspapers, magazines and books.

The John Muir Exhibit has already received numerous other awards, including Link of the Week from Computer Currents Interactive, a Four-star Overall Rating from CyberHound Online, a Four-star rating from Magellan, a Top 5% Web site from Point Review, Best of the Net from Web Crawler Select, a Better Place Award from The Internet Filter, Site of the Week from the Environmental News Network, the Study Web Academic Excellence Award and an "Awesome" rating from the Schools of California Online Resources for Education.

Wood currently serves as chair of the Sierra Club's Mineral King Group and chair of its Environmental Education Committee. He also serves as webmaster for the Kern-Kaweah Chapter of the Sierra Club.

For a small Sierra Club Chapter, we can be proud of the hours of work and talent these two people have contributed to making our world a better place. As Joe Fontaine puts it, "We have a heroine and a hero in our midst" for their work has been heroic, to be sure.

- Glenn Shellcross

Protect Hart Park Bluff Area

Yesterday morning I walked on the bluffs above Hart Park, an area which I had not visited alone since my body guard German Shepard got too old to hike clear back in the early 80's. My purpose was to look over the territory which has been proposed for housing by a developer from Orange County. I took the old trail which slants up the hillside from the gun range, and was delighted to find that, except for the more substantial shoes I must now wear, I was as agile going up as I was in my 40's.

But what a surprise at the top! What I remember as barely marked trails had been bulldozed into roads some time ago, apparently in anticipation of development. And some of those roads come pretty close to the edge of the bluff.

In a meeting with a vigorous local group called"Save Our Trails", I learned that this area is now cherished by a whole new generation of folks who have been walking, running and mountain biking there for the last two decades, many of them from the west side where they have lost trails to development. They are urging us all to contact City Planning and members of the City Council to request backing for a buffer area between housing developments and the bluffs, all the way from the area just west of Hart Park where the Bakersfield Cactus is already protected, to Hang Glider Hill, above Calm and the soccer fields.

Walking there reawakened my interest in the area. It was a glorious place: high enough for full views of our mountains and our light-and-shadow hills, and splendid for hiking and running...absolutely unique. I can't think of another place in California which is more beautiful, and at the moment it is ours. For once, we may act in time to preserve Bakersfield's most valuable scenic andrecreational area, in such a way that it can be enjoyed forever by the public, and yet be an asset to development. Who wouldn't want to live where the views are so gorgeous, and where the greatest trails in the valley are within walking distance of their doors?

I urge readers of the Roadrunner to write a letter, making a copy to the City Planning Department, and a copy to the City Council. The Planning department letters will be forwarded to the developer, and those to the Council will be duplicated so that each member will have a copy. The area is in Councilman Mike Maggard's ward so, in addition, a separate appeal to him would be helpful. Your written concerns will be effective whether you live in the city or the county. We must act quickly. An avalanche of letters will be needed. Write to: City Planning Department, l7l5 Chester Avenue, 9330l. City Council, l50l Truxtun Avenue, 9330l. Thanks in advance.

Ann Williams

Sierra Club Calendars

Once again, our Chapter is offering calendars for sale; however, this year you will save almost a dollar on each purchase. Engagement calendars are $12, and Wilderness calendars are $11. Contact the following to purchase your calendar: in Ridgecrest: Dennis Burge, 760-375-7967; in Bakersfield: Louann Nickerson, 661-833-1734; in Porterville, Pam Clark, 559-784-4643; and in Tehachapi: Georgette Theotig, 661-822-4371.

Ex-Com Candidates Sought

Five Ex-Com positions are up for re-election this fall. Meetings are usually once a month on a Saturday afternoon, for 3 to 4 hours. If you are interested in running for a position on the Ex-Com, please call Georgette Theotig (661-822-4371), Mel Rubin (661-831-3333), or Monte Harper (661-872-2366), no later than October 15.

Roadrunner Editors to Step Down

The last issue of The Roadrunner that we will put out will be for January, 2001 or sooner if a replacement for us is found. We are stepping down because we wish to pursue other interests and activities which make it difficult to devote the time that we believe is necessary to put out the Roadrunner. Thank you to those of you who gave us encouragement during the past year.

