Treehuggers International » Show Episodes

Because Old Packs Never Die

tommy — Sun, 30 May 2010 19:37:54 +0000

Giving New Life to Old Gear: Adventure 16 and the Donate-A-Pack Foundation

John D. Mead and 13,149 ft. Mt. Ritter, Ansel Adams Wilderness.

“Our ultimate goal is to help young people learn outdoor skills and foster an appreciation for the natural environment, while understanding such exposure helps develop responsible, healthy, confident, and enlightened adults who, in turn, will pass on their meaningful experiences and good values to the next generation.”

- from the Donate-A-Pack Mission statement

Everyone knows if you’re heading into the backcountry on a wilderness trip or backpacking adventure, there are a few choice pieces of gear you absolutely need, even beyond the 10 Essentials. Unless you’re embarking on all but the most modest of day hikes, you’ll need some kind of a pack, and even day hikers find a small pack a handy place to store extra water, food, and perhaps a change of shirt or extra socks.

Backpackers clearly need a few additional items for their outings, and boots, a tent, and a sleeping bag, along with a good backpack are essential. New, ultra-light backpacking technology has become a more comfortable way for many to experience the great outdoors, but the gear doesn’t exactly come cheap, and while good buys on basic gear can be found at military surplus outlets or stores which specialize in hunting, it can be difficult for the novice outdoorsman to get around basic gear necessities for safe and fun outdoor recreation without some investment.

While dozens of organizations like the Boy Scouts, Sierra Club, and similar outdoor exploration and stewardship clubs offer an excellent framework for children to learn safe and responsible wilderness travel, parents aren’t always in a position to spend on a child’s outdoor gear when more basic needs like food, shelter, and education are pressing, especially in the current economic climate.

A former Boy Scout himself, Adventure 16 President John D. Mead recognized this need during one of the outdoor outfitter’s annual gear swap meets, and with the help of outdoor colleague and American Hiking Society volunteer David MacDonald, founded the Donate-A-Pack program in 1997. Within a matter of months Donate-A-Pack had donated some $6,000 worth of gear to youth-focused outdoor organizations.

The Donate-A-Pack program particularly makes it a point to assist outlets which work with at-risk or underprivileged youth, like the Adventure Nature Camp, Destiny Education, Outward Bound, and Big City Mountaineers, all of which give troubled and inner-city kids, many of whom have never had an outdoor experience, a chance to learn outdoor skills as a means of developing confidence and becoming aware of experiences beyond a broken home or unsafe communities.

By providing access to overstock items and used gear from Adventure 16 customers, much of it in pristine condition, the Donate-A-Pack program has also been integral to the success of organizations like the Foundation for the Junior Blind, which offers hiking and camping experiences for visually impaired young people, and Camp Laurel, a Pasadena-area camp which gives children living with HIV and AIDS opportunities to enjoy the outdoors.

Both John D. Mead and David MacDonald join Tommy for this special edition of Treehuggers International.

(program originally broadcast June 22, 2008)

At the 2007 Earth Fair celebration at San Diego's Balboa Park.

The Ceiling of Southern California and the San Bernardino National Forest Association

tommy — Thu, 06 May 2010 18:04:40 +0000

Mt. San Gorgonio presides over the high country of the San Bernardino Mountains.

Creation of the Forest Reserve

By 1891, President Benjamin Harrison had been receiving word from conservationists and timber merchants alike, warning of the rapid denuding of forests on federal land. Once thought to be an inexhaustible supply of timber, by the 1890s the American west was in a full-on timber frenzy which still had not reached its peak, but was already in danger of wiping out the last stands of virgin timber by way of unregulated logging and related resource extraction.

Along the trail to Grout Bay, near Big Bear.

To combat what President Harrison saw as a rash of wild west logging by private enterprises illegally poaching big timber off federal land, then under the auspices of the federal Division of Forestry (a precursor to the U.S. Forest Service), the Forest Reserve Act of 1891 was passed, creating the first federally-designated areas ever set aside specifically for conservation management.

