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. |
SEPTEMBER
2000 Services provided by the SGWA are supported by the U.S. Forest Service, your National Forest Adventure Pass, Alpine Meadows Camp and Conference Center, and public donations
Onward
to an Exciting Future With A New Name We are closing in on the end of another great summer. A summer filled with all kinds of exciting volunteer activities providing visitors with safer and more enjoyable forest experiences. Also a summer bringing changes in management and funding of the volunteer program. The Forest Service, while continuing to enthusiastically support the volunteer program to the best of its ability (with funds, office space, equipment, staff time, etc.), has been forced to make continual reductions in financial support of the program– this year saw another large reduction. Therefore, as president Roger Gossett mentions in another article, we have been taking various actions to find additional funds and to reduce costs. One of our cost reduction actions has been to rely more on volunteers acting as weekend coordinators of volunteer activities–our Assistant Volunteer Coordinators. This frees up your paid part-time volunteer coordinator, me, to take care of more administrative duties on the weekend thereby decreasing paid time necessary during the week. Half my time is in volunteer status, but like all of you volunteers I enjoy it and believe our mission is well worth the time spent. And a lot of time is spent by your Assistant Volunteer Coordinators Roger Gossett, Val Silva, Larry Stiles, and Jarome Wilson. Not only do they put in a lot of time, but they also take on a lot of responsibility when acting as Assistant Volunteer Coordinators. We can’t say enough about these and many other very active and dedicated volunteers. But we can do things to help ensure the future success of this program IN WHICH THEY INVEST so much of their time. One of the things your SGVA board of directors has recently done to help ensure a successful future is to approve changing the association’s name to the San Gorgonio Wilderness Association. The new name, which you will begin to see in our letters, flyers, newsletters, and other places after October 31, will not only be fairer to our contributing members who are not able to volunteer, but will also gain us much better name recognition with the general public. As a founding director of the SGVA, I will personally feel a little loss with the name change. However, I strongly believe the change is necessary for the continued success of your organization that will always be the same organization with the same great history – ten years of incorporation next June. As always, we will continue to make it clear in our communications that our strength rests in our volunteers working all around and in the San Gorgonio Wilderness. I thank all of you volunteers, and congratulate you, for helping the association move into an exciting future.
The
Season At A Glance Hi to all. Hasn’t this been a great season this year? I haven’t had much chance to get up on patrols. As many of you know, my job moved to the Azusa/Irwindale area and I now spend 3½ to 4 hours a day commuting. That takes quite a bite out of the spare time. Patti is slowly but surely recovering from her back surgery and is chomping at the bit for the day she can start back to work and hike to Dry Lake again. I often see Sandy Vandenberg and she always says to tell everyone "Hi" and that she misses seeing all of us as often as she used to, but at the same time she is really enjoying her new job. I have been involved in a lot of the work down below and get to read all the patrol reports and talk to many of you as you check in and out. I also get to talk to many of you at our various functions so I think I have a pretty good feel for what is happening. To me it seems that we have had some of our best turn outs for everything to date that I can ever remember. And the morale of all is great, unless I am being fooled by many of you. For our training Day in May we had a wonderful turn out and under Flip’s organization skills, thing went just about as smooth as I can remember. Don’t you agree? And we were fortunate to have so many of the Forest Service’s staff there to train us. National Trails Day we had another fantastic turn out and reconditioned over 2½ miles of the Pacific Crest Trail. I can’t forget to mention that we had other training days provided by the Forest Service in specific areas and they all had large numbers in attendance. For our Forest Festival we again had a fantastic turn out and it appeared we had a steady stream of guests all day. Also that day Mother Nature gave us a break because the day before and the day after we had some pretty good thunderstorms. The storms would have put a damper on much of the fun if they had come on Festival day. Our Adopt-a-Highway program under Cindy and Joe McGregor has been going strong. They do a great job every year. And, concerning our weekend Wilderness and Dispersed Patrols, we have had absolutely fantastic turnouts that have enabled us to cover almost all trails and definitely all of the heavily used camping areas every weekend. If you weren’t able to join us for Fish Festival, you missed a great day with the kids. As always, we had a great time and the kids did too. Be sure to join us next year!! Thanks to each one of you, because you are all a part of making this a very memorable season.
