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2009 Election Candidate Forum:
The Questions

What is your experience with outings, and what do you see as their role in the Club?

Boldman, Lane

• Outings Leader since 1993
• Backpacking instructor since 1998
• Involved with Inner City Outings since 2004
I started in the Club as an outings leader, and continue leading outings to this day. The Outings program is the initial contact for many future leaders and a vital component of our work. My husband and I lead Inner City Outings for at-risk youth — one of the Club’s most rewarding programs. The Outings program maintains a steadiness of vision and function that is core to this organization, reaching out and directly engaging people with the places we are inspired by and are working to protect. I currently lead outings to areas affected by Mountaintop Removal Mining to engage people directly with an issue that truly must be seen firsthand to understand the destruction. If you want to participate in a Mountaintop Removal outing please contact me at lanebold@earthlink.net.

Gibson, Laurence

Went on my first SC outing in 1969, began leading outings in 1984. To this day I still treasure “getting out” as a religious experience. John Muir’s principle of radicalizing folks to “preserve and protect” still resonates with me today. I’m just naive enough to believe that principle still can work in today’s modern society. As a small-group leader in a relatively isolated border area which really has more in common with New Mexico than Texas, I’m conscious of how different our outings-support needs are from mega-groups in more wealthy populous areas. I’d like to encourage “different strokes for different folks” within the SC’s bureaucracy.

Mann, Robin

My experience with national outings is very limited but I hope to improve that at some point. I have mainly taken advantage of occasional involvement in local outings and an ICO day trip.  The potential to build the synergy between our Outings Program and our conservation work is enormous, and concerted efforts to do so have been undertaken in recent years.  Outings offer the opportunity to engage our members and others in enjoying our wild resources and to nurture their desire to protect them.

Morris, Frank

I have been married since September 2000, and have not been involved with Sierra Club outings since my marriage because my wife Florence doesn’t like bugs.  One mosquito bite on her sensitive skin, or a gnat in her ear, can put my dear wife in a funk for a week.  A happy wife is a happy life.  Before my marriage, I used to enjoy trail service hikes in the Catskills and around Long Island.   The role of outings is part of our mandate as Sierrans, to ENJOY the natural environment.  As Sierrans, as environmentalists, we need more joy in our work protecting the ecology.  Outings help to provide the joy.

Reyes, Rafael

I frequently enjoy hikes with my wife and other members of my family.  However, while I have been on some local Sierra Club outings, they have been few.  Though not practiced in every chapter, outings are an essential to be able to “Enjoy, Explore and Protect the Planet.”  Outings are a vital part of the Sierra Club’s community building and provide a hugely important avenue for people to experience the wonder of nature and as a result, recognize the importance of protecting it.

Scott, David

My first club role was leading local outings. The obvious potential of outings is that people care more about what they’ve seen up close and personal.  I spent two months in central Alaska in 2000 and then spent time in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest in 2001.  When I made congressional lobbying visits about Alaska wilderness protection, that experience was invaluable in helping me to convey my real feeling for the places I wanted to protect.

Outings have to be fun -- our national outings program seems to be succeeding well at providing that.  I’m sure many chapter and group outings do as well.  I’d like to see us expand programs like Inner City Outings and Building Bridges to the Outdoors as part of an energetic outreach to minorities and young people.

Warshaw, Chris

As an avid hiker, I believe that outings are a crucial service provided by the Sierra Club to environmentalists and outdoors enthusiasts. These outings enrich people’s lives and are a crucial reason that many members join the Sierra Club.  The core of the Outings program is healthy, but I would make several changes to enhance it going forward.  First, all outings should be listed on a centralized, national website that members can search to find outings in their community. Second, there should more opportunities for members to self-organize outings.  Eventually, any member should be able to post a hike on the national website and invite other Sierra Club members to join them. Third, we should partner with other outdoors organizations and environmental groups to co-organize outings.  These outings would spread the Sierra Club brand and bring more people into the Club.

Wheeler, Phil

My outings experience is comprehensive – as an outings leader (since 1991) and in outings administration (outings chair, navigation instructor/examiner, OAGC member, Angeles Chapter Safety Chair and FaRM Liaison to the new Outdoor Activity Program Team). The words of John Muir "Explore, Enjoy, and Protect" and "Hear the trees speak" have been watchwords for our outings program for a century – and the program continues to be one of our most valuable forms of outreach and attracting new members. But we can and must do more. We can use outings to reach out to new constituencies by conducting outings and activities of interest to young adults, families, and America’s diverse cultures – to bring new vitality into the Club, expand our program and extend the reach of our conservation message. And we must work more closely with our conservation activists to help them make better use of outings in their campaigns and causes.