Each year Angeles Chapter Sierra Club gives out awards to volunteers who have shown outstanding commitment and leadership to the club. Below are award winners for 2015.
Join us at the Chapter's Annual Awards Banquet on June 5 to salute their good work. The banquet is dedicated to the National Park Service Centennial and will be held at the Brookside Country Club in Pasadena. Individual tickets cost $40; deadline to buy tickets is May 26.
Congratulations to all!
Fred Dong will receive the Donna Specht Fundraising Award for organizing Travel Adventure trip that have raised more than $200,000 for the Angeles Chapter. Fred, who has been leading trips since 1990, leads fund-raising trips that have ranged from car camps to international tours. Recent destinations include Nepal, which included a trek almost to Everest Base Camp; the national parks of Thailand; and the wilds of Borneo. He has led or co-led trips to Mongolia, Panama, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Cambodia, Tibet and China. In Nepal and Panama, participants donated solar lights to people in remote villages that did not have dependable electricity at night. The Chapter applauds Dong for the fund-raising contributions as well as his contribution to show people the wildlife, habitats and cultural story of the countries he visits.
Robert “Bob” Myers will receive the Chester Versteeg Outings Award, the Chapter's highest outings award. Bob is an M-rated leader, chair of the Wilderness Training Committee (WTC), a WTC group leader, a member of the Leadership Training and Safety Committee and a leader in the Hundred Peaks Section. Hs greatest service to the Chapter has been as Navigation Chair of the Leadership Training Course. After passing the navigation checkoff, Bob quickly became an examiner, then assistant navigation chair and, in 2008, navigation chair. He helped introduce GPS to the Chapter’s navigation curriculum and brings enormous skill, dedication and a quiet passion to the task of educating the Chapter’s new leaders.
Angélica González will receive the Linda Hoyer Chapter Staff Award for her role as Chapter Conservation Program Manager. Angélica has increased Chapter outreach to local community and environmental organizations and enhanced Chapter relationships with Sierra Club regional field staff to support joint conservation campaigns. She has reached out to local Latino community organizations in Los Angeles and Long Beach, and has guided the successful reorganization of the Conservation Management Committee and the Conservation Grants Committee.
Sandra Cattell will receive the Weldon Heald Conservation Award, the Chapter's highest conservation award. She is the lead Sierra Club activist in the fight to stop the Cemex mega-mine proposed in Soledad Canyon along the upper Santa Clara River. Sandra has repeatedly traveled to Washington, D.C., to engage national Club staffers and to lobby senators and representatives as well as officials at the Secretary of the Interior's office and Bureau of Land Management. In 2012, the Santa Clarita Group and Sandra each received commendations from the City of Santa Clarita for conservation work. In addition, Sandra co-led the team that stopped the Las Lomas housing project in the wildlife corridor connecting the San Gabriel and Santa Susanna mountains. She was also part of the committee that created the Santa Clarita Open Space Benefit District and sits on the city's Open Space Accountability and Audit Panel. She worked to protect the Magic Mountain and Pleasant View Wilderness areas and is currently working on protecting the Castaic Wilderness. Sandra also is the Santa Clarita Valley Group vice-chair, open space/wildlands chair, and the Regional Group delegate to the Chapter ExComm. She chairs the Chapter Grants Committee, is the Angeles representative to California Nevada Regional Conservation Committee/Sierra Club California and is on the California and National Wildlands teams.
Kevin de León will receive the Chapter's Special Public Policy Award. As our California Senate President pro Tempore, the state senator from the 24th District -- from Eagle Rock in the north to Boyle Heights in the east and mid-Wilshire area on the West -- has always been responsive to Sierra Club concerns. Besides attending meetings with members of the Angeles Chapter’s Los Angeles County Political Committee, he has attended the Club’s national gatherings in San Francisco and, recently, Sierra Club California’s Beyond Oil summit in San Jose. He has consistently supported our agenda and has an impressive record of successfully championing environmental protection, environmental justice, clean air and clean energy jobs in California.
De León’s introduced a bill, AB31 in 2008, created 127 park projects in low-income and park-poor communities across California. He authored Senate Bill 535 in 2012 requiring that a percentage of cap-and-trade proceeds be invested in disadvantaged communities and introduced SB 1275, which aims to put one million electric vehicles on the road within the next decade. De Leon authored SB 1201, amending the Los Angeles County Flood Control Act to ensure public access to the river for recreational and educational use. One of his measures authorized L.A. County to seek a local tax increase to fund strategic transportation projects; it was signed into law in October 2015. He also introduced SB185, requiring California’s public pension funds (which contain over $400 billion) to divest from holdings in thermal coal, which also passed last year -- the first of its kind in the nation.
