Friends,

As we sail further into 2004 and commemorate the Lewis and Clark
exploration of the Missouri River basin, a Sierra Club group is forming
a taskforce to unify and empower the Sierra Club in addressing
environmental issues along the River.  See the description below.  If
you are interested in representing Iowa at the upcoming meeting in Omaha
April 3, please email me directly (do not reply to the Topics listserv
message).



Jim Redmond
Briar Cliff University
[log in to unmask]
3303 Rebecca St.
Sioux City IA 51104
712-279-5544
712-258-8303 home

On January 16, 2004, a few Sierra Club leaders* from Iowa, Nebraska and
South Dakota met in Vermillion SD to discuss the possibility of forming
a Missouri River Basin Organization.  Most of them had attended the
successful 2001 Omaha meeting, organized by Ken Midkiff, to formulate
Club river policies.  At that meeting participants agreed upon
twenty-three provisional guides for river activists.  One provision
called for the formation of a Sierra Club river organization.  We
enthusiastically endorsed that provision.  We need to organize to
promote information flow and coordinated activity among chapters along
the river. 

Positive input from the Lewis and Clark Task Force and from individual
Sierra Club members in Missouri, Kansas and North Dakota also promoted
this enthusiasm.  It is tempered by the enormity of the task.
Conservation biologists recognize three ecoregions within the basin
tributaries.  The Sierra Club organization has established three Field
Offices, three Regional Conservation Committees, and seven chapters
along the river. 

We want to bring all of the basin science and all of the Missouri River
activists into the organization.  We will have our next meeting in
Omaha, on April 3, 2004.  We intend to review the twenty-three river
positions adopted in Omaha.  We will receive input from Larry Hesse, a
highly respected Missouri River biologist.  He was a member of the
National Research Council's Committee on Missouri River Ecosystem
Science. That committee prepared the Council's report "The Missouri
River Ecosystem: Exploring the Prospects for Recovery.  Chad Smith, from
American Rivers, will update the activists and present his view of how a
Sierra basin organization could promote successful river advocacy.  

We will need your assistance!  We seek your ideas and advice.  This
first meeting must be successful if the Sierra Club is going to have a
major impact on river recovery. It should result in an evolving
organizational plan, a communication strategy, and enthusiastic
activists desiring cooperative efforts along the river.  Of course we
hope you will attend the meeting.  Can we count on your chapter to
provide travel support for at least three chapter members?  Could you
supply us with names and email addresses of river activist you believe
we need to notify about our April meeting?  We hope that you will join
us in this endeavor.

Sincerely,
Jim Heisinger, Chair, Living River Group
Jim Redmond, Chair, Northwest Iowa Group
*Others attending the meeting on January 16: South Dakota: John
Davidson, Dean Spader, Vikki Fix and Deanna White (Staff)
Nebraska: Clyde Anderson, Dick Boyd, Karen Rock, Buffalo Bruce and Glen
Murray

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