6th Annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival

For more info: www.buttecreek.org

Beyond Oil: Getting to Know the Campaign Webinar

Sierra Club activists and staff,

Please join the Beyond Oil Campaign team on July 19th from 8:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. ET (5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. PT) for the Beyond Oil: Getting to Know the Campaign Webinar! Some of you may be new to this campaign and issue; some of you may be long-time activists. We would like to share our team and plans with you, discuss opportunities to engage, and seek your input.

The Beyond Oil Campaign seeks a world where climate disruption is a fading threat, American soldiers are never again deployed to defend oil fields, and innovative green industries provide good jobs and supply 100% of our energy needs. Together, we'll fight in Washington and in local communities to create this world.

We will raise and defend strong fuel-efficiency and pollution standards, increase access to oil-free transportation choices, promote electric vehicles, move America's large fleets to fuel-efficient and electric vehicles, block tar sands and other dangerous oil projects, and revoke the oil industry's license to operate above the law and interfere with our transition to a clean energy future. Your involvement and leadership is critical. Please join this webinar to learn more and help plan this campaign's next steps.

Date: July 19th, 2012

Time: 8pm ET / 5pm PT

RSVP here.

Webinar Agenda:

Beyond Oil Campaign Presentation: (20 min)

· Critical Reasons to move Beyond Oil

· Real Solutions

· Sierra Club’s Campaign

Discussion: (40 min)

· Opportunities to Engage with Beyond Oil

· Q&A

· Wrap up & Next Steps

Once you’ve emailed us with your information, we will provide an accompanying PowerPoint and call-in information.

Best,

Michael Marx, Director, Beyond Oil Campaign

Darrell Clarke, Volunteer Co-Lead, Beyond Oil Campaign

Occupy our Forests: “Forests for the 99%, Not clearcutting for the 1%”

Ever wonder what happened to all the forests? Or asked yourself where have all the spotted owls gone?

California’s forests sustain thousands of jobs in the recreation and sustainable logging industries- but not if they are clearcut. For many years, private lands logging has been in the news and more people have become aware of the environmental impact of celarcutting. Sometimes the impacts are beneficial for instance; when fire and fuels are reduced or replenishment is necessary, yet sometimes private lands logging leads to mudslides, flooding, property damage, increased fire risk and loss of wildlife habitat.

Want to know how you can be involved in curtailing some of the abuses of
clearcutting?

Become a Timber Harvest Plan Tracker! Learn to use resources to find out where Timber Harvest Plans (THPs) are planned near your neighborhood. Learn about THPs and where to go, to visit private lands logging operations, so you can gather photos and help monitor impacts of clearcutting.

BEC and the Yahi Group of the Sierra Club are co-sponsoring a full day training with EPIC Industrial Forestry Reform Advocate, Rob DiPerna from Arcata on formal Timber Harvest Plan comments.

Please contact Skye at skyeli.peace.justice@gmail.com if you are interested in joining fellow advocates in saving our forests! We will announce a date and time once we have a full class. Class is FREE and open to the public however, donations are being accepted for trainer’s meals and bus fare.

For more about clearcutting please visit
http://www.stopclearcuttingcalifornia.org/ and
for more information on becoming a Timber Harvest Tracker you can visit
http://www.thptrackingcenter.org/

Paradise Irrigation District

The Paradise Irrigation District Wants You!

Join us for a FREE Rain or Shine Tour

Monday, April 9th, 2012

Learn about ways to improve our forests health!

9:00 a.m.

Meet

at the Paradise Seventh Day Adventist Church - 5720 Academy Drive Paradise, CA

9:15 – 11:00 a.m. Space is limited please RSVP!

Bus Tour to the Paradise Lake Picnic Area for a discussion about Forest Management options for areas surrounding Paradise Lake and Magalia reservoir

11:15 a.m. - 12:00 noon

(Paradise Seventh Day Adventist Church)Presentation/Public comment
on details of the Forest Assessment
Please join us for a no-host lunch following the presentation to further discuss the project at Cozy Diner 6371 Skyway Paradise, CA.