-Andy and Sasha Honig

Roadrunner Editor Needed

A Small Stipend May Be Available

Contact Glenn Shellcross
661-832-3382
<shellcrossg@earthlink.net>

Kern-Kaweah Website Changes

Harold Wood has done some re-vamping of the Kern-Kaweah Chapter website, improving its look and feel and organization and has plans to make some further additions in the near future.

Harold believes the website's three highest priorities are:
(1) chapter FRIP membership page;
(2) a "how to volunteer" page; and
(3) a "Victories" page. highlighting our successes.
Harold has also uploaded a photo-essay of Carla Cloer receiving the John Muir Award which can be viewed at <http://kernkaweah.sierraclub.org/carla_cloer_john_muiraward.html>
The Chapter website is <http://kernkaweah.sierraclub.org/>

Roadrunner by Email

If you wish to receive the current Roadrunner online, contact Lorraine Unger at <alunger@juno.com>. Be sure to include your resource # (The 8 digit number appearing on the top edge of your mailing label at the left). Please specify if you still wish to receive a paper copy of the Roadrunner by U.S. mail.

Dairy Siting Hearing

A hearing on environmental and economic concerns about the siting of dairies was held by the California Senate Agricultural and Water Resources Committee and Assembly Committee on Agriculture in Hanford on September 12. Chairman Jim Costa, Chairman Dean Florez, Assembly-member Roy Ashburn and other members of the Committees were present.

In representing the Kern-Kaweah Chapter and the national Sierra Club's Confined Animal Feeding Operations Committee, I expressed three concerns:

(1) Since America's demand for milk is stable and is easily met by the current supply, stocking the mega-dairies proposed for the San Joaquin Valley could only be done by depleting family farms. This may be socially undesirable.

(2) Mega-Dairies will result in the concentration of large amounts of manure. These concentrations of manure may seep into the groundwater. Since the recent EIRs do not discuss this, it is a primary issue in the Sierra Club's suit on the Borba dairy.

(3) The Borba dairies will pollute the air with particulate matter (P-M 10 and P-M 2.5) and volatile organic compounds such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. Air pollution from "confined animal feeding operations" should be regulated just like any other factory; they should not be exempted from the Clean Air Act as they are today.

Legislators queried witnesses as to whether or not standards could be developed for mega-dairies that would prevent suits. I responded that, since EIRs find ammonia and hydrogen sulfide to be significant and unavoidable, Mega-Dairies may be impossible to justify.

The legislators stated that small dairies often could not afford to comply with current environmental regulations and that these regulations were driving family diaries out of business. In the opinion of the Sierra Club, mega-dairies do not comply with current environmental regulations either. Dairies never did EIRs until law suits by the Center for Race, Poverty and the Environment made the Boswell and Borba dairies do EIRs; Senator Costa opined that big dairies will now routinely do EIRs. The legislators spent an hour trying to show that the Center for Race, Poverty and Environment was improperly funded. Environmentalists who were present were angered by what seemed to be a cross examination of Luke Cole, of the Center.

Legislators suggested that if a county invited a dairy to locate in that county, and the dairy was sued, county taxpayers should help pay for the dairy's defense. (Many think that Supervisor Peterson, former Supervisor Mary K. Shell and others invited Borba Dairies into Kern County.) A representative of the California Attorney General said that they might consider defending a dairy against a citizen suit. If later, air or water quality had to be restored, taxpayers would have to pay for that also. Local legislators seem unconcerned about that eventuality.

To discuss this article or air quality in general, please contact me at (661) 323-5569 or alunger@juno.com.

- Arthur Unger

Dollars for the Environment

Urban sprawl, wildlands disappearance, species extinction, and degraded air and water threaten every corner of California. One of our most important tools in protecting California is sending well-informed legislators to Sacramento.

Unfortunately, there are few opportunities to support dedicated pro-environment candidates within our chapter boundaries. Many Sierra Club endorsed legislative candidates elsewhere in California face serious, well-financed opposition. They must have the financial means to be elected. They need to mail campaign materials, distribute flyers, and place ads in local media.

If you wish to help candidates for the California legislature, please send a contribution to: Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club 3435 W. Wilshire Blvd, Suite #320 Los Angeles, CA 90010-1904

This political contribution is not tax deductible.

Make your check out to the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club - PAC # 990434.

Why Sierra Club Supports Gore

As a Sierra Club member, we want you to have key facts that our Board of Directors had when they voted to endorse Vice President Al Gore for President. What happens on November 7th will make a big difference for the environment.

