Dear Supporter,

Happy New 2024!

News from the Chair
by Nick Cheranich

At our recent Executive Committee retreat, we decided to focus much of our energy on educating ourselves, our members, and the Napa County community on various local environmental issues. We are planning to hold several types of get-togethers, featuring lecturers who are knowledgeable about the various issues that are important to us and, we hope, to you. In so doing, it is our hope that we will all be better prepared to advocate for the important environmental policy changes that need to be made at the local and state levels. (Graphic: Napa Bookmine event in March; see below for details.)

For our first event, called the King Tides event, we will be collaborating with the American Canyon Community and Parks Foundation next Saturday, February 10th. We will have a table next to the Outdoor Connection trailer starting at 11am at Wetlands Edge Park (2 Eucalyptus Dr.). (Photo: View of the Wetlands at the Wetlands Edge Park.)

With the help of our student interns, we plan to have hands-on activities that help explain the impact of sea level rise on the wetlands. Other planned activities include a social observation walk out to Glass Beach to observe the unusually high tides, as well as other hands-on nature science activities inside The Outdoor Connection. For more information, click here.
When: February 10th from 11am to 2pm.
Where: Wetlands Edge Park in American Canyon

The next event takes place in early March. Napa Bookmine and Napa Sierra Club Group will be hosting Rosanna Xia at Napa Bookmine on Second St. on March 5th, 2024, at 6:00pm. We will be discussing her incredible book, California Against the Sea. Please come join the discussion! Elayna Trucker (pictured, left), who will be leading the discussion, is Napa Bookmine’s Operations Manager as well as our newest ExCom member. See Elayna's review of the book, below.
When: March 5th from 6 to 7pm.
Where: 1625 Second St. (near Seminary St.), Napa

--------------------------------------------------------------------

This year, we are excited to have four student interns joining us, three of whom are returnees from last year! Liliana Karesh and Paulina Zambrano are our interns from Napa, and Kate Bit is from American Canyon. Our new intern, Maia Medalle, is also from American Canyon (see below for Maia’s bio). (Photo: Maia Medalle)

Among other things, these young environmental activists are planning to collaborate on creating and then teaching lessons to grade school students about various environmental concerns, similar to what they did last year. We’ll also be working with them as we continue our collaboration with the American Canyon Community and Parks Foundation’s Watershed Explorers and The Outdoor Connection projects.

The students will also create environmental podcasts for MCE (the non-profit clean energy agency), work in collaboration with Napa Resource Conservation District with acorn plantings and cleanups, create videos for fire prevention awareness, and will join us for the Earth Day events in April.

Thanks in part to your donations, upon completion of their yearlong internship, they will each receive a $500 stipend, and a letter of recommendation for college admissions, and/or for employment. (Photo: Liliana Karesh)

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Please remember to vote this March 5th for candidates who are environmentally friendly. Look for our Dist. 4 Board of Supervisors endorsement as a Letter to the Editor in both the Register and Press Democrat.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Lastly, please read about my adventures trekking through the incredible Milford Track in New Zealand last December. You can read Part One, below. (Pictured: Joanna and Nick on the Milford Track.)

Also, you can read a summary of our Group's accomplishments for 2023, below.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Our next Conservation Committee meeting will be March 19, 2024 at 6:00PM. If you would like to attend, just click on the RSVP button below and I'll send you a Zoom invite in the near future. Thank you.

- Nick Cheranich, ExCom Chair
napavalleysierraclub@gmail.com

Please Say Hello to Our Newest Student Intern
Story and photo by Maia Medalle

Hi everyone! My name is Maia Medalle, and I am currently a sophomore at American Canyon High School (Class of 2026!). I am one of the new student interns at Napa Sierra Club for 2024. I have lived in American Canyon my entire life and I absolutely love how tight knit our community is! Having constant connections with the people around me has fueled my love for learning, especially about the environment.

This passion was sparked in elementary school after learning about marine ecosystems and species. Soon after that school year I attended a marine biology camp in Monterey Bay, and I immediately fell in love with all things ecological. This camp helped to open my eyes to the many threats toward our environment and further fueled my desire to learn more about the global climate crisis.