Federal timberlands in Southern California were the first to receive protection, with the San Gabriel Forest Reserve established in 1892, followed by the San Bernardino Forest Reserve in 1893.

Under the direction of forester Gifford Pinchot, the U.S. Forest Service was created in 1907, and with the new management came a desire to streamline. The “old” San Bernardino Forest Reserve, along with the Santa Barbara Forest Reserve to the north, were both rolled into the adjoining Angeles National Forest. This state of management, however, rapidly became cumbersome, and by 1925 Southern California forest areas were again incorporated into separate federal entities, as portions of the Angeles were spun off into the newly-designated Cleveland National Forest to the south, and into the re-birth of what is now the modern-day San Bernardino National Forest.

Today the forest encompasses the bulk of three colossal Southern California mountain ranges: the San Bernardino, San Jacinto, and Santa Rosa mountains, with the urbanized areas of the Coachella Valley and Banning Pass bisecting the forest’s three ranger districts.

The San Bernardino Mountains lie to the north of Banning Pass, part of the larger east-west trending Transverse Ranges, while the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa mountains lie to the south of Banning Pass, marking the northernmost bulwark of the north-south trending Peninsular Ranges, a mountainous backbone which runs from Southern California down the length of the Baja peninsula. Covering some 670,000 acres, the San Bernardino National Forest contains not just typical California chaparral and forest environments, but harsh desert climates climbing to the highest alpine summits in Southern California, including 11,503 ft. Mt. San Gorgonio, and 10,834 ft. Mt. San Jacinto.

The fire lookout atop 8,435 ft. Butler Peak, Big Bear Ranger District.

The Need for Associations and Partnerships

Today, we find ourselves living in an era where cut to the bone budgets are the norm for the Forest Service and related agencies, coming at a moment in our nation’s history when recreation and overall use of National Forests is exploding.

With the increase in recreational use of National Forests, the Forest Service is tasked with more duties than ever, and with dwindling staffs and key Forest Service positions left unfilled once those personnel move on or retire, it has grown more and more difficult for National Forests to handle not only traditional, expected duties like fire-suppression, trail maintenance, upkeep of facilities and historical resources, but enforcing Forest Service guidelines and policing areas experiencing damaging misuse or neglect.

Like a growing number of National Forests around the country, the San Bernardino National Forest is assisted in their mission by the San Bernardino National Forest Association, which complements their efforts of hazardous fuels reduction and watershed recovery by bringing in volunteer forces and associated funding to help with restoration, capital projects, and other initiatives.

In addition to help staffing and maintaining facilities like the Big Bear Discovery Center and the National Children’s Forest, the association also works with Forest Service botanists and biologists, and brings in the all-important armies of volunteers from around the community to help with projects, freeing up Forest Service personnel to focus on more pressing duties.

Sarah Miggins is the Executive Director of San Bernardino National Forest Association, and first appeared on Treehuggers International in July 2008 in an episode which has been one of the most frequently revised of the series. One of the inaugural group of Treehuggers International friends, we’re excited to have the San Bernardino National Forest Association back on the show, and are delighted to welcome Alison Bates, the Deputy Director of the San Bernardino National Forest Association, and Jen McGeehan, the retail manager and buyer for the association.

Along the Pacific Crest Trail in the San Bernardino Mountains

Fresh Wilderness and Wild and Scenic River Opportunities In the Golden State

tommy — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 08:02:59 +0000

Rocky outcrop near the Mt. Waterman summit, San Gabriel Mountains.

It’s an exciting time for wilderness and outdoor advocates in Southern California, as three different conservation initiatives are underway in the southern half of the Golden State, including wild areas in the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County, a pair of remote locales in northern San Diego County, and a vast expanse of currently unprotected land in the Mojave Desert, including multiple wilderness expansion proposals, numerous Wild and Scenic River designations, and two new National Monuments.

On this edition of Treehuggers International, Daniel Rossman from the Wilderness Society’s Los Angeles office, and Steve Evans, the Conservation Director from Sacramento-based Friends of the River, talk about the remarkable amount of conservation opportunities already underway in Southern California, and those under consideration.

San Gabriel Mountains

Pitch leaks from a freshly cut limb.

