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 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Make your voice heard! Find out how to get Take Action Alerts and other important Sierra Club messages by email at: http://www.sierraclub.org/email