YOU Can Make a Difference; Read How in This eNewsletter
► See a map of hazardous sites and communities at risk from rising seas.
► Rewild Mountain View; take action to protect wildlife at Shoreline Park.
► Help make important decisions for our local environment; considering joining the Loma Prieta Chapter Executive Committee?
► Join your community at the Guardians of Nature Benefit, returning this fall, and celebrating Peninsula Open Space Trust's President Walter T. Moore.
► Support strengthening important oversight of a major contamination threat in our shoreline communities. See below.
► Learn more about the important and incredible bats that live in and around San Jose and how you can help them thrive to support our local ecosystems.
► Take action with a Sudden Oak Death SOD Blitz Survey Project near you.
► See Results for 2022 Primary Election Endorsements.
► Learn how to protect yourself and others; take Wilderness First Aid Course from, literally, "the man who wrote the books", including ones for the US military.
Outings Leaders, current/prospective, note the First Aid Course listed above, which is required every two years and here offered via the Loma Prieta Chapter at a great price!
► Take a hike! Here's what's available with your chapter.
► San Jose Commits to Carbon Neutral by 2030 strategy and Existing Building Electrification Framework.
► Loma Prieta Chapter Director interviewed for article Midpen Celebrates 50th Anniversary and 250th mile of public hiking trails. |
The Sierra Club endorses National, State, and local candidates
for office and local propositions.
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Wilderness First Aid with Steve Donelan
July 23rd - 24th, 8 am to 5 pm
Become certified in Wilderness First Aid by the National Association for Search and Rescue. This is a practical course that prepares you to recognize and avoid wilderness hazards and do first aid outdoors with whatever equipment you have or can improvise.
Learn from Steve Donelan, who has developed textbooks and courses for the National Association for Search and Rescue. Steve runs several other emergency care education programs and has been an Outdoor Emergency Care instructor for the National Ski Patrol since 1988.
Click here to learn more and register |
Take action to protect wildlife at Shoreline Park and rewild a city.
Mountain View is starting two planning efforts to protect biodiversity and rewild our landscape.
The first is the Shoreline Wildlife Management Plan (SWMP) that aims to protect wildlife and habitat at Shoreline Park. Adding to the burrowing owls four representative species (Black skimmer, Ridgeway Rail, Common Yellowthroat, White-tailed kite), the plan looks to protect a wide spectrum of local species.
Please watch a beautiful 5-minute video that describes the plan and the species and habitats it aims to protect, and read an annotated outline for the plan for more information.
The second effort considers the community forest; we look forward to rewilding the City through the management of parks and the Community Forest.
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What can you do?
There are opportunities to support these efforts, and the City wants to hear from all of us. Here is how you can help.
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Celebrating the 50-Year Anniversary of the Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge
50 years ago, on June 30th 1972, the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge was established.
The refuge is located at the center of the recovering San Francisco Bay and protects crucial habitat for wildlife species.
On October 8th, come celebrate the refuge's 50 year birthday party hosted by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The event will be an open house, with time to explore the Refuge, learn about the history of the Refuge, join a Nature Walk, food, music, and fun for all!
Click here to learn more.
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Are you a potential candidate for the Loma Prieta Chapter Executive Committee?
Call for Nominations: Loma Prieta Chapter Executive Committee 2-year term 2023-2024
Contact the Nominating Committee at MichaelJFerreira@gmail.com.
Did you know that the Sierra Club is the largest nationwide volunteer-driven environmental organization in the United States? To better connect with our grassroots, our Club has been carefully organized into bylaws-governed chapters.
The Loma Prieta Chapter is one of 13 Chapters in California, each of which is administered by an elected Executive Committee composed of environmentally conscious Club members willing to provide leadership as we pursue the Club’s goals at the local level.
Executive Committee members should be willing to assist our chapter in various leadership areas. Executive Committee members are expected to spend a minimum of 5-10 hours a month.
- Mike Ferreira, Chair of Chapter Nominations Committee
Learn more about our current Executive Committee members.
Read more about the nominating process.
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Your Loma Prieta Chapter's Guardians of Nature Benefit returns this fall
and will celebrate Peninsula Open Space Trust's President Walter T. Moore.
During his tenure, President Moore has led POST to permanently protect and restore thousands of acres of local open space, including Coyote Valley, one of our Sierran community's most beloved hiking spots. You can read more about our honoree and our upcoming Guardians of Nature Benefit for your Loma Prieta Chapter! We hope that you will join us!
Find more about the 2022 Guardians of Nature Benefit on the event's website.
Purchase your ticket(s) here. See sponsorship opportunities here.
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Bats are vital to healthy ecosystems and human economies worldwide. Yet these wonderfully diverse and beneficial creatures are among the least studied and most misunderstood of animals.
Saved By Nature, Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority, & Bat Conservation International are hosting a special presentation about the basics of bats, San Jose bats, and what you can do in your own yard to help!
