ANGELES CHAPTER 2016 AWARDS PRESENTED AT THE CHAPTER AWARDS BANQUET
MAY 7, 2017
Angeles Chapter’s Highest Honors
Jane Simpson is honored with the Chester Versteeg Award. Jane has served the Angeles Chapter outings program for nearly 20 years. She joined the Wilderness Travel Course Staff in 2001 as an instructor, chaired the West LA WTC area for three years (2005-2008) and then chaired WTC as a whole for an additional three years (2008-2011). That’s usually enough for anybody. By then, however, she was serving on the Outings Management Committee, which oversees all Chapter outings. She chaired OMC for three years (2014-2016), doing countless hours of training as Chapter outings completed its long transition from paper to the web and faced new challenges. On the side she has served as a navigation examiner since 2006. Jane has also shared her video talents with the Club on many occasions.
Michael Sappingfield is honored with the Donna Specht Fundraising Award. Mike took a giant leap from leading “Mike’s Easy Hikes” to co-leading his first international Angeles Chapter Travel Adventure to Costa Rica in 2008. The next year, Mike began leading his treks across the U.S.: From the Coast Redwoods, Mt Lassen, Oregon, Olympic NP, moving on to the Black Hills, Yellowstone NP, New Mexico, Arizona, East to Washington DC, Virginia, the Great Smokies and Florida. This is by no means the complete list of Mike’s Fundraising Outings trips to date. He also went on to co-lead four more Costa Rica Adventures for the Chapter. In addition (yes, there is more!), for the past 17 years, along with his wife Patty, Mike and the Sierra Sage Group have hosted the Annual Starr Ranch BBQ whose fundraising proceeds support local conservation issues and the Chapter. Along with mentoring new fundraising outings leaders and assisted by Patty, Mike’s Chapter sponsored trips and Starr Ranch BBQ continue to generate funds approaching $100,000. The funds are used for the many needs of the Chapter. Mike is also a gifted photographer and schedules shows throughout the chapter promoting his trips and bringing awareness of the Chapter Travel Adventure program. Mike Sappingfield has provided outstanding and sustained support of the fundraising efforts of the Angeles Chapter and is a valued Fundraising Outings leader.
William (Bill) Holmes is honored with the Weldon Heald Conservation Award. Bill has been the Chair of the Friends of the Foothills Task Force since 1994 until the task force was dissolved in early 2016. As such, he has been the leader of The 241 Toll Road fight, working with National Sierra Club Staff to acquire a grant for support for the task force and building a task force with as many as 7000 volunteers committed to saving the Donna O'Neil Land Conservancy, Trestles Beach, the San Mateo Campground and San Onofre State Park, San Mateo Creek, etc. Under his leadership, the task force was instrumental in encouraging over 3,000 people to go to San Diego for the Coastal Commission Hearing on the permit for the toll road resulting in a decision against the Toll Road, then repeated the effort when the TCA appealed the decision to the Department of Commerce, with the same result. He has been the Sierra Club member of the environmental coalition which has been monitoring the TCA's efforts since the denial of the permits and apparently has saved the above critical habitat. In the middle of the effort to prevent the toll road being built, he also geared up the taskforce to protect the open space and pristine watershed of the San Mateo Creek when the Rancho Mission Viejo announced their intention to build 14,000 homes in the watersheds of the San Juan Creek and the San Mateo Creek. The result of the efforts of the Friends of the Foothills Task Force and other environmental organizations resulted in a settlement with the Rancho Mission Viejo which resulted in setting aside over 15,000 acres of open space into a conservancy and eliminating all of the proposed houses.
Carole Mintzer is honored with the Phil Bernays Service award. Carole is a life member of the Sierra Club, first joined in 1984 while living in Texas. When she and her husband, Alex, moved to California in 1996, Carole looked for people who might share her desire to explore, enjoy and protect the planet. She found those new friends in the Sierra Club. In 1998, she joined the Orange County Political Committee, subsequently serving as chair in 2007 and 2008. In 2002 and again in 2004, she was selected to be the Chair of the Orange County Conservation Committee. This led to an ongoing role in the Orange Hills Task Force. Carole was first elected to the Chapter Executive Committee as an at-large representative in 2010, and re-elected in 2012 and 2014. She served as Chair of the Executive Committee for 3 years from 2013-2015. During that period, she also was the Chapter’s representative to the Council of Club Leaders in 2014 and 2015, and was Southern California Vice Chair for the California Nevada Regional Conservation Committee.
