Iowa Sierrans,

I will highlight a few of the programs from the Council meeting Thursday
thru Saturday of last week and will try to get more minutes or reports
when I get unpacked.

Sierra Club Election Reform and conservation priority campaigns were the
two most debated topics.  The interim report from the Election Reform
Taskforce is available with some specifics open to comment.  Most
comments were about years of service to the club.

The Iowa Chapter conference call vote last Tuesday set me up to compose
a resolution concerning the decreased funding of the priority
conservation campaigns.  Chapter delegates roundly attacked many of the
priority setting statements from the proposition posted by Director
Zaleha in August although many others had not even seen this top-down
proposal on funding. In the end we passed overwhelmingly a general
statement in opposition to the Proposition.  Clyde Hanson flew in on his
own resources to speak to the Council and to lobby directors.  

Barb Frank, Ken Midkiff, and many others from the Missouri River Basin
met with Bruce Hamilton (director of conservation), Bob Bingaman (field
director), and  Larry Mehlhoff to request staff resources to deal with
Mississippi and Missouri River issues.  We need to get chapters to
determine that these rivers are a regional priority and present a
"gameplan" for dealing with them.  Most conservation resources ($7
million)next year will be supporting the Building Environmental
Communities program that is taking over from EPEC.   

The new Sierra Summit will take place in early September next year in
SAN FRANCISCO. Out of the 8-10,000 expected to attend, 1000 delegates
from across the country will be involved in priority setting and
strategic planning.

Monumental, a movie about the crusades of David Brower (Sierra Club's
first  executive Director, was shown Thursday night.  It is an excellent
movie using old footage. Our chapters and groups could use it to raise
funds and attract new members.

More later.

Jim

Jim Redmond
Professor of English
Briar Cliff University
712-279-5544
[log in to unmask]

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