De León is the author of California’s landmark climate change and clean energy legislation, SB 350, recently signed into law. The bill enshrines standards that double energy efficiency in all buildings and requires half the electricity in California to be generated from renewable sources by 2030. Thanks to the efforts of legislators like Kevin de León, California is preparing to lead the nation in fighting climate change.
Santa Ana Mountains Task Force Trail Maintenance Team will receive the Extraordinary Achievement Award. The task force has been in protecting the Santa Ana Mountains and the San Mateo Canyon Wilderness Area for 15 years. The task force established a trail maintenance program in the San Mateo Canyon Wilderness in liaison with the Trabuco District of the Cleveland National Forest. After a major storm hit in 2014 and dropped up to a foot of snow in the Santa Ana Mountains, the task force mobilized a plan and volunteers to help with trail repairs like fallen trees, fallen branches and uprooted chaparral that left many popular trails impassable. Task force volunteers worked every Saturday and Wednesday to clear trails until the crisis passed.
Alyssa Gray is honored with a Special Conservation Award for her work as an intern with Sierra Club's My Generation Campaign and Project Permit. Alyssa contacted city managers and city councilmembers of cities in Los Angeles County to provide information about AB2188. Working for the bill, Alyssa encouraged officials in each city to adopt best practices for an expedited, streamlined permitting process for residential rooftop solar systems. She was extremely effective in contacting more than half the cities in Los Angeles County, providing them with model ordinance language.
Membership & Fundraising Service Certificate
Pasadena Group performed outstanding service in 2015 by participating in online Sierra Club new member recruiting and FRIP (Field Recruiting Incentive Program). The Pasadena Group recruited 50 new Sierra Club members while earning $772 in commissions and EZ FRIP rebates.
Ron Domash: For more than 10 years, Ron has been the driving force behind the annual Catalina trip for the 20s & 30s Singles. Ron has helped bring in over $100,000 in his 10 years as main organizer of this trip. Ron also served as an assistant for a couple of years before becoming the main organizer in 2005. Ron not only keeps track of what is needed to be brought to the campground, but also organizes games, hikes and other entertainment for the weekend.
Judy Shane: The first trip Judy organized for Sierra Club was a two-week hiking trip to New Zealand, a country she called home for nearly a decade. She now is a Sierra Club leader and has organized trips to New Zealand and more than two dozen bus trips to national parks. Judy’s joy is bringing people to wild places they may not visit on their own. Her reward has been sharing a love of nature while hiking on beautiful trails, seeing a fellowship of like-minded people grow around her, and encouraging people to treasure the environment.
Conservation Service Awards
Carol Henning has served on the Verdugo Hills Executive Committee since 2004 as the Chapter Excomm representative. She writes articles for the Verdugo View and the Southern Sierran and has held various positions on the Griffith Park Task Force, the Political Committee, Griffith Park Section, Chapter Foundation and participated on the Verdugo Hills Conservation Round Table. She leads historical walks for the Chapter too. Conservation campaigns she has worked on include the opposition of Toyon- 2, a traffic dump slated for Griffith Park, and a housing plan called Oakmont 5 in the Verdugo Hills.
Jeff Michelsen is a member of the San Gabriel Valley Task Force. Jeff lives in the City of Glendora is an activist on the Gordon-Mull development project. Jeff works against the plan that would destroy open space connected to the Glendora Wilderness Park land and adjacent to the Angeles National Forest. Jeff is leading the charge to stop the removal of 176 oak trees and habitat for three listed species, and has effectively engaged the Sierra Club in his battle to save and protect open space.
Joan Licari is chair of the San Gabriel Valley Task Force who regularly conducts meetings with Sierra Club activists at her home in Hacienda Heights to discuss the status of local conservation issues and possible actions. Issues currently being pursued by the task force include the expansion of Quemetco and how to limit harmful lead pollution, the Gordon Mull project in Glendora-- opposing the developer's plan to build 19 large homes in a sensitive area -- and the Puente Hills Landfill Park and how to best utilize this huge tract of land. Joan gathers information, reaches out to interested parties, and writes comment letters. She has attended community meetings related to these projects and networked with local leaders in other conservation and neighborhood groups.