As many of you know from previous 4-Victor articles and John’s article above, the SGVA Board of Directors has been hard at work developing alternative funding for the organization. The goal is to be able to maintain and even increase our level of presence in the forest as representatives of the Forest Service while becoming less dependent on U.S. Forest Service financial support. The Forest Service continues to do all it can to support the volunteer program. However, reductions in Forest Service budgets require the SGVA to rely more on public support to ensure the future existence of an effective volunteer program. It is difficult for us because we are not traditionally a fund raising organization. By that I mean, most of us have very few hours outside of our demanding career and family responsibilities to volunteer, serving the public out in the forest. And most of us would not like to take away from our direct service to the public in order to work on fundraising. Fortunately, Ted Schofield has agreed to be our Fundraising Committee Chairperson, with Jarome Wilson and Karen Saffle on his committee. We have many exciting ideas with a lot of possibility but they all take time and effort to pursue. We are not talking about bake sales or pancake breakfasts. What we envision is corporate sponsorships and grants, along with more contributing members from the public using the forest around and in the San Gorgonio Wilderness. Success in these fund raising pursuits will enable us to continue our high quality of public service. If any of you have had any experience in fundraising or know of companies or organizations that may be inclined to contribute to our program, let us know. Or if you enjoy researching things at the library or on the internet and think you might be able to apply those skills to this effort, please contact Ted Schofield, John Flippin, or me and let us know in what way you think you might be able to assist. I guarantee we will listen to any and all ideas and I know Ted will welcome all kinds of assistance with the committee.
A
View From The Top With summer almost over, the visitors to the San Gorgonio Wilderness are constant! Even with many areas of the wilderness lacking water, the areas above 6000 feet are green and cool, enticing hikers wishing to get away from the heat of the valley. As usual, the San Gorgonio Volunteers are doing a terrific job in keeping things in order within the wilderness boundaries. The trail crews also put out a tremendous amount of work and it shows! Along with many rescues, there have been several small fires in the wilderness this summer. Most have been lightening caused but one of two fires near the Vivian Creek Trail was caused by an illegal campfire and burned a couple of acres. There have been many "bear happenings" in the Wilderness and also in lower areas. It would seem that the hotter it gets, the less you would see bears, but not so. Many bear problems have occurred at the lower elevations and hikers have been warned about meeting up with one and about using the bear-proof food containers that can be purchased. It really is a clever invention--kind of like a big pod that Bruin can't get his claws hooked in, nor can he smash it open. You just have to watch where he last drops it so you can retrieve it for your dinner! Speaking of bears, one has been rearranging the dumpsters at Mill Creek almost every night for over a month. Now that's WAY away from the mountain slopes!
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)
Thanks to Beckman Coulter, Inc.
As most of you know, the SGVA has an award winning web site (www.sgwa.org) managed by volunteer Michael Gordon. Michael continues to do an excellent job of keeping trail conditions posted on the web site, in addition to a lot of other information useful to forest visitors. A few months ago Michael created a bulletin board so forest users could chat back and forth and share their forest experiences. Most recently, Michael worked extensively on our web site Backcountry Store to enable customers to pay by credit card. Here is what forest visitor Mr. Mike D. wrote. "Great website! The San Gorgonio Volunteer Association has assembled an excellent website here! You have included everything I could think of and I am extremely pleased to see the links to things such as low impact camping and the Adventure Pass. Keep up the good work. I work at a large outdoor retail chain and will be sure to let those with San Gorgonio travel plans know about your site. I think it is very helpful."
Adopt-a-Highway Many thanks to Bill Carr, Jan Gudgell, Jeff Haggard, Therese Haran, Sheila McMahon, Peggy Manning, Pat Peters, Val Silva, and Cassidy Silva for coming out and helping with the August 12 Adopt-a-Highway. The next and final cleanup for the season will be on October 7. Please meet at the Heart Bar Fire Station road at 9:30 a.m. Bring lunch and water and wear long pants. If you have any questions, contact Cindy or Joe at 909-780-7051.
Tulake
Report In July when there were bear sightings in the South Fork area, we were able to say it visited us too. Unfortunately, we only saw tracks. Apparently he only comes through in the middle of the night or when we are not there. We never have much for the bear to eat since he doesn't seem to like hay. We did see a bobcat and a deer. Peggy Manning named the deer Angela and she became a regular for several weeks, much to Cassidy's delight. Pat Peters and Jan Gudgell were out at Heart Bar in July and said a bear was a real regular visitor out there, eating cherry pie at every chance. [Editors: More recently, a lot more tracks have been seen at Tulake and there was a visit by a bear inside the kitchen one early evening to check out a pot of beans on the stove.] We rode through East Flats earlier this summer and found a lot of wildlife. Numerous bears, deer, mountain lions, & wild pigs were enjoying the great outdoors. They had a lot of arrows in them as the Cherry Valley Bow hunters were having their annual archery competition. Looking real to other animals, our horses wouldn't voluntarily go near them, and then sniffed their noses when they got close. A bear also thought they looked good and took a few bites. We had a large group at Tulake for the Forest Festival weekend. Tents were all over the camp and so many people were at the campfire that we had to sit in rows. With that many people, we heard many new stories and consumed a lot of marshmallows. Looks like we are on the summer countdown. Where did the time go? It’s already September and just a few weeks left of the season. [Editors: We understand there have been some pretty serious ‘card’ games between Val and Peggy this season. Who’s winning depends on which one you talk to!!]
