All Hands on Deck!

This is an all-hands-on-deck Presidential election. Democracy, climate change, reproductive rights and civil liberties are most certainly at stake.

The Democratic coordinated campaign is located at 7122 San Pedro Avenue. You can go there any day to volunteer for telephone banking, block walking, postcard writing, promotion of voting by mail, voter registration, or other activities.

The survival of public education in Texas is also on the ballot. Two of the five crucial State House seats needed to defeat vouchers are in Bexar County.

As always, keep up with the Sierra Club Political Committee of Texas's latest endorsements at TurnTexasGreen.org.

Send a Letter to H·E·B Opposing Plastic Bags

Isn't it about time H·E·B stopped inundating Texas with plastic bags? Now is a good time to send a letter to Charles C. Butt, the billionaire owner of H-E-B stores, opposing the millions upon millions of plastic bags pouring out of his establishments.

We are inviting members to send their own letters (legible handwritten are good) to Mr. Butt at his homestead at 335 King William, San Antonio, Texas 78204. Below is an open letter sent to Mr. Butt that you might use for inspiration.

Dear Mr. Butt,
I am writing on behalf of future generations as well as the myriad creatures who live in and by the sea. You are a leader in our community who has been wonderfully generous to the food banks all across Texas; furthermore, as a veteran educator with thirty years classroom experience, I greatly appreciate your support of me and my colleagues and the hard, important work we do.

However, there is one specific and important action that HEB could take, and that is to no longer give out plastic bags to its customers at your more than 400 stores across Texas and Mexico. I see people at my Leon Springs store walk out with fifteen or more plastic bags in one cart, and as everyone knows by now, the recycling of single-use plastic is woefully inadequate to address the global scourge of plastic pollution.

Additionally, the fact that plastic is inexpensive and therefore stores like HEB can afford to give away millions of bags a year is a complete fallacy when you take into account its enormous, externalized cost to the biosphere. Not only is it extracted from deep in the earth, but then refined and made into many different products, the entire process contributing to the warming and pollution of the atmosphere. Just drive through Corpus Christi and see the billowing smoke stacks at Flint Hills as it, twenty-four hours a day and with impunity, pours its toxic effluence into the atmosphere.

The fact is that the production of plastic is one of the biggest contributors to the climate crisis in which we find ourselves. And, of course, the worst part of this addiction to cheap plastic is the worrisome planetary mess we leave for future generations in the rivers, oceans, lakes, and, of course, the landfills, which also emit a potent greenhouse gas, methane, as the plastic breaks up but never fully down.

And then there are the sea creatures, magnificent whales, dophins, countless kinds of fish and other mysterious creatures who are affected by our rampant, mindless consumerism: the whale which washed ashore with 90 pounds of balled up plastic in its gut; the countless marine creatures who die entangled in plastic debris; the birds and their babies who eat this ubiquitous substance and similarly, destroy their bellies. It’s heart-breaking. But you, Mr. Butt, would set an important example to so many people, including the children to whom you are clearly devoted, by no longer giving out free plastic bags which are, in fact, not free for anyone, now or in the future.

The fact is that Costco does not use plastic bags and has not for many years, but with 845 stores, it has clearly neither hurt its bottom line nor driven away customers. Aldi’s, a national grocery chain with 2300 stores has stopped giving away any single-use plastic bags, and Kroger (1320 stores), has committed to phasing them out completely by next year. So it is possible to be successful not only in business but as stewards of our increasingly fraught planet.

I’m sure you were well aware before receiving this letter that we have created, albeit inadvertently, a huge problem for ourselves and other creatures with whom we share this magnificent planet, and of course, crucially, for those who will follow us, the future generations. You, Mr. Butt, with your power, prestige, reputation, and money are in a unique position to do the right thing, however small it may seem in the big picture (and the millions upon millions of plastic bags which leave your stores yearly is no small thing).

You have already made a positive impact on your community in so many ways. Please consider doing this.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

We folks in Texas may not understand the appeal of northern prairie lands. A couple quotes may help a bit.

"And by experiencing prairie - over the four seasons, and at various times of day, in all weathers - you develop a heightened sense of awe and wonder that will spill over into every other area of your life.” -Cindy Crosby, from The Tallgrass Prairie: An Introduction.

