In This Issue:
4-VICTOR is published by the San Gorgonio Wilderness Association, 34701 Mill Creek Road, Mentone, CA 92359. A non-profit organization in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service, San Bernardino National Forest. The goals of the partnership are to educate the public to preserve and conserve our natural resources. 4-Victor newsletter
edited by Teri Cappuccio and Ann Robinson Portions of this newsletter may have been edited to present material applicable to the general viewing public. |
SUMMER 2001 Services provided by the SGWA are supported by the U.S. Forest Service, your National Forest Adventure Pass, Alpine Meadows Camp and Conference Center, Edison International, and public donations
Adventure
Pass Successes Although most of us would like Congress to allocate more of our tax dollars to the care and maintenance of the San Bernardino National Forest (SBNF), the fortunate truth is that the Adventure Pass Program has enabled users of the SBNF to directly fund many essential improvements including the following:
Another
Late Night Out for Volunteers Realizing Abner was in serious trouble, his 22-year old cousin John began to carry Abner back down the mountain. At 8:50 p.m. two of the cousins came into Halfway Camp calling for help. John and Nancy left their tent and reached them as cousin John collapsed into camp not able to carry Abner another step. Abner was unable to talk and was shivering cold although the night was relatively warm. Nancy got Abner into a sleeping bag and helped him drink a little water while John gathered some information and started calling for help on the radio. Jarome Wilson, acting volunteer coordinator, was at the Tulake Volunteer work camp and John Flippin (Flip), off-duty coordinator, was at home when they both heard John Quarles trying to reach one of them on the radio. Neither Jarome nor Flip could reach John Q. with their radios so they conferred with each other on the phone and then had San Bernardino dispatch get in contact with John Q. to find out if there was a problem requiring assistance. Dispatch reached John Q. at Halfway Camp and began to gather information while Jarome and Flip headed to the Vivian Creek Trailhead. Dispatch notified the sheriff and had Jeff Highton, Recreation 3-7, respond from home to the trailhead also. Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the trailhead about 10:30 p.m. and immediately called out a joint San Gorgonio/Valley of the Falls Search and Rescue (SAR) volunteer team. Abner’s mother and father arrived at the trailhead while the search and rescue teams were responding from their homes. In the meantime, John and Nancy continued to care for Abner and monitor his vital signs while radioing information to Jeff Highton and the deputies. About 10 SAR volunteers quickly arrived with the first few forming a "hasty" team to take off up the trail for Halfway Camp. Other SAR volunteers soon followed them up the trail with additional medical equipment and a single-wheeled litter. The parents were happy to hear from John and Nancy that Abner was looking better than when he first arrived in camp and was now sleeping. The "hasty" team reached Abner, John, and Nancy about 2:30 a.m. and determined that Abner was not in serious enough condition to risk the dangers of a nighttime litter trip down a steep rocky trail. Early Sunday morning Abner, while feeling a little better, was still not able to hike out on his own. Luckily a sheriff’s helicopter was available for a brief period after a homicide assignment before having to respond to another priority. This would save Abner a long rough litter trip down the steep Vivian Creek Trail. There was not a clearing large enough for the helicopter to land but the SAR team found an opening near the junction of the main trail and the trail down into Halfway Camp where a medic could be lowered by cable and both the medic and Abner could be hoisted back up. John and Nancy were asked to clear the trail of hikers and keep it clear so that the helicopter could make a safe drop and extraction. Soon Abner, with some hard lessons about high altitude hiking and an exciting helicopter ride, was off to Loma Linda Hospital to meet his grateful parents. We met John and Nancy at the trailhead about 12:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon. They looked surprisingly good (after a night of only a couple hours sleep) as they were still cheerfully greeting visitors hiking in as they came out across the Mill Creek wash. John and Nancy did a great job and represented the Forest Service and all of us volunteers very well. They were at the right place at the right time only because all of you volunteers are out there as a team every weekend serving, protecting, and educating in and around the San Gorgonio Wilderness. Our deep thanks to John, Nancy, and all volunteers, including the San Gorgonio and Valley of the Falls Search and Rescue volunteers, for a job well done.
