This has been quite a year for the

U.S., the San Joaquin Valley, and the local

Sierra Club Mineral King Group. Katrina,

Rita, and the record number of Atlantic

hurricanes may well be a harbinger of

things to come due to global warming.

At the same time, perfect weather

conditions here in the valley gave us a

summer with much lower air quality

problems than normal. But with the rising

price of natural gas, we may suffer

particularly poor winter air as more

residents burn wood in their fireplaces.

Wood burning is a significant source of

particulate matter smog in the valley which

kills people every year.

Visalia and other valley towns

experienced unprecedented growth this

year. Visalia then elected a new

councilman who ran on a smart-growth

platform against sprawl despite a record

amount of money spent by developers to

try and defeat him.

Tulare County continues work on

its general plan update which will be the

blueprint for growth in the county for the

next 20 or more years. Prudently, county

planners and their technical advisory

committee have been focusing on the

alternative which would focus growth in

the incorporated urban areas and limit

sprawl.

The Year in Review By Kim Loeb, Mineral King Group Chair

Mineral King News Sierra Club December, 2005

Highlights:

Our Outings Program – 2 Tulare County Planning – 4 National Club Priorities - 6

Book Review: Suburban Nation – 3 Successful Film Series - 5 Ballot & Upcoming Events – 7

Our Vision for

Livable

Communities:

! Environmental

needs and the

availability of

public services

help set guidelines

and boundaries for

future growth;

! Development

occurs mostly in

existing urban

areas, instead of

on open space at

the edge of cities;

! Infill develop-

ment helps to

create vibrant

communities,

affordable

housing, and good

schools for

everyone.

However, cotton-farming giant J.G.

Boswell Co. has announced plans to build

an unincorporated community of more than

15,000 people on 36,000 acres it owns in

Yokohl Valley. This project would clearly

be inconsistent with the currently

envisioned general plan update, and we

understand that county planners will have a

December 6 workshop with the Board of

Supervisors to figure out how to address

large projects such as that planned by

Boswell.

Last May, the Group Executive

Committee held a very successful strategic

planning retreat in Three Rivers. Two

excellent facilitators were provided to us

from national Sierra Club; Ex Comm

members paid their own way. In the spirit

of thinking globally and acting locally, we

came away with the goal of working to

limit sprawl in our part of the valley and to

encourage smart growth. To this end, we

have been attending county general plan

update planning sessions and will provide

input as needed.

Two of the most important aspects

of limiting sprawl and encouraging smart

growth are reduced driving time and

preservation of open space and farmland.

Of course, reducing driving time reduces

use of petroleum, which in turn reduces

exhaust emissions which can have a

significant impact on valley air quality.

Continued on page two...

Mineral King Group – Visalia 559-739-8527 http://kernkaweah.sierraclub.org/mineralking/

The Group has had many

activities this year. Getting out into

nature is important to us all and we had

some great outings this year. (See article

below.)

Our recent film series has been

so successful that we are outgrowing our

Visalia venue. We would like to thank

Tazzaria Coffee and Tea for being great

hosts. We recently held a film screening

in Hanford at Art Works, which is a

great venue, and we plan on having more

Hanford events next year.

We are looking forward to

continuing to expand our events,

activities, and activism next year, but we

need your help. The Ex Comm is a small

group of dedicated members that make

things happen for the Mineral King

Group. We usually meet on the fourth

Monday of each month to plan our

activities and events. All members are

welcome to attend. In an effort to

increase member involvement, we are

now meeting at the Baker’s Square

restaurant in Visalia. Come have dinner,

meet some great people, and help steer

your local Sierra Club group in the

direction you think it should go.

Please check our group website

at:

http://kernkaweah.sierraclub.org/ mineralking/

for our current event calendar. You can

also sign up for our Mineral King

Group News email list at the website.

This is a great way to stay abreast of

Group activities and events.

Lastly, please send in your Ex

Comm ballot which is in this newsletter.

And remember, please think

twice before lighting up a wood fire.

Check to make sure there are no burn

restrictions. I hope that you and yours

have a great holiday and fabulous new

year!

2 of 8 Page

Year in Review (continued from page 1)

Our Outings Program

By Sharon Meckenstock, Outings Chair

Two years ago we resurrected

the Mineral King Group outings

program. The aim to date has been to

launch the program by offering at least

one scheduled outing every month

beginning in April and running through

September of each year.