Steve Wicke is current chair of the Conservation Committee. He also served as co-chair of the Chapter Climate Change Committee and took a lead role in transforming it from the original OC Global Warming Committee. Steve serves as a volunteer in the Chapter office twice a week and has taken the lead in developing and implementing several Climate Forums in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas. These forums are critical in serving as an educational platform for community members.
Outings Service Award Certificates
Greg Gerlach For the past five years, Greg has edited and published the Desert Peak Section’s bimonthly newsletter, “The Desert Sage”, which is packed with trip reports, articles and reviews of books related to the desert.
Ray and Geraldine Lorme Ray and Geraldine have been hike leaders for more than 30 years. Both worked on the campaign o save the Santa Clarita Woodlands and Towsley Canyon, and created the trails to take hikers into the canyons. The couple knows just about all the trails in the extended Santa Clarita area, and most likely worked on all of them. Ray is a current outings leader for Santa Clarita Group.
Wilderness Travel Course leaders Janet Yee, Dawn Burkhardt, Gwen Sharp, and Cathy Threadgill are instrumental to the success of the Wilderness Travel Course, the Chapter's highly successful wilderness skills training course taught each year. They do much of the behind-the-scenes work that makes the course possible. Janet Yee is the permit coordinator with Inyo National Forest, making snow camps possible and has an excellent relationship with Forest Service staff.
Dawn Burkhardt is the permit coordinator with Joshua Tree National Park. The course's Joshua Tree weekend requires a permit that Dawn secures each year by providing detailed itineraries for each of 14 groups. In addition, Dawn collects first aid certifications required for Inyo and Joshua Tree permits. Gwen Sharp is the map coordinator for the course. Every year, Gwen oversees the ordering 1,400 maps needed for students, organizes them by area and distributes them. Without her work, our students would be lost (quite literally). Cathy Threadgill is the bus coordinator who is responsible for getting our students to Joshua Tree National Park and Inyo National Forest on eight different weekent trips.
Sue Schohan is the current Chair of the Griffith Park Section who leads numerous hikes both in and outside of Griffith Park and enjoys participating in the Inspiring Connections Outdoors. Sue's energy, experience and guidance is invaluable to the Griffith Park Section.
Bob Cody Since Bob Cody became a leader in 2011, he has shown extraordinary commitment to leading tough workout hikes to the best of Southern California's high country. Bob is an enthusiastic leader of the 7 SoCal Summits You Need to Hike Mt. Whitney series. Each year, he scopes out seven tough summits -- from Mt. Baldy to Mt. San Jacinto to San Bernardino Peak -- to challenge participants and get them ready for a Whitney conquest. Bob is a careful leader, making sure all on his hikes can keep up and experience the success of bagging the big peaks. Bob also leads hikes along the Backbone Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains and is deeply committed to keeping the annual "Backbone Festival" going. He pioneered the "hike every peak in Griffith Park" annual hike as a way of connecting with urban hikers too. Bob also keenly knows the value of social media in promoting hikes and getting the word out about Sierra Club hikes. He primarily leads for Wilderness Adventures and the Santa Monica Mountains Task Force.
Ana Cadez. After becoming a Sierra Club member in 2002, Ana joined Orange County Sierrans on many Mammoth Winter Ski Trips, Costa Rica and Havasupai observing from the ground up how multi day trips were organized. After becoming a leader in 2008, she joined the Orange County Sierra Singles Ski Committee and for years assisted on the Mammoth ski trips. Soon she began using her skills setting up international trips for fund-raising Travel Adventures trips In 2011, she assisted on Ecuador and took over the organizing an optional trip to the Galapagos Islands. She also co-lead on trips to Iceland, Greenland, Alaska and Vancouver, Canada.
Beth Powis Martin has made outstanding contributions to outings and service for the Chapter. Beth became a leader in 1997 and one year later achieved her “I” rating. Beth has led backpacks, day hikes, backcountry ski trips and weekend lodge outings in national parks and forests. Beth served as Chair of the Wilderness Adventures Section from 2009 to 2012 and has served on the Management Committee since 2005. She is currently the entity's Communication Chair. In that capacity, Beth completely revamped the section's website and set up a Section Facebook page to reach out to new members. Beth has attended many Angeles Chapter newcomers meetings to educate folks about the Wilderness Adventures Section and the Sierra Club, and also spends one week each summer as a volunteer docent with the Sierra Club’s Le Conte Memorial Lodge in Yosemite Valley. In 2003, Keith Martin was a Grand Canyon trip participant on one of Beth’s outings. In 2009, Beth and Keith tied the knot in Yosemite Valley and Keith is now Beth’s steady co-leader, forming an exceptional leadership duo.
