PEATDUSTER - Sierra Club Home Page: Explore, Enjoy, and ... · Join us to hear Dr. Avanti Mallapur, Curator of the Micke Grove Zoo, as she highlights their role in the Species Survival

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PEATDUSTER Volume 49 Number 4 P-1 Printed on Recycled Electrons August September 2018

Explore, enjoy and protect the planet.

Newsletter for the Delta-Sierra Group, Mother Lode Chapter

Visit us at www.sierraclub.org/mother-lode/delta-sierra

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Explore, enjoy and protect the planet. Explore, enjoy and protect the planet. Explore, enjoy and protect the planet. Explore, enjoy and protect the planet. Explore, enjoy and protect the planet. Explore, enjoy and protect the planet.

Volume 49 Number 4 P-2 Printed on Recycled Electrons August September 2018

Gina Bloom

Long time Sierra Club activist and board member, Gina Bloom, died May 28, 2018 following a period of declining health. Born in Davos, Switzerland, September 9, 1922, she spent her early life in the mountains. This fortuitous gift gave her a great love and understanding of the importance of protecting our wild heritage.

Arriving in California, she joined the Sierra Club and became an active member participating on many hikes to the Sierras and a member of the Executive Committee volunteering her time and energy.

She is pictured here and on the next page at a spaghetti dinner Delta-Sierra Group held in 2000.

She will long be remembered as editor of the Peatduster from the days when production required typing copy in columns that were cut and pasted to each page prior to duplication. The pages were then mimeographed (who remembers that modern machine?).

Photo: Tom Hora

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In more recent times she took the copy to a printing business. The copy still was not ready for mailing and required folding and address labels ordered from Sierra Club. She pasted the labels on to more than 1000 copies of each edition. The post office required zip codes to be sorted and stacked prior to mailing. Finally the newsletter was ready to mail. Little did any member realize the effort needed to bring this newsletter to your home. Gina knew the process and made certain the members received a copy in their mailbox. Later when computers simplified the process, Gina continued to help.

She enjoyed the role of hostess for the monthly meetings arriving early with fresh baked goodies like banana bread to be served with freshly brewed coffee and tea. She also hosted several Holiday parties for members and friends at her home. Goodbye dear friend, you will be missed.

Photos by REE

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MEETINGS and EVENTS

All Delta-Sierra Group general meetings are open to everyone whether you are a Sierra Club member or not. Meetings are held in the Fireside Room at the Central United Methodist Church, 3700 Pacific Avenue, Stockton, across from the University of Pacific Tower.

Behind the Scenes @ Micke Grove Zoo The Conservation Program - Avanti Mallapur, PhD, Zoo Curator

Monday August 27, 2018 @ 7:00pm

Join us to hear Dr. Avanti Mallapur, Curator of the Micke Grove Zoo, as she highlights their role in the Species Survival Plan organized by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. These Species Survival Plan Programs work to conserve captive populations of threatened species of wildlife. The Micke Grove Zoo is a five-acre zoo with an animal collection that includes amphibians, mammals, birds, reptiles, and invertebrates. It has been involved in several SSP Programs for some years and was one of three zoos selected to breed the critically endangered Waldrapp Ibis.

Photo: Tom Hora

Lodi Sentinel Photo

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They have also been successful with the endangered marbled teal, the endangered golden lion tamarin, and the endangered snow leopard. The Southern pudu, which is considered vulnerable and on the Red List for threatened species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, is also breeding successfully at Micke Grove Zoo.

At this presentation, Dr. Avanti will discuss the functional and management processes for Species Survival Plan Programs followed by most modern zoos worldwide.

Photo: Tom Hora

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GOLDEN LION TAMRIN

SOUTHERN PUDA FAWN

SNOW LEAPARD

JACKALOPE

Endangered creatures our zoo is protecting.