Recalling the first year (2004)

,two hikes stand out. The Wildflower

Hike on the Muir Grove Trail in Sequoia

National Park in June with Pam Coz-Hill

as an accompanying botanist lecturer

(and also an accomplished photographer)

is memorable. There were 7 of us on

that hike, and we truly jelled as a group.

A sunny day with abundant wildflowers,

good company, and the magnificent

Sequoias standing waiting for us in a

cathedral-like grove soothed our weary

work-week minds and offered up many

moments of joy. We all decided to cap

this relaxing day by stopping for dinner

at Main Fork Bistro in Three Rivers.

The other outing occurred at the

coast at Montaña de Oro State Park near

Moro Bay. It was August and we hoped

for good weather. Well, if we had

ordered it ahead of time, the weather

could not have been better. With almost

no wind and lots of sunshine, we walked

the full length along the ocean's edge.

The sounds of the birds, the soft

ocean waves, and the smell of the sea

provided a senses with plenty to

enjoy.

In 2005 we decided to do the

six mile hike of The Trail of the

Sequoias. Funny thing about that hike.

The hiking book points out there is a 500

ft. elevation gain. But it left out that

anyone hiking that trail could expect to

make that gain at least twice if not three

times during the hike. Hmmm.

Continued on page 8 ....

3 of 8 Page

I am delighted delegates at the Sierra Club’s Sierra Summit

this past September in San

Francisco established “the creation

of vibrant healthy communities” as

the Club’s second highest national

priority.

If this worthy goal whets

your civic appetite as it does mine,

I recommend you read Suburban

Nation, the Rise of Sprawl and the

Decline of the American Dream

(ISBN 0-86547-606-3, North Point

Press, 2000).

As a lay person with no

training/education in urban

planning, I found that the authors,

Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-

Zyberk and Jeff Speck, guided me

through the history of events that

led to the decline of our cities and

the capricious waste of our

agricultural land and our wetlands.

While the authors point out

the gross errors of America’s city

planning since World War II, they

also provide the interventions

needed to re-create already

established cities as well as

guidelines needed to promote

healthy new cities.

As the authors discuss the

characteristics of livable cities, they

cite cities which exemplify those

features. After reading the book, I

am hungering to see my community

grow as a “traditional city” which the

authors explain is a community

where people can live, work, shop,

recreate, and participate in civic

affairs...a place where the car is not

“king.” Suburban Nation is a great

read for anyone wanting insights in

how to influence the future growth of

our communities.

Book Review: Suburban Nation

By Joanne Dudley, Mineral King Group Secretary

Recommended Policies:

1. Adopt Urban Growth boundaries.

2. Plan for high-quality in-fill and compact development.

3. Build affordable housing.

4. Require development to pay for public services.

5. Prepare open space and conservation plans.

6. Link land use and transportation decisions.

7. Grow within our means.

8. Adopt state and regional plans.

Sierra Club California’s

Guide to Building More Livable Communities

The Tulare County General Plan

Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)

met on Tuesday, November 7, 2005 to

discuss some crucial issues for all of us.

The purpose of this two-year old

committee is to oversee the county’s

General Plan update that will determine

the shape and direction of our county for

the next twenty years. The panel consists

of over 30 members that represent a wide

range of interests. Though the Sierra Club

is not represented on the panel, we want

to be monitoring the General Plan update

closely.

A planning consultant from

Berkeley was hired to create a basic

outline that has been presented to the

advisory committee for direction and

revision. A series of community forums

have also been offered to collect the

public’s input. All of that data was

collated and synthesized into a Power

Point program that was presented to the

Board of Supervisors and again to the

TAC committee.

Overall, the draft plan so far

appears to be rational and practical. But

something was missing.

Sierra Club hikers

brave the rain and

snow in Mineral

King, October, 2004

So I asked, what about Yokohl

Ranch? When would that be discussed?

Yokohl Ranch (also known as Boston

Ranch) is of course the proposed new

town development - to exceed 15,000

people - to be built on part of J.G.

Boswell’s 36,000 acre property in the

foothills near Badger Hill in Exeter. The

answer given was January because it was

presented to the Board only recently.

My question prompted a lively

discussion about how it would fit into this

General Plan update. Some members felt

that it ought to be a separate document

because of its magnitude. Others said that

it must be included because it would

impact the big picture of the future and

the plan would therefore have to consider

its effect.

