Sierra Club
Redwood Chapter Newsletter
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From the Outings Chair Carol Vellutini | |
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This spring brought a huge snowpack to the Sierra. It was a great year for winter sports even though some of our winter backpacks needed to be cancelled due to the snow load and winter conditions. Our summer work parties for Benson Hut will be in this issue. We will need many volunteers; consider helping us out. Napa group is also doing Hutchinson Lodge work parties. We need to do fundraising for Clair Tappaan Lodge. Consider staying there and doing hikes from the lodge. The food is great and the staff fun to be with. Redwood Chapter leaders went to training at the lodge and will be offering trips there. Please sign up. In Sonoma County, Sierra Club participated in the comments on the Outdoor Recreation Plan. Then it stalled. After ten years, the County's Outdoor Recreation Plan (ORP) is approaching the final steps towards approval. The Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the ORP will be released for public comment in the near future according to the County's Regional Parks Department. Sierra Club will work with the original coalition (CORP) to create a system of trails that traverse Sonoma County, and the finalized version of the ORP will be incorporated into the County's General Plan. |
This is an incredibly important document, one to which all outdoor enthusiasts should pay great attention. I need volunteers to help out as the original group has disbanded. Please call 546-6308 ASAP to be on a committee for Sierra Club. We will meet with CORP to look at the DEIR and its proposed reduced alternative (required by law). The DEIR will probably have a public comment period of 60 days and will go to the County Planning Commission before reaching the Board of Supervisors. Public comments must be responded to if presented as questions directly relating to the content of the DEIR, and those responses will be incorporated into the final EIR that will go to the Board for certification, a prerequisite to the ORP adoption. Welcome to Lake Group's new leaders Lars Crail and Kenneth Roberts. I hope to have a bio for them next issue. Please help out your parks department by volunteering for trail projects. It is rewarding work and great exercise. |