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By Vicky Hoover
Activist outings, the newest category of Sierra Club national outings, focus on
areas that need help and provide advocacy training so participants can better
work for preservation when they return home.
"Activist outings are great because they inspire you to advocate for the land by
letting you see up close what you're working for," says Reno, Nev., attorney
Henry Egghart. After participating in one of the Club's first activist outings
in 1994 to Utah, Egghart helped produce a slide show on the trip, showed it to
his local group and chapter, authored several articles in Club publications and
continues to encourage fellow activists to write letters in support of Utah
wilderness.
The Sierra Club is offering five activist outings in 1997. The Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge outing is full, but the following trips are still open:
Endangered Places of the Northern Rockies, Montana
July 27-Aug. 5 (Trip #97-102) $545
Leader Bill Evans will guide forest and wilderness advocates into threatened
areas in the Northern Continental Divide and Cabinet-Yaak ecosystems that
environmentalists want to see designated as wilderness. Via several short
backpacks plus dayhikes, participants will visit an ecosystem that harbors all
major American megafauna (except bison) as well as the only inland temperate
rainforest in the lower 48. They'll meet with local wilderness advocates,
including Native Americans, to learn how to help pass wilderness legislation for
Montana and the entire Northern Rockies ecosystem.
Everglades to the Coral Reefs, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
Aug. 23-28 (Trip #97-103) $435
Join Otto and Vivian Spielbichler for a combined field and classroom venture to
experience coral reefs, mangrove wetlands and seagrass beds. With mask, snorkel
and microscope, participants will experience and study the interdependence and
the health of Florida Bay and the Everglades. Accommodation on this nonstrenuous
trip is in dormitories; all meals and field equipment are provided.
Sail a Tall Ship to the Gulf Islands of British Columbia
Sept. 21-27 (trip #97-104) $890
A shipside tour aboard the 100-foot historic schooner Adventuress with leader
Craig Miller includes hands-on sailing experience. The trip features mild fall
weather, side hikes, marine biology lessons, natural and human history of the
area, sailing instruction and advocacy for the broad coastal area. Members will
help with general shipboard chores.
Defending the Dirty Devil, Robber's Roost, Utah
Oct. 12-21 (Trip #97-105) $485
Leaders Marie Cecchini and Les Wilson will show participants some of the
remarkable areas proposed for wilderness designation by the Utah Wilderness
Coalition. From the hamlet of Hanksville in central-south Utah, the trip travels
east and includes several days of winding descent along beautiful slot canyons,
ledges and talus slopes to the Dirty Devil River. This historic mission
incorporates on-the-ground fieldwork, a national publicity campaign and
congressional and administrative lobbying in Washington, D.C.
For more information:
Contact Vicky Hoover at (415) 977-5527; e-mail:
<vicky.hoover@sierraclub.org>.
Partial scholarships are available. For a trip
brochure and application form, call the
Outing Department at (415) 977-5630.
http://www.sierraclub.org/planet/199705/activist.asp
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