Someone else asked the same

question of the recently announced

Earlimart proposal. This huge

development would, in short order,

possibly double the town’s population. I

think that will not be addressed until a

formal proposal has been submitted.

Follow the news and subscribe to

our Mineral King Group News email

list to see how this all plays out.

Page 4 of 8

Tulare County Planning Progresses on Crucial Issues

By Brian Newton

Page 5 of 8

Our Successful Film Program Draws Crowds!

By Cynthia Koval, Programs Chair

This year we are happy to have

introduced an environmental film

series, a first of sorts for Visalia, and

judging from the comments of

members and non-members alike, this

type of program was long overdue in

our community. It has been such a

success, that the two showings at the

Tazzaria coffee house in Visalia were

filled to capacity. A third film offered

in Hanford expanded our outreach to

that community.

The theme to date has been the

energy crisis. We began in June in

Visalia with powerful film, “Oil on

Ice,” visibly showing the impact oil

development would have on the Arctic

National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska,

and how readily substitutes to our gas-

guzzling ways can be found.

Our next film was a screening

of “The End of Suburbia”. This is a

though-provoking film depicting how

our society has evolved around the use

of cheap oil, and how drastically and

painfully everything will change once

we come to the turning point in supply

(often referred to as “Peak Oil”).

My personal favorite of the

three films so far is the unique and

breathtaking film called “Being

Caribou,” which was screened in

Hanford at the Art Works coffee

house October 21. This film,

produced by the National Film Board

of Canada, goes beyond the great

controversy surrounding the issue of

drilling for oil in the Artic, providing

close-up shots of the legendary

migration of the Great Porcupine

Caribou herd to the herd’s calving

grounds in Alaska’s Arctic National

Wildlife Refuge. If every member of

Congress would view this film, there

would be no contest…the Artic coastal

plains would remain in the wildlife

refuge for all time.

Keep posted. Check our

calendar below for our next film,

“Kilowatt Ours.” Meanwhile, if you

would like to borrow any of these

films for yourself or a group showing,

or if you would like to help in the

organizing of the film events, please

give Cynthia a call at (559) 303-1134.

Page 6 of 8

In November, the Sierra Club’s national Board of Directors approved

resolutions establishing conservation,

communications and internal priorities

for the next five years.

The three new Conservation

Initiatives are:

• Smart Energy Solutions

• Safe Clean Communities

• America's Wild Legacy.

182 Sierra Club entities,

including 39 Chapters and 116

Groups, were involved the structured

Direction Setting process. Thousands

of Sierra Club grass-roots leaders

participated in this process, including

your Mineral King Group. The two

top priorities the national BOD

identified were the same ones your

Mineral King Group Ex Comm

identified.

An unprecedented 765

delegates, along with 951 observers,

met at the SIERRA SUMMIT in

September and deliberated the pre-

Summit results and provided their own

recommendations and rankings.

To our knowledge, this is the

most extensive grass-roots

consultation process any environ-

mental organization has ever

conducted.

While some language changed

and some melding occurred, it is clear

that the rankings determined by

chapters, groups, national committees

and particularly Summit delegates

were not only respected but ratified as

strategically wise.

All of these resolutions were

adopted by the Board with a clear

understanding that the Sierra Club's

major challenge for the next several

years is not to influence short-term

environmental policy, but to shape

long term public sentiments and to

regain power for environmental

values. This is an agenda for

rebuilding our influence; we do not

expect to see major federal policy

shifts in the next few years.

The Board also said, “the

single most important goal of this

agenda will be to advance a smart,

safe, clean energy future in the next

decade.” Promoting new energy

solutions received three times as many

votes in the pre-Summit process as

any other conservation approach.

The Board adopted seven

short-term policy areas of national

concern to which the Club will

immediately devote its attention and

energy for the next year or two:

* Promote clean electricity,

renewables and efficiency.

* Reduce oil demand -- promote

efficient/clean cars and other

efficiency efforts.

* Stop the coal rush and clean up

existing coal plants and air pollution.

* Protect wildlife and habitats.

* Protect wild and special places.

* Protect water quality.

* Prevent energy leasing and

production on sensitive lands and

waters.

