Save the Date! October 23-25, 2015
Alabama Sierra Club Retreat
Explore, Enjoy, Protect… on 440 acres at the beautiful Living River Center on the Cahaba River. The focus will be on outings with experienced guides, hands-on learning, and exploring the beauty of the river and surrounding area. There will be opportunities to hike, bird, hunt for fossils, and canoe the Cahaba. Lodging at the retreat center will be camp style dorms with bunk beds. You will need to bring your linens and blanket or sleeping bag, plus a pillow and towel.
Lodging and meals will be available on site. Download Registration Form Here. You should also be getting a copy in the mail during August.
What An Outings Leader Wants You To Know
- You see a listing for a hike you want to do, so you show up that morning, join the group and go. Easy right? Well there is a lot of thought and planning that goes on before each outing. Below are some thoughts from an experienced outings leader to help explain what goes into planning a hike and why we do things a certain way.
- We are Volunteers. Following in John Muir’s footsteps, we want you to get outdoors to Explore, Enjoy, and if the need ever arises, be inclined to Protect. What makes us different from other groups/organizations is that we’re required to receive periodic training (Leadership, First Aid, etc/etc/etc).
- We have a liability waiver for you to fill out and sign. That includes an emergency contact number that can be potentially provided to medical personnel when every second counts.
- We write descriptive announcements with a rating (easy/moderate/strenuous) to help you decide if an outing is suitable for your skill set. Our ratings are different than other groups/organizations so pay attention to our definitions, not theirs.
- If you have a question about an outing, contact us well in advance. We too need our sleep the night before so may not see your email and or receive a telephone message at the 11th hour.
- Use common sense when it comes to weather and check our Facebook page for last minute cancelations. Your safety is our primary concern.
- If our write-up states we are leaving the parking lot at 8:00 a.m., that means we are leaving the parking lot at 8:00 a.m. If you’d like to join us, arrive 10 to 15 minutes early, especially if you want to ride-share, need driving directions, or don’t want to stand in the parking lot/at the trailhead, alone.
- We do follow State Park, Wilderness Area, etc, regulations. If you want your dog, puma or alligator off- leash and the Park/etc rules state otherwise, we will follow their rule. Ask a Leader in advance if it’s ok to bring your four-legged friend.
- Since we conduct group outings, we stay together as a group. This usually means a Leader in the front, a co-leader/sweep in the back, and everyone else in-between. We do have an early sign-out if you misunderstood the nature of the outing or want to proceed solo.
- Even though we have enquiring minds, we can’t eavesdrop on everyone’s conversations. If someone is making you feel uncomfortable, please let us know as quickly as possible. If we know, we can act upon it.
- Again, we are Volunteers and have not only taken our time to train and plan an outing, we have just spent an evening, a day, or a weekend with you. Please take a moment to say Thank You. That is our reward.
- Tom Burley (from the North Alabama Sierra Club)
Inner City Outings Goes to Camp McDowell
(by Adam Johnston) June 26-27, Camp McDowell: Birmingham ICO and New Beginnings Ministry camps overnight to hike, canoe, play, and learn why our beautiful Black Warrior River (and all rivers) is such a jewel, an asset, and a special place to visit! Please contact Adam Johnston if you are interested in participating and supporting the Birmingham ICO program.
Support our State Parks!
As our chair, Bob Hastings, wrote in the May 2015 Sierran, some of our state parks are under threat of being closed. The May 1 scheduled closing has been delayed until further notice. However, we need to make sure they won't be closed in the future.
We encourage you to continue visiting the state parks. You can hike, bike, canoe, kayak, paddleboard, swim, fish, camp, stay in a cabin, go birding, geocache, picnic, golf plus other outdoor activities. Bring a friend, your family, or your outings group. The state parks are beautiful treasures for all of us to enjoy!
Special Note: Inside the war on coal. How Mike Bloomberg, red-state businesses, and a lot of Midwestern lawyers are changing American energy faster than you think.
Good article about the work being done by the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign. Read it here.
NAACP LAUNCHES AMERICA’S JOURNEY FOR JUSTICE AT EDMUND PETTUS BRIDGE
The NAACP held its first state rally at the Alabama State Capitol as marchers complete the first leg of its 860 mile march, America’s Journey for Justice. On the capitol steps, the NAACP, coalition partners, young practioners of democracy and social justice and human rights advocates demanded federal prioritization of job creation and training, passage of the Raise the Wage Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act and legislation that requires new restrictions on payday loans in the state of Alabama.