Felix Martinez served as Chairman of the Griffith Park Section for a dozen years, and was a respected hike leader. Felix has been successful at fundraising activities by selling T-shirts and newsletter memberships for the section too. When he decided to retire, the hikers organized a tribute hike and a tailgate party. In addition to tireless service as a hike leader, Felix volunteered and still leads many hikes for Inspiring Connections Outdoors and introducing students to the history of the Anza Trail.
Ernie Scheuer has a well-respeced record of selfless and untiring leadership with the Santa Monica Mountain Task Force. He hikes extensively with the Tuesday Conditioning and Moderate group hikes for many years. Ernie started hiking in 1993 after his retirement as professor of mathematics and management science at Cal State Northridge. He has been a Sierra Club outings leader since 2007. In 2011, he stepped up and took over leadership roles for the task force and continues to lead hikes for both groups. He was the outings leader for the Tuesday Conditioning group -- keeping up the hiker's sign-in list, taking the lead in scheduling the weekly hikes, was the safety chair for both groups, and a mentor and provisional evaluator for many new Sierra Club leaders.
Mat Kelliher Mat was awarded the Hundred Peaks Section Bill T. Russell New Leader Award in 2011 for his exemplary service to the Section. He has served on the HPS Management Committee for many years, and currently serves as Safety and Outings chair. Mat has also provided great service to other sections including WTC and Advanced Mountaineering Program. Mat is an M-rock rated leader.
Pita Landesman has been a member of the Sierra Club since 1964 and joined the Orange County Group in 1989. For the past 20 years, Pita has coordinated the popular Wednesday hikes. This task requires scheduling quarterly leader meetings and preparing the schedule by certain deadlines, maintaining a variety of hike destinations and making sure the leader skills match the hike rating. Pita works to find new leaders on a constant basis in order to fill all the hikes. The Wednesday hikes are well attended with 30-40 hikers showing up and make up a large part of the outings for the Orange County Group. The work Pita has done and continues to do is an outstanding contribution to the Sierra Club.
Special Service Award Certificates
Bettie Pearson is a lifelong environmentalist. She serves as the Crescenta Valley Group’s newsletter editor, conservation rep, and alternate Chapter Executive Committee Group representative. She recently served as a member of the Chapter Elections Committee. On behalf of the Crescenta Valley group, Bettie recently attended the Awards Ceremony for the Political Committee, attended the Leadership Training Workshop and volunteered to be a member of the setup team for the chapter Fundraising Event.
Diane Wood has been Secretary for the Executive Committee of the Palos Verdes-South Bay Regional Group since April 2011. It's a vital position for recording the decisions and discussions of the group's ExCom. Several times, when a question arises about what a decision was, she has been able to quickly refer to the minutes and provide the answer. Diane has also participated in interviews of candidates for public office, and helped with tabling, informing the public about the Sierra Club and recruiting new members.
Geoffrey "Jeff" Nutting has volunteered many years as a webmaster for the Chapter website. In 2015 Jeff developed a new method to promote Travel Adventure and Featured Outings trip information on the Chapter’s website. His technical skills and enhancements made it much easier to for users to find our trip listings on the Chapter's website. As a result, trip feature photos, leader information and OARS links. Jeff is a member of the Chapter Website Committee and provides general support for our websites. Early in 2015 Jeff led the rollout of the Chapter’s use of the new Sierra Club Addup.org social media website for OARS events and Conservations Action Alerts.
Jane Simpson has done an extraordinary job as the Chapter Outings Chair. As an active volunteer leader who also leads hikes and backpacks, Jane takes time to oversee all outings issues -- from dealing with leadership compliance of first aid and CPR requirements to helping leaders transition from a print Schedule of Activities to the digital OARS system. During her service as Chapter Outings Chair, Jane has overseen the Implementation of the Online Activity Registration System (OARS) for all Angeles Chapter leaders, set up training sessions and helped leaders troubleshoot OARS issues. She is taking the lead as the Sierra Club transitions to an OARS II (upgrade), working to get all of the Leadership Training Course materials updated and moved over to Drupal. Jane edited items, working with technical staff to make sure everything was migrated from our old website to the new one. She works with staff on issues of social media and the #Hikethe100 campaign. Jane organizes the annual Chapter Outings Assembly and is active with the Chapter's popular Wilderness Training Course and recruits new participants.