Led by the Wilderness Society, Friends of the River, the Sierra Club and other organizations in the San Gabriel Mountains Forever coalition, the current San Gabriels plan calls for additions to the range’s three established wilderness areas: the Sheep Mountain, Cucamonga, and San Gabriel Wilderness in the Angeles and San Bernardino National Forests.

Significant Wild and Scenic River designation is also being proposed on the San Gabriel River’s East, North, and West forks, as well as Lytle Creek, Little Rock Creek (on the range’s north side), and San Antonio Creek, including San Antonio Falls, located along one of the proposed additions to the Sheep Mountain Wilderness near Baldy Notch.

Also, with the extraordinary and still-growing recreation use of the area, a plan is being proposed for a new San Gabriel Mountains National Recreation Area in conjunction with the National Park Service.

The park service has already done a feasibility study on the possibility of a National Recreation Area, which would be especially valuable to lower income and ethnically diverse areas at the base of the range. Currently, the Wilderness and Wild and Scenic package needs the support of Congressman David Dreier from California’s 26th district in order to get aboard “the legislative train.”

2010 California Desert Protection Act

Backed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Desert Protection Act is of significant size, and would include the proposed Sand-to-Snow National Monument, rising from the western end of Joshua Tree National Park into the forested high country of the San Bernardino Mountains, and includes one of several proposed Wild and Scenic River designations in the area for the Whitewater River, which flows through the proposed monument’s length into the Coachella Valley basin.

To the north, the proposed Mojave Trails National Monument would protect wild and historic locales along both sides of historic U.S. Rt. 66, along with a sizable chunk of the Mojave Desert west of the Mojave National Preserve, and another sizable area west of the Arizona state line near the Colorado River and Needles. Several proposed wilderness areas are also part of the package, and would provide an opportunity to enhance wildlife corridors between Death Valley National Park, the U.S. Army’s Fort Irwin, and Mojave National Preserve.

An upcoming show featuring David Lamfrom from the National Parks Conservation Association will go into more detail about this proposal, one of the largest land management initiatives ever undertaken in the lower 48 states.

Northern San Diego County

Springtime flowers in oak woodland country.

We at Treehuggers International were pleased to learn Congressman Darrell Issa, who represents California’s 49th District in San Diego’s inland North County, had introduced legislation in December to expand the current Agua Tibia and Beauty Mountain Wilderness areas in Riverside County into adjoining wild areas in his district in San Diego County.

Passage of the bill will add 7,796 acres to the Agua Tibia Wilderness and 13,635 acres to the Beauty Mountain Wilderness, originally established by Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack and Sen. Barbara Boxer in the California Desert and Mountain Heritage Act.

Crisscrossed by canyons with oak woodland and chaparral-covered slopes, the areas are intensely rugged and heavily bouldered, with the Cutca Trail marking the main human passageway through the region. As has become the case with recent wilderness proposals in areas with private property patchworked into public land, the legislation allows for the continued use of a popular campground at the end of a pre-exisiting road “cherry stemmed” into the wilderness, and will also permit a corral along the edge of the Beauty Mountain Wilderness boundary.

Another modern wilderness concession is an allowance for mechanized firefighting efforts in the areas, though the Agua Tibia Wilderness in particular has already burned four times since the late 80s, most recently in the Poomacha Fire in October 2007. Several proposed Wild and Scenic River designations are also being considered as part of the overall legislative package, including the upper Santa Margarita River (before it flows into Camp Pendleton) and the San Diego River Gorge.

For more information on these ongoing initiatives, contact the Wilderness Society’s Los Angeles office at (213) 514-4030, or Friends of the River in Sacramento at (916) 442-3155.

Rugged vistas of the San Gabriel high country abound along the trail to Chilao and Twin Peaks.

Pro Peninsula Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival

tommy — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 23:53:59 +0000

Pro Peninsula volunteer Rachel Tuck makes friends with a gray whale.

Screenings are March 23rd and March 25th from 7:00 to 9:00 pm at the Ultra Star Cinema at Hazard Center, located in San Diego’s Mission Valley.