America’s Journey for Justice is an 860-mile march from Selma, Montgomery through Washington, DC. Led relay style by regional leadership beginning with NAACP Alabama State Conference President Bernard Simelton, marchers we will trek through Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia until reaching the nation’s capital. The march aims to mobilize activists and advance a focused national advocacy agenda that protects the right of every American to a fair criminal justice system, uncorrupted and unfettered access to the ballot box, sustainable jobs with a living wage, and equitable public education under the unifying theme “Our Lives, Our Votes, Our Jobs, Our Schools Matter.” National Sierra Club President Aaron Mair participated in the events leading up to the kick-off, visiting Alabama over the weekend.
Don't miss any of the outings and events across Alabama this month
Check out our outings and events page! (A few events hightlighted below)
Alabama Rivers Alliance Speaks at August Meeting for North Alabama
On Thursday night, August 20, Cindy Lowry from the Alabama River's Alliance will present a program on efforts to develop a water management plan for our state that will help ensure the availability of water during dry summermonths when the state is under drought conditions and for the long term future of our state.
Meetings start at 6:00pm and will be in the training room of the National Children’s Advocacy Center at 210 Pratt Avenue. This is at the corner of Pratt and Meridian streets. North Alabama Sierra Club meetings are open to everyone. Come join us!
Reminder of Slower Paced Tuesday Night Hike for North Alabama
Just a reminder that we have added a second Tuesday night hike on Monte Sano. This hike is at a slower pace for those who prefer a more relaxed hike and it is great for beginning hikers. Both hikes will meet at the same time and place as usual - 6:00pm sharp at the hiker's parking lot in Monte Sano State Park. Come join us and bring a friend!
Coosa Valley Sierra Club's August Meeting
August – 13 – Christi Brown, Etowah County Humane Society. Joe M. Ford Center, Gadsden
The Mobile Bay Sierra Club invites you to attend!
What: "Pollinator Decline Crisis and the Plight of the Pollinators", Presented by Amanda Wilkins, guest Curator of Collections at the Mobile Botanical Gardens! Flowering plants depend on animal pollinators in order to reproduce, and the majority of those animal pollinators are insects. Concern about pollinator declines has increased in recent decades, and, where pollinator status has been monitored over time, reductions in numbers have been documented.
There are so many local and global issues facing our furry and feathered friends; some we hear about all the time, but others we rarely do. With a new Pollinator Garden at the Mobile Botanical Gardens, Amanda Wilkins, curator of collections, is taking a little step back from plants and talking about the animal side of the pollination equation. With plenty of photos and quirky anecdotes, Amanda will set the situation and deliver a status report about the various pollinators (and the plants that rely on them!). She will share what's going on and what you can do to help, including ideas about what you can do to help in your own backyard.
When: Tuesday evening, August 4th. Program Presentation starts at 7:00 p.m.
Refreshments served at 6:30 p.m.
(The General Public is invited, No Admission)
Location address: 5 Rivers, Alabama’s Delta Resource Center, 30945 Five Rivers Blvd., Spanish Fort, AL 36527 (entrance is across from Meaher State Park on the Mobile Bay Causeway).
For more information, please contact Carol Adams-Davis, 702-496-5050 or email: mcadamsdavis@earthlink.net
PROCEDURE FOR SENDING MATERIAL TO THE ALABAMA SIERRAN
Many thanks to Roe Hyche, Bob Hastings, Lucina Horner, and Peggie Griffin for agreeing to be the new newsletter committee.
The newsletter is put together monthly, and material for the newsletter should be sent to plgriffin@comcast.net, with a subject line of "For the Editorial Board" no later than the 15th of the month.
Group newsletter editors may continue sending group meeting information and calendars of events to Joe Watts at joe@joewatts.com, no later than the 25th of each month.
Guidelines for Material:
The newsletter committee is seeking articles about Alabama environmental issues, articles highlighting Alabama’s special beautiful places, and engaging write-ups about group and chapter activities.
Articles should be originally written for the Alabama Sierran, factual, and timely.
A link to another publication should only be used rarely, but if a link is to be used, a full summary of the information (at least a paragraph long) should be written, with the link provided for more detailed information.
The newsletter committee has the right to make any changes, so that material will meet these guidelines.