"Perhaps the biggest problem with prairies, and people's ability to appreciate them, is their scale. It all just seems too big. So complex. So incomprehensible. So vast". -Pete Dunne, from Prairie Spring – A Journey Into the Heart of a Season.

This park (park website) has two units. This article is about the North Unit, where these pictures were taken August 2020. This about 90 miles drive north of the South Unit; the latter is just north of the town of Medora. The South Unit is mostly on the east side of the Little Missouri River with trails off a loop road. West of the river in the South Unit is Theodore Roosevelt Wilderness with more trails. My wife and I had hoped to do some stuff in the South Unit but were distracted with a vehicle problem and the loop road was partially closed anyway.

The North Unit has nice vistas along the Little Missouri which rises in northeastern Wyoming. The Little Missouri joins the Missouri itself at Lake Sakakawea about 30 miles east of the park.

The first picture is from Oxbow Overlook at the far western end of the 14 mi park road through the North Unit. Looking carefully at the picture we can see the doubled oxbow bend.

A doubled oxbow bend of the Little Missouri River. Looking southeast from Oxbow Overlook, which is at the west end of the park road in the North Unit. Correlating with the park map we can tell visible center is the North Achenbach Trail, at the west end of the Achenbach Loop.

Some hikes

The trail brochure (north versus south unit is specified in column 1 of the trail brochure) says about the Achenbach Loop, 18 miles: "This is a strenuous backpack trip with two river crossings. There are no foot bridges. The river can be impassable during high water." Then there is the Buckhorn Trail loop. Here is the HikingProject.com page about the park. If we look at the North Unit stuff we see the Achenbach, and Buckhorn loop 11.3 mi. And the Caprock Coulee loop, 4.2 mi.

But we don't have to do the whole Achenbach Loop with the river crossings. In retrospect sure would have liked to hike from Oxbox Overlook (picture above) down and back some of North Achenbach Trail for vistas along the river. Or we can do some of it from just east of River Bend Overlook, next picture. On the latter hike we get a bit more along the river.

About the Maah Daah Hey trail, which is just outside the national park, a section below.

Looking southeast across the river from River Bend Overlook, about 2/3 of the way west on the park road.

Camping

In the North Unit itself there is Juniper campground, 1/3 of the way west along the park road from the visitor center. We camped at CCC campground (USFS page), just east of the North Unit in Dakota Prairie Grassland (USFS). There is also Summit campground (USFS page), just southeast of CCC off of US 85. If we zoom in at the east side of the North Unit on the current park map we can see latter two, but the Maah Daah Hey trail (below) is not properly mapped.

Buffalo just off the park road, a few miles east of the first picture.

The Maah Daah Hey trail

This is 144 miles, north end at the CCC campground, next picture. The appeal is surely increased by the presence of the Little Missouri. The Maah Daah Hey Trail association appears to have a lot of serious workers and board members. The trail crosses the river twice. There are eleven developed campgrounds, eight water caches and sixteen trailheads along the nine trail units.

I was hoping to do an 11 mile loop in Dakota Prairie Grassland, southeast from CCC on the Long X trail with first bit along the river, then back on the northern section of the Maah Daah Hey. Wonder if I'll get back there again. The original Maah Daah Hey, 99 miles, goes through Theodore Roosevelt Wilderness at the south end and ends south of Medora. That has been extended across the Little Missouri (second crossing) another 45 miles south with a section called Maah Daah Hey II, The Duece.

In addition to the good map at the association's website there are pages at HikingProject.com, the original 99 mile section page and that for The Duece section. Good map and downloadable GPX files at the latter pages.

At the north end of the Maah Daah Hey trail, looking northwest across the pleasant CCC campground. Theodore Roosevelt NP is on the other side of the Little Missouri River, visible upper center.

Another on the Maah Daah Hey, looking south about where I turned around and went back to the CCC campground. Note the turtle symbol on the trail marking post in this picture. From the association website: "The symbol for the trail is the turtle. Adopted from the Lakota Sioux Indians, the turtle symbolizes patience, loyalty, determination, steadfastness, long-life and fortitude. The turtle shell symbolizes protection and its effigy is emblazoned on the posts that mark the trail."