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San Jose Has Commited to "Carbon Neutral by 2030" strategy and Existing Building Electrification Framework
On June 14th, the San Jose City Council adopted a bold Framework to explore the decarbonization of existing buildings, and a strategy to achieve their newly established (Nov 2021) greenhouse gas reduction target of Carbon Neutral by 2030.
They also directed their staff to create a Parking/Transportation Demand Management Ordinance to eliminate parking minimums.
These bold actions seek to equitably and rapidly decarbonize San Jose. Read more about these actions. |
Midpen Celebrates 50th Anniversary and 250th mile of public hiking trails.
Loma Prieta Chapter Director James Eggers was quoted in a Mercury News article celebrating Midpen's anniversary and completion of 250 miles of public hiking trails.
“I’m thankful the local citizenry had the foresight. The Bay Area and the Peninsula would be a very different place without Midpen. It’s one of the reasons why so many people want to live here.”
“Without these preserves, it would look more like LA and some of the places I used to live in Texas. There would be a lot more pavement. We’d have less wildlife. And we wouldn’t be as healthy physically and mentally and emotionally because we wouldn’t have as many natural spaces."
Read more in the Mercury News. |
YOU Can Make a Difference for Local Environmental Protection!
Our Environmental Legislative Action Team and Climate Action Leadership Team will show you how.
Your Loma Prieta Chapter is organizing a network of advocacy teams at the city level.
These are city-focused teams with the twin goals of spearheading actions to combat climate change and to conserve and restore natural habitats.
You will be working with city council members, key city staff, county officials, and other environmental activists. We welcome and educate those who are new to climate policy.
For more information contact Loma Prieta Chapter's Conservation Organizer dashiell.leeds@sierraclub.org. |
Sea level rise poses a dual contamination threat ...
from both surface flooding and groundwater rise below the surface that could reach as far as three miles inland from the edge of the Bay, pushing up and spreading toxins along the way. More than 900 hazardous sites across the state could be impacted by the end of the century. In California, communities of color are five times more likely than the general population to live within a half mile of a toxic site that could flood by 2050.
See a map of hazardous sites and communities at risk from rising seas.
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Water Board takes aim at shoreline landfills at risk from sea level rise
California's Regional Water Quality Control Board issued a tentative order imposing heightened sea level rise planning requirements on 16 additional shoreline landfills, ten of which are in our Chapter region! (17 sites are already subject to that heightened scrutiny.) Under the new order, the identified landfills would have to do a vulnerability assessment and submit a Long-term Flood Protection plan addressing severe storm events, SLR, shallow groundwater rise and land subsidence. Bay Alive is supporting our friends in the SF Shoreline Contamination Cleanup Coalition as they lead the charge to support, clarify and strengthen this important oversight of a major contamination threat in our shoreline communities. |
Take a hike! Here's what's available with your Loma Prieta chapter.
Note: regardless of the name/origin of the outing section, all are welcome!
July 20, Wed, 10 am. Hike Fall Creek Redwoods Unit, Henry Cowell State Park
July 21, Thu, 2:00 PM - Mon, Jul 25, 10:00 AM
Rock Creek Lake Camping Trip and Fundraiser, 170 Rock Creek Rd, Bishop, CA 93514
July 27th, Wed, 10 am. Hike San Francisco 7 Peaks.
July 28th, Thu, 10 am. Hike Presidio Tunnel Top.
July 30th, Sat, 9:30 am. Exclusively for Veterans: Learn How to use POLES for Hiking & Outdoor Exercise, at Carmel by the Sea.
August 6th, Sat, 9 am. 11 miles, 2300 ft elevation gain. Portola Redwoods State Park.
Please follow the links to register and see more information. Event listings can also be found on our chapter calendar.
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Do You Need Space to Spread Your Wings?
Donate a Vehicle to Support the Critical Local Environmental Work of Your Chapter.
It’s easy to give and the pick-up is free; just call 844-6-SIERRA or 844-674-3772 or give online at https://careasy.org/nonprofit/Sierra-Club-Foundation-Loma-Prieta-Chapter.
If you would like to donate a Mazda Miata, please contact your Chapter Director personally.
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Social Media Channels for the Loma Prieta Chapter
Facebook: Chapter, 20s – 30s, GLS, Sierra Singles
Loma Prieta Chapter's YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Spotify |
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2022.07: bee with "pollen baggage", Chapter Director's garden, San Jose.
Please consider how your home can support and enjoy local wildlife.
The lovely flowers embarrass me,
They make me regret I am not a bee.
~ Emily Dickinson
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Peace and Justice to all,
James Eggers, Director
Sierra Club, Loma Prieta Chapter |
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| The COVID-19 crisis has not passed and continues to disproportionately harm Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people and other communities of color. The pandemic has revealed how the communities hardest hit are often the same communities that suffer from high levels of pollution and poor access to healthcare. The fight for environmental justice cannot be separated from the fight for racial justice. |
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