Defenders
Help Us Again As many of you know, the Defenders of the San Gorgonio Wilderness were instrumental in saving the San Gorgonio Wild Area from development in the early 1960s. Alice Krueper was the founding secretary of the Defenders and her husband Harry was a founding board member. Fighting many public relations, legal, and legislative battles with wealthy corporations over several years, the Defenders were triumphant, as the San Gorgonio Wild Area became one of the first Wildernesses under the Wilderness Act of 1964. However, through 1971 the Defenders had to continue fighting off attempts to develop part of the Wilderness for downhill skiing. Of course the part developers wanted to use was the heart of the Wilderness – up through South Fork Meadows into the Dry Lake area including all of the north facing bowls above Dry Lake. Fortunately, people like Harry and Alice Krueper had a vision of a large pristine wilderness easily available to the citizens of Southern California forevermore. And what is more important is that Harry, Alice, and likeminded souls were willing to contribute a lot of time and money to ensure their vision became reality for all of us. In addition to serving countless volunteer hours with the Sierra Club and the Pacific Crest Trail Association, Alice also became a Forest Service volunteer in 1983. Alice spent many weekends patrolling wilderness trails and in 1987 taught the current San Gorgonio Wilderness Association volunteer coordinator how to patrol and serve the public. Alice also spearheaded the effort to open the Barton Flats visitor center in 1987. In 1989 Alice became the inspiration for and a founding director of the San Gorgonio Wilderness Association (SGWA). Alice was very active on the SGWA board and always out in the field patrolling and maintaining trails. Though winning many important battles for those who love trails, wilderness, and a clean environment, Alice lost her battle with cancer in 1996. She is probably protecting heaven’s environment with a band of volunteer angels while we get in shape to go help her. Alice’s husband, Harry, is one of only a couple remaining officers of the Defenders of the San Gorgonio Wilderness. They have kept the Defenders organization going these many years to be ready to counter any development threats to the Wilderness that might arise again. Harry has also personally been a faithful contributing member of the SGWA. Now, Harry, on behalf of the Defenders, has found it in the best interest of the San Gorgonio Wilderness to transfer the funds of the Defenders organization over to the SGWA. This is a very generous and, more importantly, trusting act – trusting that the SGWA will also be vigilant and ready to counter any development which might threaten the promise of the Wilderness Act for our local wilderness – to "secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness . . . where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain . . . and where there are outstanding opportunities for solitude." Our gratitude to Harry and the Defenders is immeasurably large. While we cannot thank them enough for all they have done to save and protect the Wilderness and for their continuing support of the SGWA, we can and do promise them that we will continue to serve, protect, and educate in and around the San Gorgonio Wilderness and that we will always be ready to counter any threats to the vision they made a reality – an island of wilderness paradise in a sea of humanity. We thank the Defenders and Harry, as do the bears, the bugs, the birds, the big horn sheep, and all animals of the wilderness. And forever we will extend our love and thanks across a wilderness meadow sparkling in the morning dew to a bright reflection from the sky in the big brown eyes of a newborn fawn – the reflection of Alice’s smiling face.
More
Partners Everywhere "Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life." – John Muir. As the southern California population skyrockets and public recreation on the San Bernardino National Forest (SBNF) increases tremendously, the Forest Service must rely more and more on volunteers to serve and educate the public and to help maintain and protect the forest. Today there is hardly a place you can go in the SBNF without coming upon volunteers serving the public. There are at least 10 major volunteer organizations such as the SGWA working in their own areas of special interest and expertise. As you may know, the SGWA area of special interest is in and around the San Gorgonio Wilderness. Although national forests have always belonged to the American public, private citizens are no longer just visitors. They are now truly becoming Forest Service partners in funding and managing those forests. Ninety-five percent of forest users are happy and proud to help directly fund, through the Adventure Pass program, the care and maintenance of the forests they are using. And reportedly, over 1800 citizens are now volunteering to serve, protect, and educate in the SBNF each year. As that country song says, love is not a feeling, it is something you do. As more and more citizens do something by personally funding and working to protect and maintain their forest, a deeper, more widespread love of the forest develops – a love that is essential in protecting the forest and in helping the public to better understand and enjoy the forest. "Climb the mountains
and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine
flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and
the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn
leaves." – John Muir
Many who know the great value of our forest and wilderness areas may not have the time, but have the monetary resources to help the SGVA continue to "Serve, Protect, and Educate." Recent contributing members to whom forest visitors and we owe many thanks are: Regular Contributing Members ($20 or more annually)
Trail Partners ($50 or more annually)
President's Club ($100 or more annually)
THANK YOU again!!