Recently, I have decided to commit myself to environmental options, such as being active in my school's Environmental Club and Napa Schools for Climate Action. I want to help in educating both myself and those around me.

By participating in this internship program with the Napa Sierra Club, I hope to work with like-minded students to be a voice of advocacy for our generation and our environment!

In my second half of high school, I aim to work toward creating a better future as well as creating opportunities for both our community and environment to thrive together. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to work with Napa Sierra Club members and my fellow interns, and I look forward to what's in store!

Sam Chapman, a Napa resident, was a Napa County Supervisor for two terms, from 1975 to 1983, following which he served as Congresswoman and then U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer's chief-of-staff for 22 years. With his permission, we publish this piece, which is a longer version of an LTE he sent to the Napa Register. (Photo: Chapman, Joelle Gallagher, and Amber Manfree.)

Recently, I'm hearing increasing discussion regarding where Napa County is headed. Each new "world class" resort or hotel is applauded and further secures our position as one of our country's most prominent playgrounds for the wealthy. World class translates to anywhere from $600+ to over $2,000 per night. At the same time, Tim Carl reports that County hotel occupancy is down more than 10% from 2019 to 2023. Two hotels have declared bankruptcy, and the county now has 1,872 Type 02 winery licenses and over 500 physical wineries. Tasting room fees have surged to an average of $81/person, the average wine price is up to $108/bottle, while many economic trends affecting the Valley are trending down.

Is this the direction for Napa County we want see - one that is heavily focused on catering to the very wealthy, that welcomes large industrial facilities locating in the Ag Preserve, and applauds all new high-end development proposals coming to an increasingly saturated market. Each new luxury tourist attraction brings more service workers commuting from outside the county, clogging our highways and increasing our carbon contributions to an ever warming planet. Article continues here.

A sense of legacy might be defined as the impulse to care for those who come after us.

As you know, the Napa Sierra Club Group has a mission to conserve natural ecosystems and work for sustainability in land and water usage, and to reduce the carbon release into the air. We take on projects that we think are significant to Napa that may be helped by local action.

We are trying to take care of our environment for those who come after us.

We are still looking for people to join our Executive Committee team who have knowledge and experience relevant to our mission and skills in research, presenting, organizing, and/or educating our neighbors. People who are willing to learn.

Is that you? Or do you know someone? We have openings on our team. Looking for motivated volunteers. Prepare for your legacy now.

Join us at our next meeting to ask questions and/or see how we roll. Email us, in care of Nick Cheranich, at napavalleysierraclub@gmail.com. Thank you!

Major Accomplishments of the Napa Sierra Club for 2023 (Photo: Back row, left to right: ExCom members Nick Cheranich, Scott Thomason, David Campbell, and Chris Benz. Chris recently resigned after 10 years of service. Front row, left to right: Student Interns Kate Bit, Liliana Karesh, and Paulina Zambrano. Not pictured: Excom Members Elayna Trucker and Roland Dumas.)

• Fourth year of student volunteer internship program
  • Successful completion by them of education programs such as teaching about habitat loss for the Monarch Butterflies
• Putting out e-newsletter every other month using Sierra Club Salesforce/Marketing Cloud platform (most newsletter articles are published on the NSC website and then linked to the e-newsletter)
  • Dozens of varied articles written by Excom members and other members
  • Several articles shared with Redwood Needles newsletter
  • Continued to utilize the email blast feature for political endorsements, Protect Skyline Park, etc.
• Grounded our activities into a few focused areas
  • From our allocation of Rohloff funds: Donated $10K to the American Canyon Community and Parks Foundation, and worked with them in both Watershed Explorers and The Outdoor Connection projects
  • Helped defeat Measure J in Amcam as a land-use issue
  • Le Colline appeal upheld by BOS (LTE in the Register from us)
• Other Actions:
  • Held candidate interviews for Dist. 4 Supervisor
  • Celebrated and donated to Napa Land Trust for Walt Ranch purchase ($2000)
  • Participated in AmCan Earth Day Event
  • Donated to Earth Day Napa ($500)
  • Donated to Napa Schools for Climate Action (a student-led group) for their Creative Arts Contest on Climate Change
  • Participated in Vine Trail Locomotion fundraising event (our team raised over $1500)