Toiyabe Chapter August 2020 eNewsletter

Save Lake Tahoe from Poisonous
Herbicides and Aquatic Weeds!

Sierra Club is opposing the use of herbicides in Lake Tahoe to control invasive weeds invited by the destruction of a natural wetland in 1959 to build the 1,500-home housing development and marina, the Tahoe Keys.

74 Days to Go

Elections matter, and this one matters more than most. 

Sierra Club is activating climate and justice voters across the country. Help elect environmental champions up and down the ticket, across the country, and in Nevada. 

Please don't wish you had done more after election Day. Join us today. Here are a few ways you can help:

Swing Nevada Green
The political campaign season began with our endorsement of candidates in July. Now we are organizing to support their election and you can be part of the process from wherever you are. Please join us via video on Tuesday, September 1st, at 5:15pm. Meet candidates, and learn how you can help Sierra Club's endorsed environmental champions win in November.

RSVP here for Swing Nevada Green.

National Battleground Program
Sierra Club is working to help Joe Biden win in key states Trump won narrowly in 2016, and you can help with our text, letter-writing and phone-calling efforts, which will also help local candidates in these states. Read more and sign up here: sc.org/plan2win

Learn who your local endorsed candidates are here in Nevada.

Sign up here to volunteer to elect our local endorsed champions.

Donate to support environmental champions in Nevada.

Toiyabe Anti-Racism Team

Are you aware of how institutional racism plays out in Nevada? 

Institutional racism historically has been covert and out of the public eye, imparting immeasurable harms to Black, Indigenous and other communities of color through targeted marginalization, oppression, and withholding of resources by local governments across the nation.

Join the Toiyabe Anti-Racism team on September 3rd at 5:30 PM for presentations and discussion around cases of institutional racism in Nevada. This event will be held over Zoom. Register below, and we will send you a zoom link and short reading to complete before the meeting. 

RSVP here to join the discussion.

Nevada State Climate Strategy

In November 2019, Gov. Sisolak signed an Executive Order directing his administration to develop a State Climate Strategy by December 1, 2020.

What we know: The strategy will include recommendations to reduce carbon pollution across many sectors of Nevada's economy, including our electricity and transportation sectors.

What we don't know: How does the Governor plan to support communities who have been hit hardest by the impacts of climate pollution? 

Reno and Las Vegas are the two fastest-warming cities in the country. A solid Climate Strategy can help avert the worst impacts.

Weigh in today. You can also share your own personal climate priorities with the Governor. Take action today. 

Sign the petition now. 

Remembering Norm Harry

We were saddened to hear that Norm Harry of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, Nixon, Nevada,
passed away on August 11, 2020.

Many Sierra Club members remember Norm as a friend, fellow environmentalist, and three-term Tribal Chair of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe.

Tina Nappe writes, “He was always a water warrior for Pyramid Lake and a warrior for tribal interests. He turned up at hearings fully prepared, i.e., his background documentation in his pocket.  Always speaking with clarity and accuracy.  Every event was serenaded with a drumming prayer bringing tribal memory and participation to the forefront. He always reached out to friends and, with Beverly and Autumn, was always hospitable. Forever memories of good plentiful food and warm conversation.  Yes, he will be missed.  Water protection will be weaker. Thank you, Norm.”

Rose Strickland adds, “Dennis and I agree with Tina on Norm’s lifelong dedication to protecting Pyramid Lake and the Truckee River and its denizens, Lahontan Cutthroat Trout and Cui-ui, and being a great mentor to his family, the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe and his many friends.  

We were privileged to share years of Sierra Club and Lahontan Audubon Society service trips to the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge with Norm, Beverly and Autumn. After working hard to restore the refuge ecosystem and habitat for the Pronghorn, deer, big horn sheep, sage-grouse, and all the little critters, we have so many treasured memories of sitting around campfires, sharing food and stories and in awe of the Milky Way skies.  Norm was and always will be at home in the Sagebrush Ocean.”