Treehuggers International is thrilled to be on board for the second year in a row as the media sponsor for the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival, presented locally in San Diego by Pro Peninsula.

A fund within the larger Ocean Foundation, Pro Peninsula was created in 2001 by Kama Dean and Chris Pesenti to strengthen efforts protecting the natural environment of Baja California, and in particular, reaching out to fishing communities along the length of the peninsula about the need to protect endangered sea turtle populations and safeguard the seasonal passage of gray whales along the Pacific coast.

While still largely wild, Baja California faces particular threats to its unique environments, and the need remains for strong environmental advocacy to promote social awareness and environmental participation, while promoting sustainable development alternatives. Working with local communities and a pool of local fishermen and citizens, Pro Peninsula continues to advance the cause of ocean conservation along the Baja coast, and whereas 10 years ago there were only two similar environmental organizations active in Baja, today there are near 30.

Stopping by Treehuggers International to talk about this year’s Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival is Giuliana Schroeder, the Communications and Marketing Manager for Pro Peninsula; and a long-time Pro Peninsula volunteer, naturalist, ocean enthusiast, and co-emcee of this year’s Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival, Rachel Tuck.

This year the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival moves to the Ultra Star Cinemas at Hazard Center in San Diego’s Mission Valley, located along the San Diego River just steps from the San Diego Trolley’s Hazard Center stop, and instead of one night of films, the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival has grown to two nights: March 23rd and March 25th. Screenings run from 7:00 to 9:00 pm, and are $15 per night, or both nights for $25. VIP packages are also available in conjunction with Point Loma Outfitting, at $30 for one night or $50 for both nights.

(originally posted March 6th)

Julio Solas releases a marker off the Baja coast as part of sea turtle monitoring efforts.

New Surfrider Film Illustrates Cross Purposes of Water Agencies

tommy — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:31:31 +0000

Due to a high volume of interest, RSVP at water@surfridersd.org to attend free screenings of The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water at The Loft at UCSD on Monday March 22nd.

Along with the film’s producers, narrator Zuliekha Robinson will be in attendance.

Spring runoff along Big Rock Creek, San Gabriel Mountains.

With World Water Day coming up on Monday, March 22nd, it’s a good time to think about the myriad of directions water agencies tend to go, with some agencies charged with the task of bringing water to thirsty Southern California, while others are charged with the task of flood control, flushing any rainwater the region may receive into the ocean as quickly as possible.

It’s not counter-intuitive to take a step back and ask why these agencies’ goals aren’t more in tandem. When rainwater falls in Southern California or a similarly dry climate, it would make as much sense to keep more than just what winds up in reservoirs and use it, rather than expel the rainwater into the sea, only to pull it from the ocean again in the form of a desalination plant, thereby burning more fossil fuels to extract the same fresh water which was just flushed away.

Enter The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water, a new, animated film produced by a team of activists from different chapters of the Surfrider Foundation, narrated by actress Zuleikha Robinson, and with Surfrider San Diego member and Know Your H20 co-chair Belinda Smith at the helm as Executive Producer.

As part of Surfrider’s new Ocean Friendly Gardens campaign, The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water discusses how the current management of our water supply runs counter to grade-school lessons about the water cycle, highlights controversial problems and solutions related to water management, and serves as a practical, good sense-driven outline for individuals curious about water issues.

And from one cycle of insanity to another, there remains Governor Schwarzenegger’s ongoing scheme to remove California State Parks from the state’s general fund, and instead fund the operation of all 278 state parks (and several other starving state institutions, including the U.C. and Cal. State systems) from oil revenues collected from a long-delayed, highly-controversial, twice-rejected offshore drilling plan along the Tranquillon Ridge in the Santa Barbara Channel.

In conjunction with the California State Parks Foundation, Treehuggers International was recently in Sacramento for Parks Advocacy Day actively lobbying against such a move, and pressing state legislators for support of the Parks Access Pass initiative, currently in the signature-gathering stage and expected to be on the November ballot. By adding an annual $18 surcharge to all California-registered vehicles, state parks will similarly be removed from the general fund and fully funded from a regular, annual source of support, with the added benefit of EVERY Californian enjoying free access into all state parks, year-round.