For more information or to RSVP contact the Butte County RCD (530) 534-0112 x 122 or bc-rcd@carcd.org

www.buttecountyrcd.org

Wildflowers of Table Mountain, A Naturalist’s View

Co-authors, Albin Bills and Samantha Mackey, and illustrator Larry Jansen, have just finished their completely revised and expanded version of Wildflowers of Table Mountain, A Naturalist’s View, which is now in full color.

Albin Bills has interviews on KCHO with Nancy's Bookshelf and In a North State Garden scheduled for the week of February 20th.

This weekend, Feb 18th and 19th, 2012 In a North State Garden features The Wildflowers of Table Mountain, A Naturalist's Guide - 2nd Edition (Color), an interview with author Albin Bills. 

Read this week's feature article at: http://jewellgarden.com/blog/.

Listen to the segment on Northstate Public Radio (KCHO 91.7 FM in Chico and KFPR 88.9 FM in Redding), Saturday at 7:34 am PST and again Sunday at 8:34 am PST. For additional fm translators: www.kcho.org/_main/translators.asp.

Don't receive the radio stations? Listen at the time of broadcast via live stream from your computer by following the link at www.jewellgarden.com. (Recorded interviews are archived as podcasts to jewellgarden.com a few weeks after the original air date.

Wildflowers of Table Mountain is available at Lyons Books in Chico.  Albin Bills will hold a book signing event at Lyon Books at 7PM on Thursday February 23 in Chico.

The book is also available for purchase through The Herbarium at Chico State University.  Print Order form: 
www.motherlode.sierraclub.org/yahi/newsletter/Wildflowers_of_Table_Mountain.pdf

Special Showing of “The Big Year”

Special Showing of “The Big Year”
* * * ONE WEEKEND ONLY * * *
 
Two special screenings of the film, The Big Year, are being offered at the Pageant Theater in Chico on Saturday, January 21 at 1:00 pm and Sunday, January 22 at 5:00 pm as a prelude to the upcoming Snow Goose Festival. This comedy stars Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson who portray friendly rivals dedicating a year of their lives to following their dream of seeing as many species of birds as possible in one calendar year. 
 
The Snow Goose Festival, a four-day event that celebrates the local and migratory waterfowl of the Northern Sacramento Valley, offers over 80 field trips, workshops and activities for birding and nature enthusiasts young and old. Special Guest and Keynote Speaker for the Festival, Greg Miller, is one of the famed birders featured in the book, The Big Yearby Mark Obmascik, and portrayed by Jack Black in the film.
 
Tickets are $5 at the door only. The Pageant Theater is located at 351 E. 6th Street in Chico. Please visit www.snowgoosefestival.org for more details or call the Snow Goose Festival office at (530) 345-1865.

Pacific Flyway Art Exhibit & Welcome Reception

Art & Nature Enthusiasts Invited to Attend
Uptown / Downtown Pacific Flyway Art Exhibit & Welcome Reception
 
January 12, 2012. Chico, CA.  The public is invited to the exciting Uptown/Downtown Pacific Flyway Art Exhibit and Welcome Reception on Friday, January 27, 2012 from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. This special evening is one of the featured events of the Snow Goose Festival and offers admirers of art and nature a chance to view artwork featuring wildlife and habitat along the Pacific Flyway. Works of 45 artists in a variety of media, including sculpture, clay, oils, watercolor, acrylics, mixed media, glass and photography will be shown and offered for sale.
 
The Uptown/Downtown Exhibit and Reception is housed at two Chico galleries: Avenue 9 Gallery, located at 180 E. 9thAve. and Chico Art Center, 450 Orange St., Suite 6. The Friday evening reception offers a chance to mix and mingle, admire art, meet the artists, and enjoy live music and refreshments. Leave your car behind and enjoy the courtesy trolley rides between the galleries every half hour.
Pre-registration admission is $10/adult, $5/youth. At the door, $5 additional.
 