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Overdraft of Our Groundwater Presented by Alyson Watson

Monday, September 24, 2018 @ 7:00pm

Did you know that the Eastern San Joaquin Subbasin is a critically over drafted basin? Not only can this negatively impact water supply and quality, but declining groundwater levels and storage can also impact natural ecosystems and contribute to land subsidence. The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act SGMA) provides a framework for sustainable groundwater management. The Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Authority is in the process of developing a Groundwater Sustainability Plan to reflect local water-related needs and conditions and identify specific projects and management actions needed to achieve sustainable groundwater management. This presentation will provide background on historical groundwater conditions in the Eastern San Joaquin Subbasin; review SGMA requirements; and discuss the process for and progress made toward, achieving groundwater sustainability, and how YOU can get involved. Incidentally, our Conservation Chair and Web Master, Mary Elizabeth, is working on several projects and one of them includes groundwater issues. You may have seen her comments on our website. In case you didn’t she would like you to take this Ground-

water Sustainability Interest Survey. You will find that survey on this page: https://www.sierraclub.org/mother-lode/delta-sierra/eastern-san-joaquin-groundwater-subbasin

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PREVIEW OF COMING ATTRACTIONS

Owens Lake - Presented by Andrea Jones Director of Bird Conservation, Audubon California

Tuesday, October 10, 2018 @7:30pm Joint meeting with Audubon (Note the change in date and time from our usual 4th Monday. However, it will still be at the Fireside Room, Central United Methodist Church.)

Andrea Jones is pictured here at the Salton Sea. She has made a couple of videos that you can find on YouTube. In the first active link, she discusses birds at the Salton Sea. In the second link she talks about her first birding experience at the “Los Angeles River”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OOdKw4hEks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mrl0a4kjiw

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Join Us For Coastal Cleanup Day

Delta-Sierra Group and the First Unitarian Universalist Church will again co-host the 19th annual Coastal Cleanup Site. Please join us and meet up at the Northwest corner of Pacific Avenue and the Calaveras River (triangular lot at the corner of Brookside Drive and Pacific Avenue). Attendees should be there at 8:30 am for sign-in and instructions.

Saturday, September 15, 2018, 9 am to 12 noon.

Please wear close-toed shoes (no flip flops), a hat or visor, and sunscreen. If you can, please bring your own garden gloves, refillable water bottle, and reusable bucket, but gloves, water, and bags will be available at the site. We work in teams of two or three. We will have waiver forms in the morning, but if you download and bring the completed form (Waiver Form) it would save time. http://vault.sierraclub.org/outings/chapter/forms/ If you'd like

more information, contact Dick Abood at [email protected]

Ocean trash is a serious pollution problem that affects the health of people, wildlife and local economies. Even though we are inland and don't live near the beach, trash travels downstream via inland waterways, storm drains and sewers. If not removed, this debris will end up in the ocean. Join the world’s largest volunteer effort for our ocean and waterways by participating in this International Coastal Cleanup event.

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The Straw That Broke The Camel’s Back By Robert Evans

There are some events and activities that Delta-Sierra Group participates in year after year like clockwork. For example, Earth Day, the Lodi Crane Festival, a Holiday Gathering, a joint meeting with Audubon and of course, Coastal Cleanup Day. This repetition begs the question, “How can we generate some new enthusiasm to bring out new people to these events?” Well, the Executive Committee asked me to write something that would spark more interest. They never expected this! We probably will always need help, but we are getting some help we never saw coming. First, since this is about camels and straw some clarification is needed. In your efforts to clean our nearby rivers, you may have picked up an empty Camel cigarette package. Wrong, Wrong, Wrong! If you ever lived or visited the Middle East you would know the creature on the label is genus Dromedary. True, it is one of the species of camels that inhabit the planet, and many times I heard the ad on television until cigarette ads were ban, “I'd Walk a Mile For a Camel”. However, think about the success of a campaign if the ad said, “I'd Walk a Mile For a Dromedary”.

There are four known species of camels. Dromedary, or one-humped camels (Camelus dromedarius), inhabits the Middle East and the Horn of Africa.

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Bactrian, or two-humped camels (Camelus bactrianus) as you see on this redesigned package of cigarettes, inhabits Central Asia. The Wild Bactrian one-humped camel (Camelus ferus) is critically endangered and has limited populations in remote areas of northwest China and Mongolia. Last, Camelops is an extinct genus of camel that once roamed western North America, before it disappeared at the end of the Pleistocene about 10,000 years ago. Fossils of this species have been found in California.