Stefanie Sekich is best-known for her work in helping defeat the proposed Orange County toll road through the backcountry of San Onofre State Beach as part of Surfrider’s coastal campaigns and Save Trestles initiatives, and along with Belinda Smith, she stops by Treehuggers International for an update on not only the possibility of expanded offshore oil drilling in California’s coastal waters, but also in federal waters beyond the three-mile offshore mark of the state. While President Obama has been instrumental in the resuscitation of federal regulatory agencies and the creation of new wilderness areas with last year’s omnibus bill, he’s been reluctant to remove the option of renewed offshore oil drilling off the California coast.

From The Cycle of Insanity film to the ongoing parks-for-oil cycle of insanity, we cover some extra ground on this edition of Treehuggers International.

The San Diego Surfrider chapter is hosting the premiere screening of The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water on March 22nd at 4:00, 6:00, and 7:30 pm at The Loft on the UCSD campus. The screenings are open and free to the public, with a Q & A session following the 4:00 and 6:00 screenings.

David Edelson from the Wilderness Society

tommy — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 02:01:41 +0000

View from Mt. Baden-Powell into the drainage of the East Fork San Gabriel River.

An environmental attorney and public land conservation specialist, David Edelson is the Regional Director for the California and Nevada office of the Wilderness Society.

David previously served as lead attorney for the Sierra Forest Legacy, where he played an important role in blocking the Bush Administration’s 2004 forest management plan, which called for a drastic increase in the commercial logging of large, old-growth, fire-resilient Ponderosa, Jeffrey Pine, and White fir in the Plumas National Forest. A federal court later found the management plan in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act.

Hedgehog Cactus in bloom, Mojave Desert.

David also worked at the Natural Resources Defense Council, where he led the NRDC’s efforts to improve management of national forests in the Sierra Nevada and Pacific Northwest.

The Wilderness Society has long been a champion of conservation and the environment, and specifically, setting aside the last remaining wild places on public lands in the U.S., including lands overseen by the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the National Wildlife Refuge System.

In addition to wilderness advocacy, the Wilderness Society also works to ensure appropriate, responsible management of the nation’s public lands. Founded in 1935, the Wilderness Society led the way and was instrumental in the creation of the National Wilderness Preservation System and the passage of the 1964 Wilderness Act under President Johnson, which elegantly describes wilderness as “an area where the earth and community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”

Today, over 100 million acres of federal land have been set aside for all Americans as wilderness, and with the passage of the Omnibus Public Lands Act in March 2009, an additional two million acres in nine states have come under wilderness designation. Along with the economic benefits in the rise of tourism and outdoor recreation as a result of these special places, wilderness provides breathing room for watersheds, climate regulation, and biodiversity, and also provides room for humans to de-pressurize and re-connect with the ebb and flow of the natural cycles of the earth and the wild.

San Antonio Falls, San Gabriel Mountains.

With last year’s legislative successes in mind, wilderness advocates are hoping for success this year with several initiatives, most notably the Sen. Dianne Feinstein-sponsored California Desert Protection Act, which would create or expand five wilderness areas in the Mojave Desert and nearby portions of adjoining mountain ranges, and also create two new National Monuments: the Mojave Trails National Monument between Joshua Tree and the Mojave National Preserve, and the Sand to Snow National Monument, which would preserve adjoining areas of Joshua Tree National Park into high country in the nearby San Bernardino Mountains.

The act would also add expansions to Joshua Tree National Park, Death Valley National Park, and the Mojave National Preserve, with the new wilderness areas and National Monuments acting as buffers around the National Parks, thereby preserving wildlife corridors between the parks and across the Mojave at a variety of elevations.

Proposed additions to the Agua Tibia and Beauty Mountain Wilderness areas in northern San Diego County sponsored by Congressman Darrell Issa have also been a welcome development, and the proposed additions to the Cucamonga and Sheep Mountain Wilderness areas and Wild and Scenic River designation for the east and north forks of San Gabriel River, San Antonio Creek, and Lytle Creek in the San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles have also found a favorable response (and will be explored in upcoming shows).