Running January 26-29, the Snow Goose Festival, a four-day event that celebrates the local and migratory waterfowl of the Northern Sacramento Valley, offers over 80 field trips, workshops and activities for birding and nature enthusiasts young and old. Register for the Reception and other Festival events online at snowgoosefestival.org or call (530) 345-1865.

Kathleen Huber
Administration Assistant
Snow Goose Festival

Happy Holidays from the Snow Goose Festival

A Christmas Card from Rex Burress

 RIVER WATCHER

A TREE GROWS FOR CHRISTMAS

Rex Burress

Since more "American Made" live Christmas trees from tree farms are being recommended instead of the foreign-made artificial trees, I’ve been thinking about some Christmas tree adventures I have known.

The authentic-looking plastic trees were not perfected in 1940 Missouri country days, nor was there many tree farms, and in northern MO country where I lived, neither were there conifers in the woodlands. The only greenery that would qualify was the Eastern Red Cedar, and a small grove of 50-foot trees grew on our farm next to Floyd’s Timber.

When snows were on the ground, I kept a bird feeding station under those cozy boughs as part of my Missouri Nature Knight membership mission. Near Christmas day, Dad would go down with me as I pulled my sled through the snow, burdened with hay and seeds. We were out to cut a cedar branch to fashion into a Christmas tree, greenery that I proudly sledded back to the house. Sometimes two or three decorated branches would fill a corner, sufficient for Santa to place gifts. We had no fireplace, but he got in someway!

My Grandfolks lived in the Black Oak community where there wasn’t even a cedar tree, so they cut a little pinoak that had some brown leaves still hanging on, and strung some popcorn in the branches.

In speaking of the green value connected to conifers and tree farms, and the aid to the atmosphere those spiny leaves provide, I’m not sure where the oxygen came from in those midwestern hardwood forests where leafless trees and gray timbers dominate the winter. Air was there as I’ve lived to tell about it! I think it is an Earth of sharing the planetary environment, with winds spreading things around. Planetary plants and animals have been spread around, too.

In later years when my children were in that prime Christmas age, our tree was usually a Douglas fir from the store, but one time when living in the Mayacama Mountains, we went to the dense forest along the east canyon wall, followed deer trails to the hilltop into a dense grove of baby firs, and chose one. It was a difficult decision, and when it came to cutting the nominee, that was difficult, too! There’s something in the tree-lover against cutting a live tree.

The day in the woods was a memorable pre-Christmas day, even though there was no snow on the ground, as depicted in a tree-cutting snow-scene oil painting I gave to the Oroville Chamber. In that White Sulphur Springs canyon near St. Helena, the winter woods was cozy-green, enhanced by Douglas firs, live oaks, madrone, and a shelf of redwoods–all evergreens that sheltered mushrooms, lichens, and moss. There was an ever-flowing hot springs, too, that made you wonder what was underground.

We sat in the silent circle of redwoods and ate our lunch, fantasying about dwarfs and fairies that surely must live there in paradise. We always entered the wooded wonderland-flat shelf under an arched bay tree, crossing our heads three times while saying "Zingo," a ritual that imaginatively increased our ability to see something special, and left by the same path, repeating the appeal that forgave us for cutting one of THEIR trees!

I suppose Fairyland Springs, the acre of chain ferns in the crater basin, the everlasting Red Treasure Creek, and the trail to Zingo Tree are still there–at least they are alive in my mind after 35 years since that foray in the forest! Some things live forever in legend, even though trees come and go in the natural cycles of life, leaving behind their woody remnants, either to enrich the soil...or grace a home.

"The woods are full of dead and dying trees, yet needed for their beauty

to complete the beauty of the living."

–John Muir

"A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he

plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit."

–D. Elton Trueblood

13th Annual Snow Goose Festival of the Pacific Flyway

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!

Join us for our BIG YEAR at the 13th Annual Snow Goose Festival of the Pacific Flyway this coming January 26-29 in Chico, California. Register online today!