I bet you know that cigarettes contain more than 7,000 chemicals, such as arsenic used to kill rats and formaldehyde used to preserve dead animals, and humans, too. Littered cigarette butts leach toxic chemicals into the environment and create contaminate water. Do your best to include them in your cleanup September 15. The second needed clarification is the straw. For Coastal Cleanup Day were are not concerned with dried stalks of grain, used as fodder or as material for thatching, packing, or weaving. Nope. Plastic straws. What a pain. The good news is we are starting to get that help I mentioned. Internet website Time.com/Money recently explains that “American Airlines joined Starbucks and Hyatt announcing that they are phasing out the use of plastic straws globally. Plenty of companies in countries like the United Kingdom and Taiwan, such as McDonald’s and Marriott International, are ahead of their counterparts in the United States.”

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I question whether this is just a token effort to appease us environmentalists. After all not every straw winds up in our rivers, lakes and ocean. Even so, it is estimated that 8 metric tons (17637 pounds) of plastic finds it way to the ocean every year. Starbuck’s pledge will eliminate 1 billion straws every single year.

American Airlines introduced eco-friendly straws and wood stir sticks starting this July and will eliminate more than 71,000 pounds of plastic per year. This is significant.

Last, we need to think about all the other plastic garbage you will be finding. Help is coming from the most unlikely group. In an audio recording on an affiliated website, the Al-Qaeda linked terrorist group shown in this Internet photo of Al-Shabaab, banned plastic bags in areas that they control in

Somalia, according to The New York Times. The source for the New York Time’s report is based on a Radio Andalus interview with the Al-Shabaab governor for Jubba regions. Mohammed Abu Abdullah said that plastic bags "pose a serious threat to the well-being of humans and animals alike”.

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PRESS RELEASE

SACRAMENTO—Sierra Club, the oldest, largest volunteer-led grassroots environmental organization in California, has formally taken an oppose position on Proposition 6, the measure on the November ballot that would roll back transportation and transit funding.

The measure is an attempt to repeal Senate Bill 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act, passed last year that raises about $5.2 billion a year to fix the state’s crumbling roads and bridges and improve public transit service. Transportation experts estimate the state faces at least $130 billion in needed transportation repair and replacement projects.

The funding is raised through an increase in taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, marking the first gasoline tax increase since 1984. Sierra Club volunteer leaders carefully analyzed the proposition and then brought it before four different volunteer

committees whose members overwhelmingly voted to oppose Proposition 6.

Statement by Kathryn Phillips, Sierra Club California Director:

“The guy who put this measure on the ballot apparently hasn’t tried to drive a car or ride a bike on some of the pot-holed roads in my community. He apparently has never had to rely on public transit to get to work or school.

Proposition 6 is a bad deal for the environment because it will cut funds that support safer bicycling and cleaner buses. And it’s a bad deal for any Californian who depends on any kind of transportation to buy groceries, get to work, or visit friends and relatives.

Voting NO on Proposition 6 is the right choice for people and the planet.”

(Editor’s Note: Just to be crystal clear, this is a Press Release by the Sierra Club stating they oppose the November Ballot Measure to Roll Back Transportation and Transit Funding. Publishing this Press Release in the Peatduster is not intended to either generate an endorsement or support, but rather only serve as an informational bulletin. We believe we conform to the foolish 2-click rule.)

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HELP WANTED!

As you recently may have heard, the San Joaquin County budget for the coming year called for the permanent closure of the Oak Grove Nature Center--after 37 years of operation and tens of thousands of children and adults served. After docents negotiated with the County Parks Department, the Nature Center was given a reprieve.

The County will continue to pay the utilities, but they will no longer provide any staff support. The Nature Center program will live or die based on the work of its volunteer docents.

There are presently only a dozen or so active docents, and only five who regularly lead school tours. Some of our docents are retired teachers and others are just folks who want to help. Some docents lead the school tours and others work the Nature Center Museum on weekends. A few do various tasks like working in the native plant garden. We desperately need more docents. Can you help? To say YES, or for more information, or to volunteer your neighbor, contact Alan England by email at [email protected] or by telephone at 209-298-8634. Let’s keep the Oak Grove Nature Center alive.