Prairie dogs, a keystone species

The next picture is in a prairie dog town in the park. Prairie dogs are a keystone species (Wikipedia, with a paragraph about them). From their own Wikipedia article: "The prairie dog habitat has been affected by direct removal by farmers, and the more obvious encroachment of urban development, which has greatly reduced their populations. The removal of prairie dogs causes undesirable spread of brush, the costs of which to livestock range and soil quality often outweighs the benefits of removal. Other threats include disease. The prairie dog is protected in many areas to maintain local populations and ensure natural ecosystems."

On a nice 1.5 mi round-trip route north from about halfway along the park road through a prairie dog town. Two lower left are in the zoomed inset, and a third is just above the center of the inset.

Ecosystem engineers

Prairie dogs are such, what are others? A page at TreeHugger.com has a list of 10, including beavers, elephants, termites, corals and prairie dogs. A page at OrianneSociety.org mentions beavers and “...woodpeckers or other birds that create cavity nests, and burrowing animals that create tunnels usable by many species”. In the January 2024 issue of this newsletter there was an article about beavers and a review of a super book, Beaver Land by Leila Philip. The Wikipedia article has important science bits but no real list of ecosystem engineers. Never mind right now about the role of H. sapiens in this business

From the e-Mailbag

From time-to-time, the Alamo Group receives messages concerning local environmental issues. If you have thoughts on any of these issues, send us a message and we'll forward it to the writer. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individual authors and do not represent the views or opinions of the Alamo Group or its members.

Blatant disregard by TCEQ for our water supply and the health and welfare of Texas Hill Country residents

On July 8, 2024, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) approved the Water Pollution Abatement Plan (WPAP) #13001906 for the Vulcan Comal Quarry. See this press release, the embedded links will give you added information. We will be meeting with our attorneys group next week to file a Motion to Overturn and discuss next steps.

Active ecosystem threatened by development

We have a wooded creek tributary to Salado Creek and flood watershed area and active ecosystem that is up for sale for commercial development. It is located at 15234 Classen Rd., 78247. Many people here are hoping not to allow this to happen, is there any help you can offer?

Gardening essentials classes

Monday, August 19 program includes 2 presentations:

“Native Riparian Plants of San Pedro Creek and the San Antonio River in historical and cultural connections" presented by Peter Pierson, Natural Resource Management Specialist for the San Antonio River Authority

"River Road Ecosystem Restoration Project" presented by Kathleen Rubin, Creeks & Trails Program Manager of the San Antonio River Authority

At the Monday, October 21 class,

two local authors will share their personal journeys of interest in butterflies that grew into research quests and sharing what they discovered with others:

Merry Langlinais will share her photographs and observations of butterflies and native plants together; and have available for sale her book "Critters of Red Heart, The Winged Ones II ". In addition to her fame as photographer and author, Merry is also known as the chairwoman of Alamo Group of Sierra Club during the Sierra Club lawsuit that resulted in thr Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Plan.

Monika Maeckle will present on the Monarch butterfly migration and have available for sale her book "The Monarch Butterfly Migration: Its Rise and Fall" [University of Oklahoma Press, publication date:08/20/2024]

All are free and open to the public
12-3 pm
San Antonio Garden Center
3310 N New Braunfels Avenue
$5 donation appreciated
More information

New Texas appellate court alarms environmentalists

The all-Republican 15th Court of Appeals soon will begin hearing disputes involving the state’s environmental regulators. 'It’s BYOC — bring your own court — for polluters and powerful interests,' one critic says. Read more in the San Antonio Current.

A conservative farm town went green without really trying

I thought that you all might be interested in this article from the WSJ. It definitely deserves consideration

Outings: The Call of the Wild

Visit the Alamo Sierra Club Outings page on Meetup for detailed information about all of our upcoming Sierra Club Outings.

The Alamo Sierran Newsletter

Richard Alles, Editor
Published by the Alamo Group of the Sierra Club, P.O. Box 6443, San Antonio, TX 78209, AlamoSierraClub.org.
The Alamo Group is one of 13 regional groups within the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club.

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