Sierra Club News A Publication for Members and Friendsof the Roanoke Group of the Sierra Club June-July 2006 Contents (quick links): NEW ZEALAND "Above & Below" - June 9 NEW ZEALAND "Above & Below" - June 9 Noted caver and outdoor enthusiast Marian McConnell, Catawba, will be guest speaker at Earth Friendly Friday in June. Ms. McConnell's program will focus on the ecology of New Zealand with photos of stunning scenery, flowers, caves, and towns. She'll also discuss logistics (how to get there, costs, and what to take). Marian and her husband Dan own the famous Murder Hole cave near Catawba. Marian is a member of local and national caving organizations, works part time as an Outdoor Specialist for Roanoke City Parks and Recreation, and is author of Emergence, a caving adventure novel. Marian and Dan are also musicians! Their CD "Land of My Dreams," includes ecology-related songs such as "Trees for Everyone" and "Middletown." Location: Roanoke Unitarian Universalist Church, 2015 Grandin Road (at Brandon, across from Patrick Henry HS). This program is free and open to the public. Bring snack food to share (optional) at 6:30 PM; socializing and music before and after the program, which begins at 7:00 PM. National Forest "Tour de Cut" . . . Explore - Enjoy - Protect! This will be our third year to sponsor "Tour de Cut" in cooperation with Virginia Forest Watch and Wild Virginia. This year's event will be on July 15 & 16 near Staunton and Lexington. Activities include walks, a workshop, and camping! On Saturday, we'll have a tour of contrasts - we'll visit a site of a recent logging operation . . . then we'll tour a site where the natural beauty of the forest is intact. This will be a fun and educational day of hiking. On Sunday, we'll have a workshop about the George Washington National Forest management plan revision. SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: SATURDAY MORNING: Our first stop will be the site of a recent timber sale just outside Elliott Knob, an inventoried roadless area. Extensive logging has taken place in a low-lying area with 120 year old trees very close to Montgomery Run. The hike to and from this area involves about 1.5 hours of walking on an old road. We will break for lunch at the Augusta Springs Picnic Area and Wetlands Trail boardwalk (BYO lunch). SATURDAY AFTERNOON: We will hike the George Camp Trail in the Signal Corps Knob area, a beautiful area with mature forests, remote habitat for wildlife, and old growth forests south of Ramseys Draft Wilderness. Thanks to citizen efforts, this unique area was saved from a 230 acre timber sale in the Spring of 2006. This is a walk of about 5 miles (4 mi. of hiking on a trail with moderately steep climbs and 1 mi. of hiking on a closed road) rated "moderate" difficulty by the National Geographic Trails Illustrated map series. SATURDAY NIGHT CAMPING. Following the hikes, those wanting to camp will travel to the Hopper Creek Group Camping area, near Thunder Ridge Wilderness. Facilities at this rustic group camping area include: large group tent pads, picnic tables, group campfire circle, and vault toilets. Everyone is responsible for their own camping gear and food. SUNDAY WORKSHOP (9:30 AM) This will be an important public workshop focusing on the George Washington National Forest Plan Revision, scheduled to begin this fall. The plan revision will set the direction for the one-million acre George Washington National Forest for the next 10-15 years. The George Washington National Forest is one of the largest national forests in the southern Appalachians. Unless we act together, the roadless areas, wildlife habitat, and watersheds of this national forest will not receive the protection they need. The workshop will take place at Cave Mountain Lake recreation area, just east of Natural Bridge Station. DIRECTIONS, MEETING LOCATION, AND TIMES: SATURDAY HIKE - Meet at 9:00 AM at the gravel park-and-ride just south of Exit 55 on I-64 (north of Lexington). We will carpool or caravan to the site of the hikes. SATURDAY EVENING CAMPING - Hopper Creek Group Camp - From I-81 take exit 175 (if coming from the south) or 180 (if coming from the north) to the town of Natural Bridge. Turn onto Route 130 (east) and go 3.2 miles. Turn right onto Route 759 and go 4.7 miles to the campground. SUNDAY WORKSHOP (9:30 AM) - Cave Mountain Lake Recreation Area - Follow directions above to Natural Bridge. Take 130 East 3.2 miles then turn right on SR 759 for 3.2 miles. Turn right on SR 781. Cave Mountain Lake is 1.6 miles on the left. Look for signs around the picnic pavilion. There is no cost