Congratulations to One of Our Own We are proud to say that Walter Roth, Wilderness Patrol Volunteer, received a Teacher of the Year Award. Walter obviously gives more than required not only to forest visitors but to the children in his profession as well. Congratulations for much deserved recognition Walter!
Big
Falls A Big Success The new Big Falls Visitor Information Station is providing wonderful service to the hundreds of visitors enjoying the Big Falls area every weekend. Several of our veteran volunteers helped get the cut-rock storage building ready for service early this summer. Doing a lot of cleaning, painting, and carpentry were Alfredo Ayala, Stan Haddox, Shaun McCray, Bob Oppermann, Don Rosene, and Karen Saffle. Helping us staff the station for opening on Memorial Day weekend and several more weekends until we recruited and trained a more permanent crew were veterans Ardis Beckner, Frank Bevington, Bill Carr, Sue Crowell, John Dombrowski, Marsha Hagan, Jeff Haggard, Sheila McMahon, Richard Nyerges, Don Rosene, Cyndi and Evan Wilkinson, and Walter Roth. They were all a tremendous help in getting the station up and running. Our Big Falls Station regular staff now includes veterans Cyndi and Evan Wilkinson, and new volunteers Desiree Ashley, Sylvia and Shannon Beasley, Jim Carroll, Karen Kowalewski, Pete Lexy, and John Sporcich. These folks are pretty much running the station on their own while they sell Adventure Passes and maps, give out free forest literature and information, alert visitors to flash floods and bears, put out abandoned campfires, call in public injury incidents, pick up litter from around the Big Falls all the way up canyon to the Vivian Creek Trail crossing, and help themselves to abandoned barbeque ribs still cooking on the grill. We thank them very much for providing a long needed service to the public while also making a few bucks for the SGWA. It is a great place to spend a weekend in the tall cool pines. And the business is not so brisk that there is not time to read a good book or spend a little time in a hammock. I recommend that all volunteers schedule themselves for some fun and relaxation at Big Falls.
A
View From the Top The dog days of summer are here! I always thought that was something to do with it being too hot even for dogs (you know--like a three-dog-night, when it's so cold you need three dogs around you to keep warm?) It is actually in reference to the hot, sultry days around the time the Dog Star Sirius is rising at the same time as the sun -- usually from July 3 to August 11. Well, the hot, sultry part is definitely a reality. It has been very hot even in the wilderness. With the humidity we’ve been getting, the heat is really oppressive. We did have some showers in the Angelus Oaks and S.G. Wilderness areas a while back but they were very localized. San Gorgonio Wilderness Association patrol volunteers report that many of the normally wet springs in the wilderness are dry or are very poor in volume this season. Anyone going for a hike should plan accordingly and take plenty of drinking water. The situation will only get worse unless we get more of the showers that are gentle and lengthy. The Santa Ana River is also very low, much to the disappointment of local fisher folks that I meet in that area. Something else to think about if you are planning a wilderness hike is the increase in black bear activity. Recently bears have been in the Dollar Lake area and made 'rags' out of four backpacks in the month of July! The newest item to try and discourage Bruins is the hard plastic bear-proof food containers that are sold or rented locally. They are a little larger than a football, very smooth, no ridges or edges to pry or bite upon, and are too big to get a bear jaw around. San Gorgonio Wilderness Association volunteers are warning people to remove the nylon carrying case at night, as the ever-stylish bears will use the straps to carry the container off into the woods never to be seen again. Without the carrying case, Mr. Bear usually looses interest and drops the too-big-to-carry canister where he found it. I have been told of several local families feeding the bears daily (no wonder we have problems!) This is a citable offense by State Fish and Game and also a San Bernardino County ordinance under which the Sheriff can cite. A bear I recently heard about visited a couple camped in the Coon Creek Road Dispersed Camp number 11. They did everything to run the bear off but he stood up on his back legs and raised his paws. The couple and their dog retreated to their truck. The bear apparently thought they were going to take him to town for dinner so he climbed into the bed of the truck and looked in the back window. He had his stinky mug shoved onto the glass like a precocious child, which sounds pretty comical. The people were not amused and finally got him to leave by honking the horn. I asked them why they didn't start the motor and they said the keys were in the tent!! I reminded them that should you have to leave camp in a hurry (fire, flood, bear, etc.) to always have the keys on your person or in the vehicle.
