REDWOOD NEEDLES

Presented by the Sierra Club Redwood Chapter Newsletter, The REDWOOD NEEDLES

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Chapter Chair Report

By Margaret Pennington, Redwood Chapter Chair

I'd like to take a moment to say a big THANK YOU! to everyone who responded so generously to our annual fund appeal. Donations ranging from five dollars to five hundred dollars have added up to about $10,000 at last count. This money, coming directly to the Chapter, allows us to fund environmental protection lawsuits like the Navarro River (see article) and Hole in the Headwaters suits, promote wilderness expansion through our work on the Wild Heritage Campaign (see list of "show-me hikes"), and support significant anti-sprawl measures such as Sonoma County's Rural Heritage Initiative (see article). Without your support we simply couldn't do as much or be as effective. So thanks again.

I got to thinking, there are currently approximately 8,700 members in the Redwood Chapter. If all the members who haven't yet responded to the annual appeal (including me!) would send in just one dollar and twenty-five cents ($1.25) each, it would add up to another $10,000. That would be pretty painless for everyone &endash; except our mail carrier &endash; and double our ability to take on environmental challenges. Five dollars each and we'd add another $40,000. Ten dollars &endash; an amazing $80,000. I'm having visions of the post office delivering bags of letters, a la Miracle on 34th Street's letters to Santa. To make it happen you can mail your check to Redwood Chapter Sierra Club, to PO Box 466, Santa Rosa, CA, 95402. We promise to put your dollars (or $1.25's) to very good use.

Here's some great news. Carol Vellutini, Redwood Chapter and Sonoma Group's Outings Chair Extraordinaire is this year's recipient of Sierra Club's Oliver Kehrlein Award, honoring outstanding work in Sierra Club's National or Chapter outings program. This is a very special and well-deserved honor for Carol. The award will be presented to Carol at Sierra Club's annual dinner in San Francisco on September 23rd. Look for an article in the next issue of the Needles spotlighting Carol's many achievements and contributions to the Club. Thank you and Congratulations, Carol.

It's back to school season. I'm especially aware of that this year since literally, as I'm writing this, my two kids are packing to go off to school &endash; Santa Barbara and Davis. My son assures me that I won't miss him too much because I'll have the Sierra Club to keep me busy. In that back to school spirit I'd like to share "what I did on my summer vacation."

The highlight would have to be the Sierra Club Activist rafting trip on the Klamath River. It was my great pleasure to coordinate this trip in the northernmost reaches of the Redwood Chapter. Participants from all over the country came to enjoy the Klamath's mellow whitewater and learn how water diversions, agricultural operations and logging are impacting water quality. We also learned what we could do to help. (You can help, too &endash; see the Klamath article.)

Thanks to Felice Pace and Kyle Haines of Klamath Forest Alliance and Sierra Club and Kathy Levins and Petey Brucker of Salmon River Restoration Council (SRRC) for sharing their knowledge of this special region. Thanks to Aurora River Adventures for showing us such a great time on the river. I hope to do it again next year, this time including a couple of days "floating and snorkeling" on the Cal Salmon as part of the Annual Spring Chinook Dive sponsored by SRRC. Volunteers float one mile sections of the river and count the young Chinook. If you'd like to join the fun, please give me a call.

In mid-August I attended, along with 300 other "Club Leaders", Sierra Club's One Club event held in Albuquerque. Rather than environmental issues or policy, the focus of the conference was organizational structure and effectiveness. One of the main lessons I think everyone came away with was an increased awareness of the need for and importance of better communication between Chapters, Groups, National and individuals. The Club may not be able to mandate that people always agree with one another or like each other, but leadership can set the expectation that members will communicate and interact openly, honestly and respectfully.

My last days of summer were spent backpacking with my family in Toiyabe National Forest, just east of Emigrant Wilderness. The region we were enjoying, the Walker River basin, is a potential wilderness addition. It actually butts up against Yosemite National Park, and both Emigrant and Hoover Wilderness areas. I was especially glad we'd chosen that area for our trek, because I liked knowing that we were in a place that needed the additional protection that wilderness designation provides and that people like us, Sierra Club members, would be working to ensure that protection is granted. Some of my fondest memories are of the incredibly massive "gentle Jeffrey" pines sprinkled throughout the mature forest. Wilderness designation means they'll be standing next time I go back and... for a very long time after that.

So now it's time for "urban Hiking", a.k.a. precinct walking. Have a wonderful fall and please be sure to Vote and Vote "green."

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