Carole grew up in a small town in Michigan. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in medical technology. While at the University of Michigan, Carole met her future husband Alex, and they married in 1978. Carole later received her Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Arizona. Much of her professional life has been devoted to developing collaborative approaches to solving multi-agency problems. She has worked as a consultant to non-profit organizations, designing and implementing needs assessments and program evaluations. Carole brought this expertise to her role as Angeles Chapter Chair, providing a means for groups to evaluate, analyze, and compare their activities from year-to-year, and crafting expectations for executive committee members. The latter document has been shared with Sierra Club chapters throughout the country by the national chapter liaison team.
US Representative Ted W. Lieu (CA District 33) is honored with the Special Public Policy Award. Ted Lieu served with distinction in the California State Legislature, both as a CA Assembly member and a CA State Senator. He achieved high grades and increasingly high marks from our Sacramento office – for his leadership on climate change, protection of coastal resources and attempts to hold oil companies accountable for air quality impacts and more.
He was elected to his second term of Congress in the November 2016, election. In his first term in Congress he was elected President of the Democratic Freshman class by his colleagues and he serves on the House Budget Committee and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. He immediately began to address long-simmering problems at the West LA Veterans Center right after the 2014 election and before he even was sworn into office. Rep. Lieu is someone who can work effectively across the aisle, and he worked to successfully pass three bills that were signed by the President in his first year in Congress.
Rep. Lieu’s environmental achievements in his first term make him stand out for this Sierra Club award. The first bill he wrote and introduced after coming to Congress was the Climate Solutions Act, which aims to make California’s ground-breaking renewable energy goals and climate emissions reduction targets a national model.
In addition, during his second year in Congress Rep. Lieu introduced a bill that would direct the National Park Service to study the idea of creating a National Recreation Area on the coast of Los Angeles – to invite a National Park Service presence into the region – so as to highlight and preserve historical sites in Venice, Marina del Rey and elsewhere in the region from Venice through San Pedro; to preserve and interpret three lighthouses on the coast; to preserve scenic vistas on the coast, including on the Palos Verdes Peninsula; to preserve and provide natural history interpretation and public access of and to the natural resources, landscapes and wildlife that thrive on this coast, including at the Ballona Wetlands, Baldwin Hills, Beach Cities and Palos Verdes Peninsula.
Steve Lopez is honored with the Special Media Award. Steve has written many columns in the Los Angeles Times on the California Coastal Commission ( CCC). He has interviewed it's members. He has uncovered conflicts of interest, inappropriate conversations between commissioners and developers, exparte conversations, gifts to commissioners from developers, and other corruption of the Coastal Commissioners. He has attempted to get governor Jerry Brown to reveal why he has appointed four pro-development commissioners. He has kept after the EDGE development above Malibu, regarding which the Sierra Club has a lawsuit against the CCC.
He has reported on illegal beach access restrictions in Malibu. He wrote a series of columns on the beautiful California coast. He has reported on the hearings of the CCC to fire Executive Director Charles Lester. He chased down mega-water abusers during the California drought and reported extensively on the Banning Ranch.
David F. Eisenberg is honored with the Lori and Robin Ives Media Award. For 15 years, David edited the Angeles Chapter’s Schedule of Activities. This guide was sent out three times a year to all Angeles Chapter members. A talented photographer, David often took the color cover photographs. Each Schedule of Activities included information about the organizational structure and officers of both Chapter and Club. Regional groups, sections and committees were listed as was information about trip reservations and activities requirements. The Purpose of the Sierra Club was summarized and so was the history of the Angeles Chapter. Short articles about particular committees, e.g., the Green Building Committee, and campaigns, e.g., Beyond Coal, were sandwiched between membership forms and leadership training seminar application forms. The list of activists and leaders at the end of the Schedule was a handy reference. The amount of information crammed into the Schedule of Activities was impressive, and the publication has been much missed. Since 2003, David has been the editor of Verdugo Views, the electronic and hard-copy newsletter of the Verdugo Hills Group. After his retirement from teaching, David began to travel to many parts of the globe. Nonetheless, he has produced Verdugo Views regularly, sometimes putting it together in remote locations. Along with editing the newsletter, traveling and presenting programs about his trips, he still leads outings for Verdugo Hills, including car camps, city walks and museum and garden tours.