- Over 70 exciting field trips, including over 20 NEW excursions!

- Wide variety of informative indoor workshops & presentations

- Banquet featuring Keynote Speaker, Greg Miller, famed Big Year birder

- Pacific Flyway wildlife and habitat artwork featured at our Art Reception

- FREE EVENTS for all ages to enjoy...especially the kids!

Visit our website and register now for best availability.

Have a wonderful holiday season, and we'll see you in January!

The Snow Goose Festival Registration Team

www.snowgoosefestival.org

Sierra Club Donates Videos to Butte County Library

Sierra Club Yahi Group has donated a collection of video documentaries to the Butte county Library System.  The videos are listed by title in the catalogue and are available for free check out at all library branches in Chico, Oroville, Paradise, Gridley, Durham, and Biggs.  The Library web address  is www.buttecounty.net/bclibrary/.  Just click on catalogue - go to titles and select the title of interest.  If your local branch doesn't have an available copy, you can go online or call the branch to request the desired  DVD title be sent to you.

The videos in the collection are: 

Tapped How big business is working to privatize water throughout the world.

Flow More on the water industry and how corporations want to gain control of the earth’s fresh water.

The Eleventh Hour Created, produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio.Examines the state of the natural environment especially in relation to global warming.

Powerful What a sustainable energy-powered future may look like.

GASLAND The far reaching consequences to the environment and peoples lives made by the practice of fracking developed by Halliburton to retrieve natural gas.

Mother Caring for 7 Billion Why population growth still matters and what is hindering action to reduce it.

So come into any branch of the Butte County Library and check out a video or two.

Yahi Holiday Dinner

Saturday, December 10 - Yahi Holiday Dinner at Gooney Birds. Dinner tickets are 30$ each. We will have choice of Salmon, Chicken, Fettuccine, grilled vegetables, Rice, Garlic potatoes, two types of salad, non-alocholic drinks.
6-7, Drinks/Social, 7 PM Dinner/ Meeting.

For information and reservations, contact David McKinney 530- 566-1500
  or daviddryfly@comcast.net. 

Trails / Bikeway Plan

The Shasta College just opened another portion of the Trails connecting schools and points of interest around the city.  The Sacramento River Discovery Center's Thursday evening program on October 20th at 7 pm will feature Tom Orr of Shasta College, Scott Timboe of City of Red Bluff Planning, Randy Jero of Mendocino National Forest and Adam Hansen of Tehama County transportation in a discussion of where we are with the trails/bikeway plan and how can we as individuals and groups complete this project started so many years ago. Come bring your ideas.

 

The second part of this presentation will take place at the Thursday Evening Meeting on November 17th at the Farm Bureau building at 275 Sale Lane.

 

For more information about the Sacramento River Discovery Center please call Bobie at 527-1196 or e-mail her at bhughe1@tehamaed.org.  The Center is located at 1000 Sale Lane and features a demonstration garden with native and drought tolerant plants- currently the fall plants are in bloom.  The SRDC Plant Sale will be held November 5th from 9 am to 1 pm in the SRDC parking lot.

Bobie Hughes

A Sacramento River Float Trip

Saturday, November 5, 2011

The Sacramento River Preservation Trust (Trust) and Associated Students Adventure Outings (AO) are co-sponsoring a Sacramento River float on Saturday.  The float will cover 9 miles of the Sacramento River between Jellys Ferry and Bend just north of Red Bluff.  It will be an all day event from 8:00 am to approximately 5 pm. Before embarking Kelly Williams, Natural Area Manager for the Bureau of Land Management, will give a brief talk about the area.

Fall is a perfect time to experience this incredibly scenic stretch of river! Framed by rimrock canyon walls, this part of the Sacramento River is unknown to many due to its remoteness. Wildlife is abundant, with many migratory animals moving through the area at this time of the year. A number of raptor species are especially prevalent, including bald eagles and various members of the hawk family. This entire section of river is recognized by governmental agencies at both the state and federal level as having outstanding scenic, cultural, ecological and outdoor recreation values.  In short, this is a great place to spend a day on the River.