Gore
Helped create new National Monuments to protect Giant Sequoias, the Grand Canyon's north rim, and Utah's redrock canyons.

Bush
Opposes the new National Monuments. Dick Cheney said that if elected, they would consider rescinding these new monuments.

Gore
Supports ending all logging on the remaining unspoiled land in our NationalForests, including immediate protection for Tongass National Forest in Alaska.

Bush
Opposes the plan to protect these pristine forests, and even says he would increase logging in our National Forests.

Gore
Supports full wilderness protection for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Bush
Advocates opening up the Arctic Refuge to oil drilling.

Gore
Worked to enact the strictest-ever tailpipe pollution standards for cars,SUVs and light trucks, and strengthen America's clean-air health standards for soot and smog.

Bush
Opposes stricter air standards. His state officials lobbied to weaken enforcement of the Clean Air Act.

These are just some of the environmental issues at stake in this election. To learn more here are some important contacts:

Midgebuzzings

Advocates for wilderness have always had their work cut out for them, but never more than now, given the horrendous fires all across the West this summer and fall. Those who feel that too much land has already been designated for protection have found in these conflagrations arguments for more roads and increased logging. Roads, they say, will allow firefighting crews greater access to hot spots, and logging will thin the forests and make them less liable to intense burning.

Taking the matter of roads first, it is interesting to me, and perhaps telling, that the Manter Meadow fire which grew out of control and raged across the Domelands wilderness to threaten the community of Kennedy Meadows, is thought to have been started by human carelessness. Except for a short hike of about four miles, which I have done easily several times, Manter Meadow is accessible for heavy public use just because of the roads that lead to the trailheads. The Domelands Wilderness itself is largely characterized by precipitous granite formations which make roadbuilding unfeasible.

In response to bitter complaints about wilderness designation and fire, the Forest Service has said repeatedly that roadlessness has not been a significant factor contributing to fires or to the difficulty with their containment. In fact, a new analysis of close to l .7 million acres of burn in national forests shows that little more than a third has been within the wilderness system.

Regarding the suggestion by the timber industry and allied officials that logging should be increased as a preventive measure, I was intrigued by the statement of Idaho Senator Larry Craig that roadless areas are more fire prone because lack of access and reduced logging, [which] "contribute to a buildup of trees and brush that could ignite."

Immediately I thought back to an outing, early this summer, with Joe and Bugs Fontaine, to the new national monument adjacent to Sequoia National Park. Our hikes took us along several miles of roads and trails that bordered logging areas. We saw plenty of evidence of old clearcuts in the distance, replanted but not regrown, except with the brush that makes good tinder. We walked by huge areas of relatively small trees, interspersed by the cut stumps of much larger ones which had been more profitable to harvest. Everywhere we went there were piles of slash...that is, of small limbs and brush which had been stripped from the larger trees by loggers and simply left behind to dry, and thus to provide kindling for disastrous fires. One cigarette tossed into such a pile from an adjacent logging road would result in an inferno.

The recent study just mentioned also found that two of the worst fire years in the West, (l987-l988), were also among the heaviest logging years in our history. This was hardly surprising to me after what we found in the bordering areas of the Sequoia National Monument.

Next month we will look at the effects of a century of fire suppression in the national forests, and at the implications for us and for the brave people who go out every year to confront disaster head-on.

© 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.org
Vice-Chair: Mary Moy sierraprimrose@ca.freei.net (559) 625-0287
Conservation Chair: Neil Fernbaugh, marmot@lightspeed.net (559) 798-0343
Membership and Social: Beverly Garcia gmachine@psnw.com (559) 592-9865
Outings: Brian Newton xchiker@lightspeed.net (559) 627-3571
Secretary: Nina Stone (559) 734-7362
Treasurer: Janet Wood jswood@mediaone.net (559) 739-8527
Fundraising: Richard Garcia gmachine@psnw.com (559) 592-9865
Environmental Education and Webmaster: Harold Wood harold.wood@sierraclub.org

Owens Peak Group (Desert Area Code 760)

Chair: Dennis Burge, 375-7967; V.C.: Steve Smith; Conservation: Jeanie Haye; Treasurer: Dolph Amster; At Large: Dororthy Vokolek; Outings: Don Peterson, 375-8599

Condor Group (Frazier Park & Pine Mountain)

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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