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] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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