Conservationists are also engaged in ongoing wilderness initiatives in California’s Sierra Nevada, the Carrizo Plain, and the Klamath Mountains in Northern California (which contains the largest network of roadless wilderness remaining in the Pacific Northwest), as well as in Colorado with the Hidden Gems and San Juan Mountains wilderness proposals, in Oregon with the Molalla River Wild and Scenic bill, and in Pennsylvania in the long-running campaign to create new wilderness areas in the Hickory Creek, Allegheny Front, and Tionesta wildlands of the Allegheny National Forest.

Spring wildflowers on the Carrizo Plain, San Luis Obispo County.

Development Arrives at the Door of Rancho Guejito

tommy — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 07:11:39 +0000

Early morning in the valley called the "jewel of San Diego conservation" and "Shangri-La."

Rancho Geujito is the largest tract of privately-owned, undeveloped land in Southern California. At about 21,000 acres, or some 36 square miles, it is an enormous island of wild San Diego County east of Valley Center, just north of the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, and northeast of Pine Mountain near the La Jolla Indian Reservation. A relic of the Mexican land grant system, Rancho Guejito has survived for the past 200 years by virtue of its location in a remote pocket of northern San Diego County, and a legacy of determined, loving stewardship which the ranch’s succession of owners have felt compelled to give the property. Until now.

From the land’s earliest owners to visitors fortunate enough to visit the area today, all are touched by the valley’s unique, wild qualities. At one point in the 1970s Rancho Guejito was slated to be protected and set aside for the public to enjoy as a California State Park, but due to funding dilemmas, this never came to pass.

Endangered animals like the Golden Eagle and mountain lion make this huge expanse of land their home, and as a rare, intact habitat in Southern California, Rancho Guejito continues to function as a vital wildlife corridor. Unfortunately, like the recently piecemealed Tejon Ranch in northern Los Angeles and Kern County, the fate of Rancho Guejito is now in the hands of developers, and further dissection of the area’s habitat may not be far off.

Eden Valley Road at Rancho Guejito.

After years of publicly stating their desire to keep the valley’s wild character intact, the family which owns Rancho Guejito has recently made an about-face on developing the area. The newly-christened Rancho Geujito Planning Group has proposed a development plan for all 22,000 acres of the ranch, including the construction of 10,000 houses.

We at Treehuggers International wonder if this is sensible or sustainable growth. In the wake of the collapse of housing prices and overdevelopment in San Diego’s North County and other areas of Southern California, along with the proposed Merriam Mountains project similarly located in a remote area of northern San Diego County, is this kind of project even necessary or responsible?

Water issues certainly come to mind. At a time when nearby farmers in northern Escondido, Valley Center, and Pauma Valley have been forced to literally decapitate avocado trees due to water shortages, what kind of message does it send to build an enormous tract of 10,000 houses nearby? It would seem developers are, once again, enjoying free reign in San Diego County despite mandatory water cutbacks and limited access to a potential development site, which has burned over time and time again in regular wildfires.

A February 2nd meeting in Pauma Valley with the Rancho Guejito Planning Group provided few answers. Rick Halsey, the Executive Director of the California Chaparral Institute and a good friend of Treehuggers International, attended the meeting with several reporters, Native American representatives, and a number of concerned residents. According to Rick’s notes, question after question apparently resulted in glittering generalities, false empathy, and no concrete answers or plans from a developer spokesperson.

Non-answers akin to stonewalling were given to reasonable concerns regarding the need for wildlife corridors, water and sewage services, and infrastructure plans other than Highway 78, which is the only major access in road in the area. According to Rick, Native American concerns were given especially short thrift. Apparently a person

from the Pauma Indian band reminded [the spokesperson] about the importance of cultural issues and that Indian bands want to be involved. At this point [the spokesperson] appeared to be getting tired responding and saying nothing, so she didn’t say much more than “I don’t know from here on out.” She was especially silent whenever a Native American spoke.