Jason Lynch has an extraordinary level of service to the Angeles Chapter. Jason has provided his service, experience and expertise to a number of sections and committees -- inspiring, encouraging and mentoring countless new and seasoned outdoor enthusiasts over many years. He has served on the Wilderness Adventures Section Management Committee since 1998 and volunteered as the Section’s Outings Chair from 1994 to 2015 -- an impressive 21 years. During this time he scheduled more than 2,700 outings, including holiday weekend bus trips to national parks and other special locations. From 1996 to 1999, Jason served as an instructor for the Beginning Backpacking Class and assisted with Navigation Practice hikes from 1996 to 2012. He also served as a very skilled Assistant Group Leader for the Wilderness Travel Course (WTC) from 1999 to 2006. In 2003, Jason was a founding member of the Chapter's Outings Management Committee, and served on the OMC until 2007 and then again in 2013. Jason became an M-rated in 2002 and has led, co-led, assisted or evaluated over 190 Club outings. In recognition of his commitment and service to the Angeles Chapter’s outings program, in 2005, Jason was awarded the Chapter's highest honor for an outings leader, the Chester Versteeg Outings Award.
Glenn Pascall In 2015, Glenn paired photographs he had taken of our southern California mountains with quotes from John Muir to create "Southern California Mountain Country." Sales of this beautiful book raised funds for the Chapter but more importantly, it helps the Chapter with outreach to donors and politicians by providing a gift that inspires new appreciation of the local areas we strive to enjoy, explore and protect. Glenn also serves as chair of the Angeles Chapter's Finance Committee.
Joe Young As an active member of the Griffith Park Section and ICO, Joe has worked diligently to promote the attractions of Griffith Park. As a result, the number of outings by LA ICO to Griffith Park increased from 4 to 23 over the past four years. As a member of Friends of Griffith Park, Joe has brought financial and personnel resources to LA ICO. Griffith Park has the advantage of being more accessible than most of our destinations. Joe has also been successful in asking Griffith Park Section volunteers to lead and co-lead outings and to train ICO leaders on use of these sites. Finally, Joe pitches in as a liaison between ICO and schools and writes grant requests. He has led or co-led 15 or more outings per year to Griffith Park, as well as to additional destinations.
Richard Boothe has been a Harwood Lodge Overseer for over 25 years. He has assisted on Work Weekends, including the one that assembled the present bunks in the Men's Dorm (which his Section donated). A leader and officer of the L.A. Sierra Singles Section from 1984 to 2008, Richard conducted or assisted on many party weekends at Harwood, including Halloween and St. Patrick's Day, and served as chef for Harwood New Years Parties for 10 years. He led or assisted for numerous hikes, and organized or assisted on campouts at "Fadil's Ranch" near the Devil's Punchbowl, Morro Bay, Solvang Winery Tours and Big Sur. He assisted on a bus trip to the Grand Canyon. Richard also led hikes for the Griffith Park Section from 1984 until 2006, and presently is a substitute leader of Signal Hill hikes for the Long Beach Group.
Richard Castro is the Webmaster for the Verdugo Hills Group who set up the Group's website and keeps it up to date. Richard has managed the website through three versions, including the latest update to Drupal. Without his hard work, the group would not be able to have an online presence and reach out to others. Richard performs these duties even though he has moved to Ventura, where he has lived for the past 5 years.
William “Bill” Simpson Bill was awarded the Hundred Peaks Section Bill T. Russell New Leader Award in 2009 for his exemplary service to the section. In addition, Bill was awarded the Angeles Chapter Outings Service Award in 2011. Bill has also served on the HPS Management Committee for many years, and in addition to serving in a variety of leadership positions, served as Chair of the section for two years in a row. Bill also completed the HPS List an incredible seven times, becoming only the 7th person to do so. Bill has also led the entire HPS list three times, becoming only the 4th person to accomplish this.
Steven Chen has been a longtime dedicated member of the Orange County Political Committee. He served as vice chair of the committee in 2013. Steven has been the quiet backbone of the committee, always willing to step up when needed, and a consistent source of support for the committee's efforts. He has been particularly valuable as an activist as a resident of Irvine, providing a strong voice for environmental issues in the community and supporting environmental representation on the City Council.