San Bernardino National Forest Association
Ohio native Sarah Miggins did a summer internship in Lake Tahoe, and on a whim visited the San Bernardino Mountains on her way home. They stopped her in her tracks. Today, Sarah is the Executive Director of the San Bernardino National Forest Association, one of the leading forest associations in the nation. She talks about her work with the Big Bear Discovery Center and the Children’s Forest, as well as hiking the high country of the San Bernardino range and making the mountains her home.
Carbon Nation Director Peter Byck
The importance isn’t whether you believe global warming, says Carbon Nation director Peter Byck, but what kind of solutions everyone can agree upon and move forward with to make the planet a cleaner and more energy efficient place. Taking an honest, often humorous look at global warming and the long-term effects of fossil fuel use, Carbon Nation features success stories of private citizens, communities and organizations moving forward with alternative energy applications.
Restoring Gettysburg Battlefield
The Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 was the turning point in the Civil War, but the battle’s legacy extends beyond military history, as Gettysburg National Military Park today preserves 4,000 acres of the battlefield and adjoining areas. Preservation of the Gettysburg battlefield began shortly after the battle ended, with a portion of East Cemetery Hill developed by the War Department into Gettysburg National Cemetery, where President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address four months after the battle at the cemetery’s dedication.
Jerry Schad’s Afoot and Afield Legacy
Before long, I was driving up fire roads on the Los Coyotes reservation near Warner Springs to the forests at the base of Hot Springs Mountain, only to be sideswiped by a view of the Salton Sea I will never forget, appearing like a giant mirage through the trees. I visited the oak groves of Oakoasis in Lakeside and was pleased to find such heavy tree wisdom so close to civilization, cared for as a county park. I walked along the headwaters of the wild Santa Margarita River on the backside of Camp Pendleton, and was calmed by its stillness and quiet.
A Century of Conservation At Muir Woods
Redwoods have a special place in western conservation culture. Along with being the tallest trees in the world, Redwoods are also some of the world’s most rot-resistant trees, and by virtue of their bark, size, and ecosystem, Redwoods are amazingly fire-resistant. Other than man, or the occasional well-placed windstorm, Redwoods have no natural enemies, and can thrive for hundreds if not thousands of years. Growing along a thin coastal band from Big Sur to the Oregon border, Redwoods once covered two million acres of the Northern California coast.
Fireworks Over La Jolla Cove
Environmental attorney Marco Gonzalez is the co-founder of the Coast Law Group and the Executive Director of CERF, the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation, and has been in the vanguard in the fight against fireworks displays over the beaches at La Jolla Cove. Mr. Gonzalez and his team have also been active in pointing out the willingness of elected officials, and even the pubic, to turn a blind eye to blatant violations of state and federal clean water and clean air laws.
Reconnecting Children to the Outdoors
A strange thing began happening about 20 years ago. Kids stopped going outside. With competition from electronic media and parents’ schedules growing increasingly busy with longer work hours, the volume of kids making time to go outside and play is now far smaller than it used to be. Over time, a misplaced culture of fear about the outdoors also began to take hold, the result of irresponsible media and, in some cases, hyperactive parenting. The outdoors began to be seen not as a place of wonder and experience and fun, but as a place of danger and threat.
Herger Amendment Would Lift Off-Road Vehicle Restrictions In National Forests
Named for Congressman Wally Herger, representing California’s 2nd District since 1987, this seemingly benign piece of legislative-speak attached to an otherwise crucial piece of defense legislation would “prohibit the use of funds to implement or enforce the Travel Management Rule, relating to the designation of roads, trails, and areas for motor vehicle use, in any administrative unit of the National Forest System.” The measure is intended to force the Forest Service to lift restrictions on off-road vehicle use in National Forests.