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CONTACT YOUR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES

Donald Trump The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500 Comment Phone: (202) 456-1111 Switchboard Phone: (202) 456-1414

Email: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

Senator Member Dianne Feinstein 331 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 Phone: (202) 224-3841 Email:

www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me

Senator Member Kamala Harris 112 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 Phone: (202) 224-3553

Email: https://www.harris.senate.gov/contact/email

House Member Jerry McNerney Washington, DC Office, 2265 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515. Phone: (202) 225-1947

Stockton Office, 2222 Grand Canal Boulvard # 7, Stockton, CA 95207 Phone: (209) 476-8552

Email: https://mcnerney.house.gov/contact/email-me

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CONTACT CALIFORNIA STATE REPRESENTATIVES

California Governor Governor Jerry Brown

Office of the Governor, State Capitol, Suite 1173, Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 445-2841 Email: https://govapps.gov.ca.gov/gov39mail/

Senator Member Cathleen Galgiani (State Senate District 5 Lodi, Stockton, Tracy & Manteca Areas)

Capitol Office, State Capitol, Room 5097, Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 651-4005

Stockton District Office, 31 East Channel Ste 440, Stockton, CA 95202 Phone: (209) 948-7930 Email: http://sd05.senate.ca.gov/send-e-mail

Assembly Member Susan Talamantes Eggman (State Assembly District 13 Stockton & Tracy Area)

Capitol Office: State Capitol, P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0013 Phone: (916) 319-2013 Fax: (916) 319-2113

District Office: 31 East Channel Street, Suite 306, Stockton, CA 95202 Phone: (209) 948-7479 Email: https://lcmspubcontact.lc.ca.gov/PublicLCMS/ContactPopup.php?district=AD13

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CONTACT CALIFORNIA STATE REPRESENTATIVES

Assembly Member Jim Cooper (State Assembly District 9 Lodi Area)

Capitol Office: State Capitol, Room 6025. Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 319-2009 District Office: 9250 Laguna Springs Drive, Suite 220, Elk Grove, CA 95758 Phone: (916) 670-7888

Email: http://www.cooperforassembly.com/contact/

Assembly Member Heath Flora (State Assembly District 12 Manteca Area)

Capitol Office: State Capital, Room 3149, P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0012 Phone: (916) 319-2012

District Office: 3719 Tully Road, Suite C, Modesto, CA 95356 Phone: (209) 576-6425

Email: https://ad12.asmrc.org (Go to “EMAIL US” on this page.)

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District 1 Miguel Villapudua [email protected] District 2 Kathy Miller [email protected] District 3 Tom Patti [email protected]

District 4 Chuck Winn [email protected] District 5 Bob Elliott [email protected] All Board Members At Once [email protected]

CONTACT SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY REPRESENTATIVES

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Mail: Board of Supervisors, 44 North San Joaquin Street, Sixth Floor Suite 627, Stockton, CA 95202 Phone: (209) 468-3113 Fax: (209) 468-3694

Photo: Tom Hora

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Stockton, Modesto and Sonora Sierra Club Find us at: https://www.meetup.com/S-M-S-SierraClub/members/28813452/

We have been in operation since October 2011 and we now have 1597 members. You can find our local Sierra Club activities posted there.

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Executive Committee with Email Addresses Chair: Margo Praus

[email protected]

Vice Chair & Membership Chair: Paul Plathe

[email protected]

Treasurer & Chapter Delegate: Richard Abood

[email protected]

Secretary & Alternate Chapter Delegate: Steve Harvath

[email protected]

Conservation Chair & Web Master: Mary Elizabeth

[email protected]

Program Chair: Margo Praus

[email protected]

Executive Member: Knute Momberg [email protected]

Newsletter: Robert Evans

[email protected]



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DELTA-SIERRA GROUP P.O. BOX 9258 STOCKTON, CA 95208


Iceland aims to be carbon neutral by 2040 – a more ambitious target than the Paris Climate Accord. “It’s doable,” the anti-Trump Katrín Jakobsdóttir said confidently. “Iceland has renewable energy resources; we have a head start. But again, we won’t manage it unless everyone pulls together.”

(Source: The Nation March 8, 2018. Editors Note: Trump took the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord. We were the only county to reject the accord out of 150 countries. Sad, Very sad!)

Please recycle the Peatduster by sending an email copy to your friends.

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PEATDUSTER - Sierra Club Home Page: Explore, Enjoy, and ... · Join us to hear Dr. Avanti Mallapur, Curator of the Micke Grove Zoo, as she highlights their role in the Species Survival