Bear Canisters are Working Well! Bear activity is high in and around the San Gorgonio Wilderness. Several volunteers and many more visitors have reported seeing bears on both the north and south side of the Wilderness. Because of the frequent bear activity in and around Forest Falls and the Big Falls Picnic area, it is not too surprising that we’ve had bears looking for backpackers’ food up the south side Momyer and Vivian Creek trails. Our most frequent bear visits in the Wilderness have been on the south side at Alger Creek Camp, Vivian Creek Camp, Halfway Camp, and High Creek Camp. However, we’ve also had several reports of bears at Dry Lake and Dollar Lake on the north side, which is unusual. On a recent weekend, volunteer Patrollers Michael Garant and Dan Scott spent half the night keeping a bear away from campers at Dollar Lake. The bear would continually leave, circle around, and come into camp from another direction. Luckily most of the campers had bear canisters so Michael and Dan had to help only a couple campers hang their food in a more secure manner. More and more backpackers are getting used to the idea of using bear canisters. The bear canisters are not only easier and less worrisome to use than hanging food bags, but they also go a long way in helping to keep the bears from getting into trouble. If you or someone you know would like to purchase a bear canister at a great price, they’re available at the Barton Flats Visitor Center and the Mill Creek Backcountry Store.
Hiking
for Alice Twelve volunteers greeted over 100 visitors hiking up the South Fork Trail in memory of Alice Kreuper (1926 – 1996) on a beautiful warm day in late July. Alice and her husband Harry were founders of the Defenders of the San Gorgonio Wilderness, a group largely responsible for establishment of the San Gorgonio Wilderness. Alice was also the Southern California Regional Trail Maintenance Coordinator for the Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA) and the Trails Committee Chairperson for the San Gorgonio Chapter of the Sierra Club. Of course, near and dear to our hearts, Alice was the driving force behind creation of the SGVA and was one of our founding directors. Among the many memorial hikers stopping in at the Horse Meadows Interpretive Center were several dedicated PCTA volunteers and Alice’s husband Harry. Harry was introducing a 12-year-old neighbor boy to the wonderful San Gorgonio Wilderness. Harry was also excited to announce that his first great granddaughter had arrived the night before. Harry does a great job of teaching people to enjoy the wilderness and is a generous supporter of SGVA volunteers.
Ken Wolff, Wilderness Patrol Volunteer, sends a big howling hello to everyone from him and his son Cody (also a patrol volunteer). Ken has been fighting a serious medical battle this year and we are very happy to hear he is getting the upper hand. Ken and Cody say they’ve missed the volunteer activities this summer and are looking forward to joining us on the mountain next year. And we’re looking forward to having them join us again!!
Many
Appreciate, A Few Write I am always very pleased to get letters from the public praising the service of you volunteers in the field. I know that such letters are just an example of the tremendous appreciation almost all visitors have for your service out there. Most recently your vice president, Jarome Wilson, has received some written praise from the public. Dennis C., M.D., wrote, "On behalf of Boy Scout Troop 636, I would like to thank volunteer ranger Jarome for helping us on the San Bernardino Peak Trail. Jarome was instrumental in helping us locate a small group of our scouts who had missed a turn in the trail. He was very professional and knowledgeable in his actions." Then Jeff T., Assistant Scoutmaster for Troops 616 and 655 wrote, "All of our adults found Mr. Wilson to be very friendly and courteous, making the thankless job of checking permits a very pleasant experience. At the top of Mt. San Gorgonio Mr. Wilson took the time to answer all our questions and gave us some equipment suggestions. All in all, he gave a very favorable impression of the Forest Service, and is clearly an asset to your organization." Finally, about other volunteers also, Ed K. wrote, "The trail patrol rangers I’ve run into have been nothing but professional and courteous. I can’t recall all of their names, but Phil, Bill, Mike, Dan, Earl, John, and Suzanne are some. Anyway, these folks do a great job." Such written words are wonderful but not surprising to hear. Keep up the good work and thank you all.
Pricey Parking or Priceless Peak?