National Sierra Club Priorities Reflect Local Group Issues

By Carl Pope, National Executive Director,

and Harold Wood, Mineral King Group Vice-Chair.

Page 7 of 8

Sierra Club

Mineral King Group

Executive Committee Ballot – December 2005

There are five vacancies; please vote for no more than five candidates. Return ballot to:

P.O. Box 3543, Visalia, CA 93278. Each Club member has one vote, we’ve included two

ballots because of the high percentage of joint memberships. Write-ins welcome.

Please return your ballot, postmarked on or before December 31, 2005.

Voter #1

! Beverly Garcia

! Richard Garcia

! Cynthia Koval ! Kim Loeb

! Brian Newton

! ________________(write in)

Voter #2

! Beverly Garcia

! Richard Garcia

! Cynthia Koval ! Kim Loeb

! Brian Newton

! ________________(write in)

Volunteer Opportunities! The Mineral King Group is your local Sierra Club Group for Tulare County west of

Porterville, and for Kings County. It is governed by an “Executive Committee” see ballot above. But you don’t

have to be on the Ex Comm to volunteer! Please contact us if you’d like to help at any level! We are working to

make sure the Tulare County General Plan protects our environment, and to explore and enjoy our local mountains.

The Group ExComm meets the fourth Monday of the month. Any member is always welcome to attend. Ballots

will be counted and new officers elected at our next meeting, January 23, 2006.

Upcoming Events for Members

Dinner Socials in Visalia To R.S.V.P., contact Bev at (559) 732-3785

or gmachine@psnw.com.

January 11, 2006 – 6:00 p.m.

- Keo Thip Thai Restaurant, on Murray,

in Visalia.

February 8, 2006 – 6:00 p.m.

- Alejandra’s Mexican Restaurant on

Main Street, downtown Visalia.

March 8, 2006 – 6:00 p.m. - Joy Luck

Chinese, in Save Mart Shopping Center,

Akers & Walnut, Visalia.

January 30, 2006 - 5:30 p.m. - Dinner and

Ex Comm Meeting at Baker’s Square

Restaurant, Mooney Blvd., Visalia, all

members welcome.

January - TBA 2006 - We will be having

First Aid and CPR training to qualify for

leading outings. Contact: Joanne Dudley:

559-733-2078 or joanne.dudley@kernkaweah.sierraclub.org

January 27, 2006 - 7 p.m. –Film: “Kilowatt

Ours.” Learn how you can save hundreds of

dollars annually on energy bills – while

helping to combat asthma and global

warming. Free. Tazzaria Coffee House,

Visalia.

Please send us your e-mail address for periodic calendar and news

updates from the Mineral King Group.

E-mail your request to: harold.wood@sierraclub.org

SIERRA CLUB

MINERAL KING GROUP

P.O. Box 3543

Visalia, CA 93278

Sierra Club Mineral

King Group

P.O. Box 3543

Visalia, CA 93278 USA

Phone:

559-739-8527

Newsletter Editor:

harold.wood @sierraclub.org

Several of our Group

members volunteered at LeConte

Memorial Lodge in Yosemite last

summer! They found it to be a fun

experience, enabling Club members to

welcome visitors from all over the

world.

If you are interested in finding out

There were 7 of us again, and this time

the air was cool towards cold. And

the fog rolled in while we were out on

the hike, quite dense, I might add. But

this only added to the beauty of the

moment. The atmosphere was soft,

and since all one could see were the

trees and not much beyond, the huge

trees became even more impressive as

did the three waterfalls we crossed,

either under or over. This is what is

so wonderful about being out of doors

Outings (continued from page 2)

LeConte Memorial Lodge Volunteer Opportunities

We’re on the Web!

See us at:

http://kernkaweah. sierraclub.org/mineralking

in the woods. One never knows what

to expect, except it will always be a

different experience. We had other

enjoyable hikes last year and this

year, but the main thing is being out in

the wilderness, enjoying those

surroundings, appreciating the beauty

and being grateful for the

experience of having two National

Parks so close by. Come join us next year! We would love to have you!

if you have what it takes to volunteer at

LeConte Memorial Lodge for a week during

the 2006 season, see this web page:

http://www.sierraclub.org/education/ leconte/volunteering.asp

CONTACT:

Dr. Bonnie J. Gisel, Curator,

209 372-4542; 209 403-6676

leconte.curator@sierraclub.org

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