Ron and Mary Ann Webster are being honored with the Lifelong Service Award. Ron has been an outings leader and Chair of the Santa Monica Mountains Task Force Trail Crew for about 45 years. Ron was the first leader for SMMTF including a hike that had over 1,500 participants back in 1972. At that time there were only fire roads to hike on. Ron was commissioned to build the first trail in a local California State Park, the Musch Ranch Trail in Topanga State Park. He and his crews have built most of the legal trails in the Santa Monica Mountains. Ron coordinates his trail building with officials from the California State Parks, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, and the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. When they need a trail or bridge built or maintained, Ron is the person they called. Ron spoke at the dedication of the Backbone Trail in June. Between 1977 and 1982, Ron started the Tuesday Tiger Hikes, the Annual 25 mile hike and the Annual Randezvous Hikes to celebrate John Muir’s birthday, the Annual Lemming Hike, Annual Backbone Hike, Long Day’s Night Hike and SMMTF Trail Days are among the many hikes he and Mary Ann have led over a period of 35 years. Mary Ann is the current SMMTF Conservation Chair and was previously the SMMTF Chair for 25 years. She has been a leader for 30 years along with taking part as a Trail Crew member. Mary Ann has worked with politicians and journalists on conservation issues in the Santa Monica Mountains. She has testified before the California Coastal Commission many times. She currently writes articles for the SMMTF Newsletter. We know Mary Ann as the tireless organizer of Chapter Awards Banquet Silent Auction, one of the most successful fundraisers in all the Chapter.
EXTRAORDINARY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Forest Committee Leaders: Don Bremner, Bob Cates and John Monsen are being honored with the Extraordinary Achievement Award for their work in revitalizing the Forest Committee in the aftermath of the 2009 Station Fire. After the devastating fire, many of our favorite trails were in bad condition and were closed indefinitely. Don and Bob focused on trail work: they gained the confidence of Angeles National Forest staff to work on the trails and invited volunteers to come out two Saturdays a month, later reduced to one Saturday a month, to clip, rake, and saw trails back into shape. Don has continued to work on popular trails such as the Strawberry Peak, Rim, Gabrielino, Valley Forge and Three Points to Mt. Waterman trails. John’s contributions are on the activist and political side, with frequent meetings with Angeles National Forest leaders and fellow activists to promote and monitor significant changes in the area designated by President Obama as the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. He prepared the comprehensive Sierra Club comment letter on the draft management plan for the National Monument. He has also helped define the areas to be included in proposed wilderness areas. In addition, the Forest Committee presents an evening program for the public four times a year at Eaton Canyon Nature Center in Pasadena on topics related to hiking, the environment and the Angeles National Forest. Their recent program featured Jeffrey Vail, the new supervisor of the Angeles National Forest and the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, talking about the changes taking place and the future. All three awardees are members of the Pasadena Group.
CONSERVATION SERVICE AWARD
Glenn Cornell is a valuable member of the Water Committee ever since being introduced to the Water Committee by Al Sattler over 5 years ago. The Water Committee has relied on him over the years for his advice and astute observations. He provides expert advice on projects such as evaluating amendments and bylaws.
Leon Shapiro contacted the Water Committee Chair a little over 3 years ago seeking to volunteer for local water issues. After a brief telephone conversation it was decided that he would be sent the minutes of all the meetings held within that year so he could catch up on what the water committee had been doing. He has never looked back from that moment. This year was a momentous one for the Water Committee and Leon. after 8 years of setting a goal of impacting Sierra Club policy on Direct Potable Reuse (DPR), we have achieved that goal. Leon was responsible for reviewing all applicable scientific documents and research on DPR and IPR. Leon is now the Co Chair of the CNRCC Water Reuse subcommittee which is tasked with reviewing and setting policy on IPR and DPR for Sierra Club California.
Peter J. Kim became a member of the Water Committee and Sierra Club shortly after meeting the Water Committee Chair at a movie screening and being invited to a water committee meeting. Since then he has attended and participated in many outreach events for the Chapter and Water Committee including the participation of the Angeles Chapter of the 2015 Korean Festival. He has used his bilingual skills to translate some of the outreach materials and make inroads into the Korean Community. Peter also has served as a Peace Corp volunteer for 3 years in Jordan.
MEMBERSHIP & FUNDRAISING SERVICE AWARD
2030’s Section performed outstanding service in 2016 by participating in the Rakuten/Linkshare online Sierra Club new member recruiting program. The 2030’s recruited nearly 100 new members while earning $1,460 in recruiting program rebates for their section.