River guides, whitewater rafts and lifejackets are provided by AO.  Participants will start in Chico, meeting at the AO Equipment Warehouse.  Participants are asked to bring their own lunch.  The cost per person is $55 for Trust members and $65 for non-members, with TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED from Chico and back.  Due to AO requirements, only those adults (18 years of age and over) may register.

These trips will fill up quickly, and there is a limited amount of space. Please call the Trust to make a reservation and/or to learn more:  (530) 345-1865; email liz@sacrivertrust.org or visit our website at www.sacrivertrust.org.

Liz Gardner

Sacramento River Preservation Trust

P.O. Box 5366

Chico, CA 95927

P)530.345.1865

F) 530.899.5105

www.sacrivertrust.org

liz@sacrivertrust.org

The San Francisco Mime Troupe

The San Francisco Mime Troupe at the historic Nevada Theater on Thursday, September 8 and Friday, September 9.

Paul Emery Presents For Immediate Release Contact: paulemerymusic@yahoo.com

           

The San Francisco Mime Troupe At the historical Nevada Theatre  401 Broad Sreet in Nevada City. Two Shows: September 8 & September 9      Serving up theatre, comedy, music and political satire  In a thought provoking and extraordinary fun show.    2012 - The Musical

TICKETS: All seats $20 - general admission  Live music will be playing   7:00 - 7:30 pm on both nights. Tickets available at:         Yabobo - 530-478-9114         Briar Patch - 530-272-5333         The Book Seller - 530-272-2131         Cherry Records - 530-823-2147         Brown Paper Tickets - 800-838-3006         Online at www.paulemerymusic.com For more information:                   (530) 478-1974   paulemerymusic@yahoo.com  www.paulemerymusic.com

ABOUT THE SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE  The annual performance of the San Francisco Mime Troupe has become a tradition in Nevada County which started  around 1990 with a performance in Pioneer Park.  Since then they have performed at the Miners Foundry, Center for the Arts, North Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural Center  and Gold Run School before settling in top their current home, the Historic Nevada Theatre.  A typical season for the Troupe includes performing in public parks in the the San Francisco Bay Area and theaters throughout California.  "It's like the circus coming to town." says Paul Emery who has been producing the show since 2000.  " Every year they arrive with a truckload of staging and costumes and we meet them with a crew of volunteers and transform wherever they are performing into a Mime Troupe stage.  The show is always new and the music is fantastic.  The Nevada Theatre is a great venue for them with great sound and seating.

5th Annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival

5^th Annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival

Friday, September 16, 2011

Sierra Nevada Brewery Big Room

Fifth Annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival, Films to Change Your World is a benefit for Friends of Butte Creek.

The evening will begin with live music & entertainment by Gordy Ohlinger, "The Mark Twain of the banjo world". He was recently featured in the PBS show, America's Banjo: A Musical History. His music is a "humorous mix of history and American popular songs, 1800 to 1940". Gordy has formed a trio of multi-talented and local musicians who will share their wonderful sounds of swing, blue grass, and Americana.

The Sierra Nevada Brewerey's buffet menu will include delicious food chosen from Chico's Certified Farmers' Market. The evening will also have a fabulous silent auction with many of these items donated by local artisans, as well as a free drawing.

Six films will be shown - ranging in length from 4 min., to 45 min. All films have been aptly selected from the South Yuba River Citizen's League very own Wild & Scenic Film Festival shown in January 2011.

Included in the evening’s line-up is: The Incident at Tower 37 and is just one of the six films chosen for this year’s Festival. Although animated, this fable about water and how we use it is timely with parallels to the North State.

The Incident at Tower 37

In the middle of a dry, desolate landscape stands Tower 37 siphoning every last drop of water from a once pristine lake. Day in and day out the station's lone steward monitors the tower's activities, never realizing that Tower 37 is slowly destroying an entire ecosystem. Best Animation, Humboldt FF; Best in Show, Motion FF; Best Animated Short Film, Sonoma Intl Film Festival.