Read more about Norm’s life and contributions here. Please support the fund that has been established for his family.

Mining Threats in the Range of Light

By Lynn Boulton,
Chair, Range of Light Group
With the price of gold at historic highs, gold exploration companies are out looking for potential sites. 

Currently, two of our favorite places are in their sights: Conglomerate Mesa in the Inyo Mountains, and Spring Peak in the Bodie Hills. 

Click here to read more and take action to protect them.

Where Did You Explore This Summer?

Although COVID risk keeps Sierra Club from leading official outings, these pandemic times have helped many people get outdoors more often.

Let's share our stories and photos of summer explorations on Thursday, Sept. 17, 7:00 - 8:30 PM. We will call it “Here is What I Explored in Summer 2020.” And YOU are the presenters! 

Send up to 6 images of your summer exploration (photos, maps, whatever is appropriate) to David von Seggern at vonseg1@sbcglobal.net. You will have 5-10 minutes to talk about them as they are shown with screen sharing by the Zoom moderator. We want to have the screen sharing under one person, so that is why we ask you to submit the files in a common format like PNG, JPG, or PDF.

Include your name in the file names or in the zip archive if you zip them.

Please join us!
When: Thursday, September 17,
Program: 7:00 PM - 8:30
Where: Zoom Virtual Meeting (Click here to join)
Meeting ID: 852 705 0955
Password: solidarity

Some Words About Monthly Giving

By Anne Macquarie, Chair of the Toiyabe Chapter.

I know. I get it. The Sierra Club asks you for money often. Maybe too often.

But here at the Toiyabe Chapter we have a lot on our plate. Here is some of what we’re doing:

We’re organizing our members, supporters and partner organizations to engage in "Transform Clark County," - a complete rewrite of Clark County's Master Plan and Development Code - so we can make sure environmental values, sustainable development and equity and fairness for all Clark County residents is a part of the new plan.

Our diligent and hardworking political teams on both the chapter and group levels have just endorsed 48 candidates running for local, state, and national offices in 2020. That’s right, 48. I attended an online meet-and-greet for some of these candidates last night, hosted by the Southern Nevada Group, and I was awed at our endorsed candidates’ depth of commitment to environmental values and understanding of the issues. We’ll continue working with each and every one of the endorsed candidates to help them win.

Our Conservation Team has a new chair, Chapter Executive Committee member Connie Howard, who’s pulling together a revived conservation team to oppose military land grabs, pinyon-juniper removal on our public lands, and in general fight back against the Trump administration’s brutal campaign for resource extraction at any cost on our public lands. As the state with the most public lands, we are on the front line of this battle. Sometimes it seems like every day, there’s more bad news.

This is only some of what we are doing with a team of dedicated volunteers, two paid staff, our personal laptops, and some shared office space. Our expenses are not high, but we do not receive sufficient funding from the national Sierra Club to meet our budget, so we have to raise the money ourselves to keep our staff paid and the doors open.

This is where monthly giving comes in.

We are deeply grateful to our monthly givers because their donations, arriving month after month, offer us a baseline of secure support that we do not have to ask for again and again, allowing us to concentrate our time and energy on working for the environment rather than asking for money.

Any amount of monthly giving helps. Currently our monthly supporters give between $5 and $500 per month. (That one is from one extremely generous and loyal donor who has made us central to his personal giving.)

So please consider helping us continue our work, from electing environmental champions to fighting back against Trump’s brutal public lands policies, by signing up for a monthly donation.  

Thanks so much for your support!

Donate to support your local Sierra Club.

Executive Committee Nominations
Now Open

Your Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter seeks to recruit and sustain Executive Committee membership through diversifying and empowering its leadership to represent our community and region in promoting environmental, social and racial justice.

If you know someone, maybe even yourself, who would be a great fit for our executive committee—submit a nomination today! The election voting period runs from Nov. 1st - Dec. 31st, 2020. Terms are for two (2) years and officially begin February 2021. Join the team!