OUTINGS SERVICE AWARD
Brian Decker is an “I” rated leader and, for the past three years and currently, the Area Chair for WTC Long Beach/South Bay. He also has been for many years as Social Media coordinator for WTC, administrating the Facebook, Meet-up and other social media pages. Brian was elected to serve on the Outings Management Committee at the Outings Assembly in both 2015 and 2016 and is the current chair for OMC.
Cliff Caplan has been a leader in the Sierra Club for about 25 years. He has led or assisted a multitude of outings from day hikes to multi-day outings. Over the course of his leadership, he has led or assisted with trips for 20's & 30's singles, Wilderness Adventures, Crescenta Valley, Backpacking Committee and Angeles Chapter Fundraising. He organized our chapter's first Northern Oregon trip that visited beautiful coastal areas, Mt. Hood, the Columbia River Valley and more. Since 2000, Cliff has assisted on trips for the Angeles Chapter Fundraising Committee to Florida, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Glacier National Park, Canadian Rockies, and Colorado. These trips have raised tens of thousands of dollars for the club. Cliff has also led multi-day trips to Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, and Mammoth.
Gary Schenk is an M-rated leader and has been leading outings for the Sierra Peaks Section, Hundred Peaks Section, and Desert Peaks Section for many years. He has been the outings chair for the SPS for over three years now and has served for three years as the section’s secretary and one as the chair. He previously served as the outings chair for the HPS, an enormous job, given all the outings the HPS sponsors! He is a very safe, steady leader--quite unflappable--with a great sense of humor. Even when we have hard days of many miles, we enjoy his trips and come back for more. The SPS is very thankful that he has and continues to serve as the outings chair.
James Martens is the overall registrar for the Wilderness Training Committee. Each year WTC enrolls over 280 students in our four areas. As registrar, Jim must ensure students have information on course locations, sign necessary paperwork, and complete medical forms. He is responsible for distribution of this information to each of four areas that WTC serves. This behind-the-scenes work is essential to the overall functioning of WTC. In addition to serving as registrar, Jim is one of the instructors in the San Gabriel Area.
Kristen Lindbergh has participated in a variety of Sierra Club activities since she took the Wilderness Travel Course in 2013. She joined staff in Orange County and obtained O, I, and M-Rock leadership ratings. She actively supports the mission of WTC by organizing publicity events. She has spent countless hours in finding a suitable location for the Orange County class when they lost use of a facility. She assists with the Advanced Mountaineering class. She helps to coordinate merchandise sales (t-shirts and hats) for both WTC and AMP. On top of all of this service, Kristen most favorite Club activity is leading or co-leading trips.
Linda Ledger Since becoming an O-rated Leader a few years ago, Linda has led/co-led countless hikes for the Sierra Sage group and the Orange County group. She has also participated as a co-leader on multiple overnight trips organized by the Sierra Sage group. Linda's dynamism and pleasant demeanor are well received by the participants. Her smile is contagious and she is often seen encouraging participants but also her co-leaders to do their best. Linda has recently become a member of the Sierra Sage executive committee.
Peter Ireland is a dynamic member, leader, teacher for various sections of the Sierra Club. He has been a WTC instructor for years, he has helped with the Navigation noodles for the LTC. He has also hosted several Sierra Club events in his Nature Trust facility (a non profit that he manages). He loves to dress up in vintage hiking clothing and collects vintage hiking and camping gear. He runs a nature trust preserve in Malibu that he helped create to protect valuable lands from development. .
Rich Maxey has led/co-led countless hikes for the Sierra Sage group and the Orange County group. He often leads two popular, well attended hikes per week! In addition, Rich has co-led many, many trail maintenance hikes in the Santa Ana Mountains. Rich is always enthusiastic and motivating to participants. He is always eager to help his co-leaders as well.
Brooks Chadwick is a 40 year Life member of the Sierra Club. Joining OCSS In 1986 with his wife Dorie, he is one of the original members of the OCSS Ski Committee. During the 1980’s and ‘90’s he led or assisted on cross country ski trips to June Lake, Mammoth Lakes, Colorado and New Mexico. During the 2000’s, Brooks continued to lead and assist on ski trips to Mammoth and the Presidents Holiday Yosemite in Winter ski trips. Brooks is also a pilot and did some advance scouting of ski trips by flying into local airports. Flying with Brooks in his 4 seater prop plane meant (due to weight limitations) boarding with only your skis, boots, poles, day pack and the clothes you were wearing. It also meant pulling out your Thermarest and sleeping under the wings on the tarmac until daylight. Or flying over the High Sierra and landing at the Mammoth Lakes airport in a cross wind. Brooks is well known for his wild red plaid ski pants and Peruvian knit hat. Brooks is a valued conditioning hike leader for the Palos Verdes South Bay Regional Group and is still a member of OCSS.