"I love the Wilderness," the tall man standing in the Mill Creek Ranger Station announces to no one in particular. Like me, he is here for a day permit to hike into the San Gorgonio Wilderness. The kindly seasoned female volunteer behind the counter informs him in a cheerful, yet matter-of-fact voice, "You’ll also need an Adventure Pass to park your vehicle within the San Bernardino National Forest. You can get a single day permit for five dollars or for thirty dollars a pass good for the year." As he buys his Adventure Pass, the sunscreen painted weekend warrior leans across the counter towering over the volunteer and growls, "I don’t see why I should have to pay for parking to visit public land." I consider the man’s statement, but am distracted by the prospect of hiking to the top of Ol’ Greyback with my 15-year-old son, Joel and the Adventure Pass complaint is forgotten. Next morning at the Vivian Creek trailhead, only one other soul has braved the early hour and the cold, a 68-year-old veteran hiker named Marty. We travel towards the summit catching breath-taking views of the craggy, snow-marbled, saw-toothed wall of Yucaipa Ridge - Galena Peak, Little San Gorgonio, Wilshire Peak, Birch Mountain, and Allen Peak; marching in solemn file toward the western horizon. "Look at those, Dad!" We drink in the view collecting a lifetime’s worth of refreshing inspirational memories. "I love the mountains," Joel whispers. As we climb, I can’t help but notice how Marty seems to have the vigor of a man half his age. I hope that when I’m sixty-eight I am hiking with the vigor equal to a fifteen-year-old. He laughs, attributing his long healthy life to, "I’m in love with the wilderness. And you know what they say, a man can live on love." The forest begins to thin around 11,000 feet and fades into an undulating timberline of few-and-far-between wind-flattened limber pines. Here the air thins and my mid-life out-of-shape condition takes its toll. My legs burn with each step. "Come on, Dad, you can make it," chimes the contagious enthusiasm of youth. I follow Joel robotically another 499 feet to the summit where the laborious climb is forgotten. "I love the wilderness!" exclaims a young woman who, with her male companion, shares the windswept mountaintop with us. "Yes, it sure is beautiful." I respond cordially. We share the awe of standing atop the world. Then she laments, "I don’t see why I have to pay for parking to visit tax-supported public land." Stirred by the juxtaposition of the themes--on the one hand we love the wilderness, on the other, we begrudge her our resources--I review all I received for my money on this single trip. I have seen the elusive and fabled Fountain of Youth; collected memories to inspire me for a lifetime; and experienced the exhilaration of standing on top of my world. For this sense of accomplishment alone I would gladly pay thirty dollars. The secret of youthful longevity, inspiration, and accomplishment--aren’t these worth the price of a dinner for two? Thirty dollars seems to be a bargain, or at the very least, a fair deal. Most of us easily spend thirty dollars annually on other loved ones--a birthday gift, an anniversary celebration, or an intimate dinner. Considering how we "love the wilderness," is thirty dollars a year really all that much?
A Review of Aldo Leopold’s Southwest The back cover of my dog-eared copy of A Sand County Almanac states that Aldo Leopold’s Southwest is, "A classic collection... a stunning tribute to our land and a bold challenge to protect the world we love." This exceptional group of essays reveals Aldo Leopold’s fully developed ideas on land preservation and conservation and provides insight to Leopold’s early development of those same ideas. Twenty-six writings from 1915 to 1948 show Leopold growing from an eager young forester to a mature, insightful, and forward-thinking conservationist. The essays are grouped into general topics of game restoration, game management, land health, and "Afterthoughts," a short collection of book reviews. Excellent period photographs, including a 1909 picture of Leopold in full cowboy regalia and USFS badge, are sprinkled lightly throughout the book. Following each essay, the editors have included well-written and insightful commentary of Leopold’s proposals within the conservation framework of the times and how they shaped current management direction. Quickly, you realize Leopold was ahead of his time. In his 1936 essay, "Threatened Species," 30 years prior to the Endangered Species Act, Leopold describes ivory-billed woodpecker habitat destruction that sounds eerily like the current Spotted Owl controversy. He explores the idea of preserving large tracts of roadless areas to ensure grizzly bear survival. He laments that the Yellowstone Plateau was not "restocked" with wolves and wonders if reintroduction would work. Both of these ideas were published in 1944. But his 1921 essay, "The Wilderness and Its Place in Forest Recreation Policy" is a revelation. Forty-plus years before the Wilderness Act, Leopold presents us with the idea of preserving wild areas for recreational purposes, and even proposes recreation on public lands for equal footing with timber, grazing, and mining. This eloquent essay, and several like it in A Sand County Almanac, can be collectively held up as guiding documents for America’s wilderness preservation movement. Leopold’s professional development, from trying to ensure plentiful game for hunting to the realization that nature’s systems are interdependent and must be considered collectively if they are to be preserved, is apparent. I have been told that the highest compliment you can pay to a writer is the desire to read more of what he has written. Amazon.com lists "Heart of the Lane" as a volume of unpublished essays. I just need to find that Christmas gift certificate. (Editor’s note: Remember, you can help your Wilderness while shopping at Amazon.com by going through www.sgva.greatergood.com.)
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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