Another Native American representative

explained the importance of the spiritual connectedness local Indian bands have with the land, especially land that hasn’t been destroyed yet by development. [The spokesperson] said nothing of consequence.

When asked about preliminary environmental impact studies, the spokesperson talked about the maps of the area they had (topographical and vegetation maps any citizen can request from the county). When asked about rare stands of Engelman Oaks on the property, rapidly vanishing from Southern California, the spokesperson agreed they were “important,” but failed to explain what plans were on the table to preserve them once development commences.

When pressed by a San Diego Union-Tribune reporter on why the family which owns Rancho Guejito has decided to develop the area after decades of resistance, the spokesperson claimed ignorance, explaining the family’s previous conservation commitments were made before she became involved with the project. Another representative of the Rancho Guejito Planning Group denied they had ever been approached by environmental groups about how to potentially manage the site without development, even though Treehuggers International first broadcast the show linked here about the future of Rancho Guejito some 16 months ago.

Rick finally asked the spokesperson

“I just wanted to get a few things straight. It is my understanding you haven’t done any environmental studies / reports concerning the property?” [The spokesperson] replied they had vegetation maps, topographic maps, etc. [I then] asked if I heard correctly that the owners never drilled any wells or examined the water resources on the property, and [the spokesperson] said she didn’t know.

I [asked her] if she could give us two things:

1. A time line when she will be able to come back and actually provide us with useful information.

2. A commitment to bring in the local Indian bands as be part of the process.

[The spokesperson] mumbled on about this being a complicated process, then I asked again my second request. No commitment on anything.

Obviously this is a developing story, and in addition to the links provided below, we invite you to listen to the discussion with Bruce Coons from the San Diego Save Our Heritage Organization (who first visited Rancho Guejito as part of a research trip in 1969), and Dan Silver from the Los Angeles-based Endangered Habitats League. Both Bruce and Dan talk about why it’s best to preserve all of Rancho Guejito, as is, often referred to as the “jewel of San Diego conservation.”

You can also read more about Rick Halsey’s efforts to raise awareness about Rancho Guejito at the California Chaparral Institute.

(program originally broadcast October 19, 2008; revision broadcast November 1, 2009)

Benjamin Coates prized the view from his home at Rancho Guejito.

National Parks Photographer Ian Shive

tommy — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:01:08 +0000

The iconic vista of the Teton Range and the Snake River is the cover of Ian Shive's new book.

Fresh from giving a presentation to lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington D.C. and meeting with newly-confirmed National Park Service chief John Jarvis, conservationist and outdoor photographer Ian Shive talks about his new book The National Parks Our American Landscape.

Merced River in Yosemite Valley.

After years of assignments and photography work with the National Parks Conservation Association and other environmental outlets, Ian’s book pulls together some four years of photography work and travel around the country, along with essays by the editors of the NPCA’s National Parks magazine, who detail their experiences collaborating with Ian Shive in their Washington offices and in the field.

While Ian discusses his photography technique and connection to the outdoors, he and Tommy also talk about the effect of climate change on National Parks and America’s special places, the fear-based culture of the outdoors which has grown out of extreme sports and irresponsible media, the work Ian’s new multimedia center Wild Collective is doing to spread the word about parks and conservation on the web, his Wild Exposure show on Al Gore’s Current TV, and Ian’s meetings with lawmakers and park officials.

While it’s hard to imagine we’ll be returning to the days where presidents camp with conservationists, as President Theodore Roosevelt did with John Muir at Yosemite 100 years ago, the good news is after years of neglect, slashed budgets, and a growing backlog of urgent projects and maintenance, our nation’s National Parks are finally on the receiving end of urgently-needed funds. As our nation begins to re-invest in our National Parks, public awareness about the value of National Parks has also increased over the past year, thanks in no small part to the recent Ken Burns series The National Parks: America’s Best Idea on PBS.

A lonely tent on the brilliantly-lit slopes of Mt. McKinley in Alaska's Denali National Park.

Preserving San Diego’s El Capitan

tommy — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:15:42 +0000

Residents have affectionally nicknamed El Cajon Mountain after Yosemite's El Capitan.