Joyce White has held the positions of Programs and Social Chair for the Palos Verdes/South Bay group. During this time she organized and managed all quarterly meetings of PVSB as well as the annual pot luck party at Lynn and John Tabor's home and the Hollywood bowl outing every summer. She made sure we had high quality speakers at our quarterly meetings and personally procured and prepared extensive refreshments for these meetings. She secured the necessary facilities and dealt with all logistics problems to ensure that the meetings ran smoothly and professionally. By performing these tasks smoothly and with minimal oversight, Joyce allowed other ExCom members the freedom to devote maximum energy to their conservation, political, membership and outing activities. Joyce has been one of our valued leaders for the Tuesday and Thursday night conditioning hikes for the Palos Verdes-South Bay Regional Group since 2003, continuing to lead until just before knee surgery. She led a Tuesday night San Pedro hike two weeks after knee replacement.
Catherine Froloff is a long time Sierra Club member and a leader for 13+ years. She has been the Outings Chair for the Santa Monica Mountains Task Force for 6 years. She oversees The Tuesday Conditioned Hikers (TCH), the Tuesday Moderate Hikers (TMH), the Tuesday Tiger Hikers groups, and leads the annual traversal of the Backbone Trail over several fall.
She uses her professional-librarian skills in her service as custodian of the sign-in/liability-waiver forms from all three groups, an important activity to save the Chapter and Club from unwarranted injury claims.
She expertly solicits hike requests from TMH leaders and organizes, and enters into OARS, the hikes for each four-month period. This is a time-intensive task, which needs to be done with care so as to assure entries correct in every detail.
Cathy regularly leads hikes for the Tuesday Moderate Hikers group. She scrupulously follows the Sierra Club’s trailhead and along-the-trail procedures. She is a friendly and enthusiastic leader, and is welcoming to newcomers. For a four-year period she organized and led twice-weekly walks in Marina del Rey.
Dave Black For more than 20 years Dave has led or participated in Sierra Club trips from day hikes to multi-day mountain and desert backpack outings, including winter snow shoe and snow camping adventures. Dave was an associate instructor with the OCSS Beginning Backpacking Class for five years and presented snowshoe demonstrations for the Snowsports Classes. His demo endingwith “in 15 minutes you are an expert snowshoer” was always a classic. Dave has assisted as a backcountry ski leader and continues as a snowshoe leader for the OCSS Mammoth in Winter bus trips. He has been a Sierra Club member since 1994 and an “I” rated leader since 1995 and has recently completed twenty years as a student and instructor with the Orange County Section of the Wilderness Travel Course (WTC). Outside the Sierra Club, Dave’s background includes US Army military service, desert exploration, rock, ice, and navigation classes with the Austrian Alpine Club, and summits of alpine peaks and of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Grand Canyon Rim to Rim hikes, as well as portions of the Appalachian Trail. Dave also recently completed the five hundred mile Camino de Santiago pilgrimage walk in Spain.
Jim Heringer is one of those strong silent Clint Eastwood type of guys who are comfortable being in the background, but who will step up when needed to manage a problem. With competence and patience, Jim is always willing and able to help a fellow hiker in distress. Jim has led local hikes for a decade for the Wilderness Adventures Section, the Pasadena Group and the Natural Science Section. He also led backpacking trips in the Sierras. Jim served as Chair of the Wilderness Adventures Section and as a Member of the Section's Management Committee for many years. He is the perfect complement to his wife Ginny who is widely known throughout the Chapter. Jim is totally committed to living a life consistent with the ultimate values of the Sierra Club including protection of the environment, finding peace in the wilderness and caring for the less fortunate members of society. He does not say a lot but when he does people listen.
SPECIAL SERVICE AWARD
Amanda Wallner After serving as a staff member of Sierra Club California from 2011 to August 2013, Amanda Wallner relocated to Los Angeles in September 2013 and immediately became active in the Angeles Chapter Political Committee (Los Angeles County). She used the knowledge and expertise garnered during her time in Sacramento to help out considerably in the political activities of the Chapter Political Committee. In January 2016 she assumed the role of Chair of the Political Committee and she did a fine job until she once again relocated in August 2016. As the Chapter Chair pointed out, "Reaching consensus among a group of concerned and politically-savvy activists is challenging and ultimately rewarding. Amanda guided the group through turbulent discussions, reached consensus and moved you forward to endorse and support candidates who are advocates for the Sierra Club mission." She really showed patience and skill in navigating the challenging waters of the Angeles Chapter Political Committee and she is clearly deserving of recognition.