Friends of Butte Creek works to raise awareness and to provide protection for the future of the “Last Best Run of Spring Chinook Salmon in California”.

The festival doors open at 5pm, Friday, September 16^th at the Sierra Nevada Big Room.  Buy your tickets at Pure Skin,
136 W. 3rd St. in downtown Chico or online at www.buttecreek.org .

Advance / Door Film & Buffet Ticket Prices:

Films Only: Advance Adult $15 / $20 Door                    Film & Buffet: Advance Adult $30 / $35 Door

Films Only: Advance Youth $8 / $12 Door                     Film & Buffet: Advance Youth $22 / $28 Door

For more information please visit: www.buttecreek.org 

Contact: Pamela Posey

530.893.0360

Pamela@buttecreek.org

26th Annual California Indian Conference October 27-30, 2011

http://rce.csuchico.edu/conferences/2011-california-indian-conference/

The California Indian Conference is an annual event for the exchange of perspectives and knowledge concerning the first peoples of the place now known as California, past to present.

The California Indian Conference (CIC), inaugurated at UC Berkeley in 1985, is committed to the sharing and exchange of knowledge, scholarship, and issues of importance related to California Indians, past to present. The conference also supports the promotion of excellence in collaborative, multidisciplinary, cutting-edge scholarship in Native American Studies, anthropology, history, social and environmental sciences, and other disciplines.
The CIC brings together California Indians, academics, tribal scholars, educators, and students with representatives of public agencies and institutions, tribal communities and organizations, and the general public.  Anyone interested in California Indians past to present is encouraged to attend this landmark conference.

For more information, visit:  http://rce.csuchico.edu/conferences/2011-california-indian-conference/

Save Our State Parks: Don't Let Our State Parks Become Just a Memory

Earlier this afternoon, CSPF launched a Weekend of Action campaign:  “Don’t Let Our State Parks Become Just a Memory”.  During this holiday weekend, we will be asking park users to visit our website and help us gather a collection of state park memories and photographs that we will be delivering to legislators during a Save Our State Parks event in June (look for more information about this event next week!).

 We would greatly appreciate your help in getting information about this weekend of action out to your members and partners.  We are hoping to be able to deliver a powerful message to policymakers- and the more participation from park users the better!

 You can access the weekend of action at http://www.calparks.org/takeaction/sosweekend/memories/  .

Please help us gather as many “memories” as possible by forwarding this link to your networks and sharing via social media!

 Sincerely,

Linsey Fredenburg-Humes
Grassroots Manager
California State Parks Foundation
ph. 916-442-2119
fax 916-442-2809
www.calparks.org

SOS Campaign

The Save Our State Parks (SOS) Campaign is a statewide, grassroots campaign to keep California’s magnificent state parks open. In partnership with organizations, businesses, local governments, and individuals around the state, the California State Parks Foundation is leading SOS Campaign activities and generating awareness and action about these unacceptable budget proposals.

Coming Clean: No Species Is an Island

from:  Coming Clean:  the blog of Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune
May 20, 2011

For several years now, the U.S. Senate has proclaimed the third Friday in May to be Endangered Species Day. This year, the day has extra significance. The Endangered Species Act (the only thing standing between countless species and extinction) has come under unprecedented attack.

That attack is happening in spite of broad public support for protecting species -- a recent poll found that 84 percent of Americans are in favor of the Endangered Species Act. And we've got good reasons for feeling that way. Of course there's the obvious moral principle that animals and plants shouldn't be consigned to oblivion for no reason other than human carelessness or callousness. But it's more than that. To paraphrase John Donne, "No species is an island." Humans, too, depend on biodiversity and the richness of the web of life. Aldo Leopold, compared the loss of species to "throwing away, one-by-one, the engine parts of an airplane while flying."

