Our Group's 4th Tuesday Program/Meetings take place in the former parsonage of St. Peter Lutheran Church, 3200 Asbury Road, Dubuque.
The large meeting room is at the back of that red brick home to the right as you enter the church parking lot from Asbury Road. The meeting room door is to the left of the big window of the meeting room. No steps, so easily accessible.
Programs begin at 7 PM. A brief EXCOM session follows the program. The general public is always welcome.
Mark your Sierra Calendar and catch a program.
Tuesday, January 24
"Alberta Tar Sands"
Raki Giannokouros of Green Dubuque
Tuesday, February 28
"Eagle Point Scholar"
Will include local aspects.
Tuesday, March 27
"Bishop Pass and Piute Pass Access to the John Muir Trail in California's Sierra Mountains"
August, 2010
11,972 ft and 11, 423 ft
Dick Worm
Monday, January 16, 2012
Other Events
January 29 (Sunday)
"The Wild Brazil" by Dr. Jim Pease
Head for the Swiss Valley Nature Center after the Backbone Cabin Outing for this 1 PM Dubuque County Conservation Society's FRIENDS program, featuring the remarkable biodiversity of northeast Brazil, the Amazon, and the Pantanal wetland.
"The Wild Brazil" by Dr. Jim Pease
Head for the Swiss Valley Nature Center after the Backbone Cabin Outing for this 1 PM Dubuque County Conservation Society's FRIENDS program, featuring the remarkable biodiversity of northeast Brazil, the Amazon, and the Pantanal wetland.
Sunday Progams, Mines of Spain
E.B. Lyons Interpretive Center
1 PM
January 22
"A Wildlife Photo Safari in Tanzania", Alice and John Butler
The Serengeti Plain's "Great Migration" and a Masai village.
February 12
"An Organic Approach to Sustainable Farming"
February 26
"Forest Gliders--A Glimpse into the World of Flying Squirrels"
March 11
"Geology of Northeast Iowa"
March 25
to be determined
http://www.minesofspain.org/
office: (563) 556-0620
1 PM
January 22
"A Wildlife Photo Safari in Tanzania", Alice and John Butler
The Serengeti Plain's "Great Migration" and a Masai village.
February 12
"An Organic Approach to Sustainable Farming"
February 26
"Forest Gliders--A Glimpse into the World of Flying Squirrels"
March 11
"Geology of Northeast Iowa"
March 25
to be determined
http://www.minesofspain.org/
office: (563) 556-0620
Hunting at the Mines of Spain: Public Meeting
Monday January 30, 6:30 PM
EB Lyons Center
The DNR will discuss and gather input on a proposal to discontinue shotgun hunting in Mines of Spain.
Archery hunting for deer, turkey, and all other legal species would continue. Since 1991, hunting has been allowed in the park during specific seasons and has helped manage and control the deer population of the area.
While the deer population has steadily decreased, park use for other activities has increased, including winter hiking, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, bird watching, photography, and other winter activities. The park hosts more than 250,000 visitors annually.
Location: just south of Dubuque, off Hwy 52 South
Written comments will also be accepted:
8991 Bellevue Heights
Dubuque, IA 52002-9214
Or, via e-mail: Mines_of_Spain@dnr.iowa.gov
EB Lyons Center
The DNR will discuss and gather input on a proposal to discontinue shotgun hunting in Mines of Spain.
Archery hunting for deer, turkey, and all other legal species would continue. Since 1991, hunting has been allowed in the park during specific seasons and has helped manage and control the deer population of the area.
While the deer population has steadily decreased, park use for other activities has increased, including winter hiking, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, bird watching, photography, and other winter activities. The park hosts more than 250,000 visitors annually.
Location: just south of Dubuque, off Hwy 52 South
Written comments will also be accepted:
8991 Bellevue Heights
Dubuque, IA 52002-9214
Or, via e-mail: Mines_of_Spain@dnr.iowa.gov
Nature Centers
Hurstville Interpretive Center
Jackson County
(563) 652-3783
conservation@co.jackson.ia.us
http://www.jacksoncountyiowa.com/
Osborne Nature Center
Clayton County, Hwy 13, South of Elkader
(563) 245-1516
http://www.claytoncountyconservation.org/
Jackson County
(563) 652-3783
conservation@co.jackson.ia.us
http://www.jacksoncountyiowa.com/
Osborne Nature Center
Clayton County, Hwy 13, South of Elkader
(563) 245-1516
http://www.claytoncountyconservation.org/
Summer 2012 Loco Folks Trip Previews
Dick Worm is planning a couple of summer Loco Folks backpack trips. Fellow travelers are welcome! Check with Dick for details.
July 20-30: Backpack, July 22-28. Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness, Montana, on continental divide.
7 days on John Muir Trail in California. Travel date options dependent on permit success may be: 08/26-09/07; 09/09-21 (priority), 09/16-28. Que Sera!
July 20-30: Backpack, July 22-28. Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness, Montana, on continental divide.