Chuck Gooley has been the Crescenta Valley Group’s webmaster for over 7 years. He has the vital task of creating, maintaining, and updating our webpage and web content. He also maintains our list serve that sends e-mails out to our members for our events, activities, programs, and campaigns. The webmaster task is a very important task and through the web content on our site and e-mails, his efforts have drawn a large number of attendees to our monthly programs and some of our hikes. Chuck has also helped Angeles Chapter with the maintenance and updating of our system.
Gary Sjogren is currently serving as the Chair of the Rio Hondo Group and has kept the group leadership going for over 20 years. Without his ongoing interest and support, we believe that the group would have been dissolved as others have been. He is currently serving as Group Chair as well as webmaster and has held many other roles over the years. Gary is an active hiker in the Puente Chino Hills. Gary has helped volunteers get started with club roles, responsibilities, and nomenclature. He has organized the group monthly evening programs for many years and is committed to keeping the group alive for local residents. When a program is scheduled, he makes sure there is a notice in the Fullerton Observer and that the website is updated. He has personally donated the screen and projector used and will supply his lap top if needed. His recycling efforts help fund the group.
Pamela Rivera is a committed, devoted, and dedicated member of the Angeles Inspiring Connections Outdoors (LA ICO) group. She first got involved with LA ICO through volunteering, coordinating, and arranging the annual REI Gift Wrapping Fundraiser four years ago. Her support in this fundraiser has funded at least six youth excursions to the Santa Monica and San Gabriel Mountains for low-income, Title I schools, serving approximately 180 students. In addition, she has taken on the leadership role as the Volunteer Coordinator. Her responsibilities include maintaining updated volunteer information reaching out to volunteers for involvement in the fundraising committee as well as steering them towards becoming ICO leaders. Additionally, she has helped increase volunteer involvement through coordination of the first Back 2 School, Back 2 Nature orientation that was held at Eaton Canyon Nature Center on September 10, 2016. The purpose of this orientation was to increase volunteer involvement with LA ICO and to inform school liaisons about the different opportunities that LA ICO has to offer to their students. Pamela Rivera’s commitment and dedication to LA ICO has helped the group become stronger and to grow in recent years.
Eva Cicoria has been Editor of The Foggy View, the newsletter of the Palos Verdes-South Bay Regional Group, for the past 6 years, and Editor/Coordinator for the two years before that. Eva has an excellent writing style, and she edits our articles to make them sing. She also writes numerous articles herself, especially when we do not submit articles for the newsletter.
Eva has been Conservation Chair and/or co-Conservation Chair for Palos Verdes-South Bay Regional Group for the past four years, coordinating conservation actions on several projects, and writing excellent comment letters on proposed projects.
Louise Fleming faithfully volunteers at the Chapter office on Tuesday and Thursday morning since September 2015. She provides front desk and reception coverage and performs other duties, as needed. She carefully helps Chapter members and members of the public find the information they're looking for, always with a pleasant demeanor. Louise is a former travel and marketing professional whose knowledge has helped the Chapter raise the profile of its fund-raising Travel Adventure trips. She writes compelling trip descriptions, offers good ideas about how to modify the website, recommends ways to improve our marketing of trips, and innovative new ways the Chapter can improve its connection with these novel travel offerings. Louise is also passionate about clean air issues throughout the Southland. As a resident of Torrance, she has raised safety concerns and suffered through bad air days surrounding a dangerous refinery once owned by Mobil-Exxon. Louise is deeply committed to Sierra Club's Clean Air campaign, as well as Building Healthy Communities Long Beach, Don't Waste Long Beach and the Torrance Refinery Action Alliance.
Coby King as Vice Chair of Hundred Peaks Section, has brought about a higher level of professional excellence to the Hundred Peaks Section and the management committee. A skilled Attorney and Public Relations Consultant in Southern California he has been our Chair in 2015 as well as Vice Chair this year. As such, few have the personal insight and commitment to the environment as Coby King. He has served on the Lower Peaks Committee and the Hundred Peaks Section while acting as Facebook Editor for both entities. A Leader in the field as well as on the trails, Coby was instrumental in the naming of McAuley Peak in the Santa Monica mountains. He distinguishes himself further by supporting our effort to keep the HPS membership aware of the constant changes in the environment and our list of peaks.