What's more, the airplane's facing some serious turbulence. All living things -- including humans -- face new and daunting challenges in a world where the climate has been disrupted. Habitats are shifting and pressures on species are increasing. You can't preserve that web of life without also protecting the places it lives. We might think we're protecting habitat for this or that creature -- but in truth we're doing it for all living things, not least ourselves. That's the basis for the Sierra Club's Resilient Habitats campaign, which is working to protect places where plants, animals, and people can survive and thrive.

So, basically, we need a strong Endangered Species Act now more than ever. Unfortunately, that's not the way things have been headed lately, and the reasons are political.

The Fish and Wildlife Service requested $24.6 million for its endangered species listing program in 2012. In federal budget terms, that's a blip in the balance sheet. The FWS knows perfectly well that it's not enough money to do even the work that's required by law -- a huge backlog of species are waiting to be evaluated for protection -- but no one's willing to ask for enough to really get the job done. "Not politically feasible."

Even more troubling was this year's injection of politics directly into the Endangered Species Act when Congress approved a budget that, at the last minute, removed gray wolves in the Northern Rockies from the Endangered Species List in every state except Wyoming. Never before have politicians interfered to decide the fate of a particular species -- giving a thumbs-down like a Roman emperor at the Coliseum.

The Endangered Species Act works because it relies on sound, science-based management -- free from political interference. That's common sense, which is why 92 percent of Americans polled agree that decisions about wildlife management should be made by scientists, not politicians. That politics intruded anyway is tragic for the wolves and a serious blow to the integrity of one of our bedrock environmental laws.

Enough doom and gloom, though. For today, let's take a moment to celebrate the Endangered Species Act for its many successes during the past four decades. Here's to the bald eagle, whooping cranes, gray whales, grizzly bears, and other species that have made gains or even recovered. My wish for Endangered Species Day is that the thousands of species that are still waiting for protection will have similar success before it's too late.

And for the rest of the year: Let's work to ensure that the Endangered Species Act itself survives as well.

What do you think? Please let us know by commenting at: http://sierraclub.typepad.com/michaelbrune/2011/05/endangered-species-day.html

Youth at SRDC Watershed Celebration

Saturday May 14th the Sacramento River Discovery Center “Celebrate the River” event from 9 am to 1 pm under “the old oak tree” in the Discovery Garden there will be more things for kids to do this year.  The Boy Scouts will start the event with a flag ceremony and after that it will be “their” time.  The Tehama County sheriff office will have a k-9 unit for people to meet and will also be sharing some boating safety tips.  The Red Bluff Fire department will have an engine for the young to climb on and learn the importance of preventing fires.  There will be an animal petting area where young people can come eye to eye with animals with very soft fur.  There will be visits from Frank & Frances Fish, Smokey Bear and maybe even something with real wings and feathers . There will also be information on the Summer Camps program being led by Zach Whitten again this year. So you can see that there a great many free activities designed to let the young have fun while still learning.  

The adults will also have opportunities to learn and have fun.  The Red Bluff Art Association will have a display and some local crafters will tables.  There will be a variety of food offered by the High School Interns, the Twilford family and Girl Scouts. New this year from 11 am to 1 pm will be tasting of wine-cheese and other adult items.  There will be a Silent Auction table with items to bid on for home and garden.  The Greenhouse will be open and the interns will be selling native and drought tolerant plants for only $5 a pot.

There will be lots to see an do for the whole family Saturday May 14^h at the Mendocino National Forest’s Red Bluff Recreation Area located at 1000 Sale Lane.  For more information about the activities you can call 527-1196 Tuesday through Saturday 11 am to 4 pm, or e-mail ccramer@tehama.k12.ca.us or check the website www.srdc.tehama.k12.ca.us. 

Photo Caption: The Celebration of the River on Saturday May 14^th will be extra special for the young.

Bobie Hughes
Volunteer Public Relations Coordinator
Sacramento River Discovery Center
1000 Sale Lane
Red Bluff, CA 96080
530-527-1196bhughe1@tehama.k12.ca.us or bobie@clearwire.net
www.srdc.tehama.k12.ca.us