7 days on John Muir Trail in California. Travel date options dependent on permit success may be: 08/26-09/07; 09/09-21 (priority), 09/16-28. Que Sera!
Keystone XL Emergency--Risking the Wild
Dick Worm, Needle Editor
I received the following e-mail from an acquaintance who worked at the John Deere plant in Dubuque and still has citizenship in Canada. It was sent as a reply to a Wilderness Society item I e-mailed to him about the Keystone XL pipeline.
Plan to attend our Sierra program on January 24 for additional viewpoints and concerns related to the extraction and refining of this oil, dating back to 1978. I'll bring the June 2008 Canadian Geographic magazine to the meeting.
The oil-sand extraction article was title "Scar Sands" and describes five ways to begin to reduce the environmental imprint: Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), dry tailings instead of wet, reducing overall water usage, clamping down on acidifying emissions, and establishing large areas of boreal forest to be off-limits. Is all that a "fat chance" in today's politically charged energy domain?
The Wilderness Society message dated December 19, 2011 included the following:
Subject: Re: Keystone XL Emergency--Risking the Wild
Well, this issue gives me mixed feelings.
On the plus side, it does make jobs, and good paying jobs, to a lot of people. It provides a market for Deere and Hitachi as they supply some of the machines used to mine the tar sands, and to build the pipelines. And that helps support my pension.
The oils extracted supply the fuel and lubricants for those machines, and all our cars and trucks, asphalt for the roads you drive on, etc.
As to the pipeline to the gulf: I don't understand the reasoning. The oil from the tar sands is very heavy (viscous) and take extraordinary means to make it flow through pipes. That long pipeline will probably have to be heated all the way. Seems to me it would be better to build the refinery in Alberta and pipe the finished products. Maybe that is what they're doing, to some extent.
The actual strip mining operation IS making a huge mess of the tundra. But the oil is there; near the surface, instead of deep in the ground like in ND, TX, OK, etc.
What would you do? I think we need to reduce our total consumption of oil by developing other sources of energy. And by driving the most fuel efficient cars we can.
I'll bring you a copy of Canadian Geographic magazine that covers the Tar Sands operation.
- Wayne Collins
I received the following e-mail from an acquaintance who worked at the John Deere plant in Dubuque and still has citizenship in Canada. It was sent as a reply to a Wilderness Society item I e-mailed to him about the Keystone XL pipeline.
Plan to attend our Sierra program on January 24 for additional viewpoints and concerns related to the extraction and refining of this oil, dating back to 1978. I'll bring the June 2008 Canadian Geographic magazine to the meeting.
The oil-sand extraction article was title "Scar Sands" and describes five ways to begin to reduce the environmental imprint: Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), dry tailings instead of wet, reducing overall water usage, clamping down on acidifying emissions, and establishing large areas of boreal forest to be off-limits. Is all that a "fat chance" in today's politically charged energy domain?
The Wilderness Society message dated December 19, 2011 included the following:
The Keystone XL pipeline is probably the single most environmentally destructive project in North America threatening millions of trees and thousands of miles of rivers, lakes and streams as it snakes its way across the nation's heartland.
This rider abets clear-cutting the forests, strip-mining the tar sands, clearing a right-of-way from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and emitting massive amounts of carbon pollution, all so that a Canadian oil company can get a higher price on the world market for oil than it is currently getting from North America alone. The fact that the payroll tax cut for American families has been held hostage to this environmental train wreck is unbelievable.
If this pipeline gets approved, it will foster climate change conditions that will threaten every aspect of America's wild places. Our national forests, already threatened by climate-related fire and beetle infestations, will become dangerously stressed. Iconic places like Glacier National Park will lose its namesake glaciers, and places like Acadia and the Everglades will be even more threatened by rising seas.
The President still has the discretion to turn down Keystone XL. If he does, he will be siding with millions of Americans that have a right to clean air, safe drinking water, a safe climate and a clean energy alternative to digging more holes that we can't get out of.
Subject: Re: Keystone XL Emergency--Risking the Wild
Well, this issue gives me mixed feelings.
On the plus side, it does make jobs, and good paying jobs, to a lot of people. It provides a market for Deere and Hitachi as they supply some of the machines used to mine the tar sands, and to build the pipelines. And that helps support my pension.
The oils extracted supply the fuel and lubricants for those machines, and all our cars and trucks, asphalt for the roads you drive on, etc.
As to the pipeline to the gulf: I don't understand the reasoning. The oil from the tar sands is very heavy (viscous) and take extraordinary means to make it flow through pipes. That long pipeline will probably have to be heated all the way. Seems to me it would be better to build the refinery in Alberta and pipe the finished products. Maybe that is what they're doing, to some extent.
The actual strip mining operation IS making a huge mess of the tundra. But the oil is there; near the surface, instead of deep in the ground like in ND, TX, OK, etc.
What would you do? I think we need to reduce our total consumption of oil by developing other sources of energy. And by driving the most fuel efficient cars we can.
I'll bring you a copy of Canadian Geographic magazine that covers the Tar Sands operation.
- Wayne Collins
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