San Bernardino National Forest Deputy Supervisor Moving On Paul Weeden, our Deputy Forest Supervisor for the past 12 years, will be retiring from the Forest Service on September 28th. We will miss having Paul on the San Bernardino National Forest (SBNF) as he has always been a strong supporter of volunteer activities as well as an excellent steward of our National Forest resources. Luckily for our environment and us, Paul will be busier than ever, as he immediately becomes the Environmental Industry Solutions Representative with Environmental Sciences Research Institute (ESRI). In his new career Paul will work directly and closely with both government and non-government natural resource management agencies and organizations around the world to help promote the conservation, preservation, and wise use of our world’s precious and seriously imperiled natural resources. While we are sad to see Paul leave the SBNF, we are happy he has found an opportunity to help the environment on a worldwide scale. Good luck and safe travels Paul.
Tulake Camp cabins, available on a first-come, first-served basis before and after volunteer patrols and other activities, have been significantly upgraded by Mickey Kacherwski this summer. With a little help from Del Hawkins (who also improved our lighting system), Danny and Val Silva, Mary Hart, and others, Mickey has spent over 100 hours obtaining supplies and ensuring that volunteers will always have a safe, clean, secure place to stay at Tulake Camp. While there is no electricity or running water to the little one-room cabins, the cool pine-shaded location and hospitality of Danny and Val make the Tulake cabins one of the best volunteer benefits we have. Thanks Mickey. Hope to see you around the Tulake campfire.
Fremont
Bank's Incentive Program Protecting the wilderness takes money! Unfortunately, raising funds for the San Gorgonio Wilderness Association has become more important over the last year as some of our traditional sources of income have become less reliable. So we are always looking for new sources for funding. Ardis Beckner identified a very interesting source...her bank. It seems that Fremont Investment and Loan has a Deposit Incentive Donation Program which allows depositors to identify an organization for contributions based on the annual average combined balance of deposits by identified members. Anyone opening a liquid account or certificate of deposit at a Fremont branch can ask that their account be coded for the SGWA and a donation will be made based on the annual average combined balance of deposits. Funds simply need to be on deposit every December 31st to qualify. If you have an account with Fremont Investment and Loan, this is a no-brainer. Next time you visit your branch office just ask that your account be coded for the SGWA. If you are looking for a bank, this program might be the extra benefit that makes you consider Fremont. Of course, we would recommend due diligence in any financial decision and suggest you form your own opinion. If any members find that their financial institution offers a similar program please let us know and we will get the word out. Thank you Ardis.
The California Department of Health Services, Vector Borne Disease Section, reported no Lyme disease in 293 ticks tested during the year 2000 in the San Bernardino National Forest. Also, of 37 rodents tested, none showed signs of Hantavirus. Although we must continue to follow safety procedures to prevent contacting these diseases, it is good to know they are not yet prevalent in our area.
"Kili Climb for A Cure" - 2002 Climb Team Forming Now! Climb Africa's Highest Peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro, and Fight Muscular Dystrophy from over 19,000 ft.! Event:
Trekking fundraiser for muscular dystrophy research. Information/Contact:
Disclaimers The use of trade, firm, product, or corporation names in this newsletter is for the information and convenience of the reader. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement or approval by the San Gorgonio Volunteer Association concerning the quality of any product or service or to the exclusion of others that may be suitable. Every effort is made to provide accurate and useful information. However, the San Gorgonio Volunteer Association and its volunteers, employees, and contractors assume no legal liability for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed herein. Neither the San Gorgonio Volunteer Association, nor its employees and contractors, make any warranty, express or implied, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose with respect to information available in this newsletter. Non-Discrimination Statement The US Forest Service and the San Gorgonio Wilderness Association prohibit discrimination in all their programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs and activities.) The US Forest Service and the San Gorgonio Wilderness Association are equal opportunity providers and employers.
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