Rob Hutsel from the San Diego River Park Foundation returns to Treehuggers International to talk about his and the river park foundation’s efforts to organize the purchase of 385 acres along the summit crest, vertical relief, and base of San Diego’s El Capitan Mountain, known officially to cartographers as El Cajon Mountain. While most of El Capitan lies within the Cleveland National Forest and the county’s El Capitan Open Space Preserve, the 385 acres for sale are currently privately held between the two management areas.

Reaping the rewards of a summit view.

Consequences of the Station Fire

daley — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:36:51 +0000

Vetter Mountain Lookout, 1937 - 2009

Wildland firefighter and fire ecologist Rick Halsey returns to Treehuggers International to discuss the impact of the Station Fire. The founder and director of the Escondido-based California Chaparral Institute, Rick is also a member of the San Diego Regional Fire Safety Forum and the author of the book Fire, Chaparral, and Survival In Southern California.

The steep slopes of the San Gabriels make firefighting difficult.

With major wildfires having blackened scores of acres in the Golden State this year in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Gold Country, and the counties of Santa Barbara (four times in the last 12 months), Mendocino, Sonoma, Sacramento, and elsewhere, it seems every season has become fire season in California.

Nevertheless, few in the Southland were ready for the size and duration of the fire which swept down the canyons into Altadena, La Cañada Flintridge, and Tujunga. Ultimately the Station Fire set a notorious record, as the largest wildfire ever in Los Angeles County.

After claiming two lives, destroying over 80 homes, and burning through 154,000 acres of the Angeles National Forest, the Station Fire is at last nearly under control, and conservationists, fire professionals, outdoor recreationsists, and (regrettably) political leaders are beginning to take stock of what was lost and what can be done.

Of concern to Treehuggers International are the dozens of prized outdoor recreation spots in the Angeles National Forest now consigned to memory, obliterated in the furnace of the wildfire. Locales like the famous Vetter Mountain Lookout served as havens for generations of Southern Californians eager to recharge in the “good tidings” of the San Gabriels’ chaparral-covered slopes, meadows, streams, forests, and Mojave Desert and L.A. Basin views.

Lonely watch on the fire line.

While the Station Fire did not make major penetrations into the San Gabriel high country, thousands of acres of old-growth chaparral were lost, and as is the case with the frequent fire pattern currently at work in Southern California, the way has been cleared for aggressive, non-native grasses and other plants to move in, thereby increasing the risk of fire in the near term, and making it more more difficult for the natural ecosystem of the region to re-establish itself. As fires become more frequent in our ongoing drought, it seems California’s chaparral wildlands are burning themselves into oblivion.

Is all of this a calamity? Are even more firebreaks and brush clearing in the backcounty necessary to avoid another disaster? Should these fires simply be allowed to burn themselves out? Rick Halsey again explains why the solutions to avoiding disaster in California’s year-round fire season come first with the understanding large fires are completely normal for our environment. We’re not being “victimized” by fires, we’ve simply built into their path, again and again. And when you try and beat nature long-term, you lose.

While the frequency of fires remains a concern in the ongoing drought, wise management, defensible space, and an appreciation for the Mediterranean climate of Southern California is the cornerstone to respecting the region’s wild side, and understanding fire is a natural, normal part of California’s ecosystems.

A member of the Dalton Hotshots grabs a few minutes of sleep.

Treehuggers International » Show Episodes

Because Old Packs Never Die

Giving New Life to Old Gear: Adventure 16 and the Donate-A-Pack Foundation

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The Ceiling of Southern California and the San Bernardino National Forest Association

Creation of the Forest Reserve

The Need for Associations and Partnerships

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Fresh Wilderness and Wild and Scenic River Opportunities In the Golden State

San Gabriel Mountains

2010 California Desert Protection Act

Northern San Diego County

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Pro Peninsula Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival

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New Surfrider Film Illustrates Cross Purposes of Water Agencies

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David Edelson from the Wilderness Society

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Development Arrives at the Door of Rancho Guejito

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National Parks Photographer Ian Shive

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Preserving San Diego’s El Capitan

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Consequences of the Station Fire

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