to participate, except for shared expenses of car-polling. If are interested in joining us in this "Tour de Cut" or have questions, please contact Sherman Bamford at bamford@rev.net, (540) 343-6359 or Dave Muhly at (276) 688-2190. July Program - Hiker/Author Leonard Adkins TRAVERSING ANCIENT MOUNTAINS: 2,000 MILES ON THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL - We're pleased to announce the featured speaker for our July 14th Earth Friendly Friday is award-winning author, Leonard M. Adkins. Having completed the Appalachian Trail four times, the "Habitual Hiker" has walked more than 17,000 miles in North America, Europe, and the Caribbean. Mr. Adkins shares his love of the natural world by presenting multimedia programs about his trips. July 14th's program, accompanied by folk and classical music, is a compilation of his treks on the Appalachian Trail and depicts a typical "through hike". Leonard's photographs and articles have appeared in Islands, Backpacker, Caribbean Travel and Life, and Blue Ridge Country. His books include Walking the Blue Ridge, 50 Hikes in Southern Virginia, and The Caribbean: A Walking & Hiking Guide. His book The Appalachian Trail: A Visitor's Companion, received the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation's Lowell Thomas Journalism Award. Wildflowers of the Appalachian Trail is a winner of the National Outdoor Book Award, ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year, and a Virginia Literary Award nomination. He is currently the Hiking columnist for Blue Ridge Outdoors and the Roanoke Walks columnist for Roanoker magazine. Leonard will be available for book signings before and after the program. Location: Roanoke Unitarian Universalist Church, 2015 Grandin Road (at Brandon, across from Patrick Henry HS). This program is free and open to the public. Bring snack food to share (optional) at 6:30 PM; enjoy socializing and music before and after the program, which begins at 7:00 PM. For location map, see page 1. Sierra Club sponsors the Earth Friendly Friday program series in cooperation with Environmental Concerns and Social Concerns committees of the Roanoke Unitarian Universalist Church. A Word From the Chair - June 30 - "An Inconvenient Truth" LANDMARK FILM AT GRANDIN THEATRE OPENING JUNE 30! - Back in the late 1980's when I was Chair of the Sierra Club's Dallas Group, we (the national Sierra Club) produced some TV ads that warned about the dangers of global warming. William Shatner did the voice-over for one of them. You'd think that Captain Kirk warning us about an impending disaster would have had an impact, but we all know that environmentalists were marginalized and largely hooted off the stage on that issue. Fast forward to 1992 . . . my older daughter graduated high school and was getting ready for college. She was interested in politics and the environment. In fact she had been an alternate to a state political convention and did a science project on water quality. Perfect Christmas gift? A copy of the book Earth in the Balance by Albert Gore, Jr. Senator Gore wrote about the threat of global warming and how we needed to start doing something about it. Predictably, Gore was excoriated by his opponents as being an alarmist, kook, environmental wacko, and worse. But he did manage to get elected Vice President, and in 2000 he was endorsed by the Sierra Club for President. For the first time in history a true environmental hero was on the ballot. That didn't work out for Al or us. Now it's 2006, and just about everyone on the planet knows that Gore was right about global warming. The new Paramount Classics film An Inconvenient Truth, "brings home Gore's persuasive argument that we can no longer afford to view global warming as a political issue - rather, it is the biggest moral challenge facing our global civilization." But must we endure another droning lecture from the policy wonk who couldn't outwit the Great Malaprop- igator in the presidential debates? Hopefully not. The film's promotional material promises that Gore "is seen as never before in the media - funny, engaging, open and downright on fire about getting the surprisingly stirring truth about what he calls our 'planetary emergency' out to ordinary citizens before it's too late." I'll be there on June 30. Will you? Bring the children. They will inherit this earth, and they should not be meek about this issue. GET LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS BY EMAIL FOR UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION ON OUR LOCAL EVENTS, CLICK HERE! |
Roanoke Group
of the Virginia Chapter
