NEW SIERRA CLUB OUTINGS POLICY A proposed new outings policy for the Sierra Club was presented at the October and November meetings of the Angeles Chapter Council by Murray Rosenthal, a member of the Angeles Chapter Executive Committee. The proposed policy consists of six sections, as follows:    1. Concessionaires    2. Cooking Practices    3. Length, location, and coordination of trips    4. Leader training and qualification    5. Charge for outings    6. Membership for staff and participants The DPS is now complying with most of the applicable provisions of the proposed policy. However, the policy sets up new rules for location and coordination of trips that would adversely affect the DPS. These new rules state, in part: Generally, it is the policy of the Club that chapter outings outside their region, (with the exception, for the time being of California, for California chapters), should be avoided. Within a region, a chapter outing into another chapter's area should be coordinated with that chapter. Outside the region, an outing shall have been approved by the concerned chapter (or foreign country) and shall not compete with a national outing in space or time. It is the belief in establishing such policy that the objectives of outings within the Sierra Club policy framework are best served if chapters concentrate on providing shorter outings, emphasizing more local objectives, within their own regional territory, principally for their own members. At the Council meeting Joe McCosker, Ron Francisco, and Paul Lipsohn argued that, the DPS should be exempted from the proposed rules for location of outings. They pointed out that the DPS does not make trips that result in adverse impact on the desert environment or conflict with trips led by other chapters and that the requirement to coordinate trips with other chapters creates an unnecessary hardship for the DPS. They observed also that too many bureaucratic rules could be self-defeating since the rules could result in individuals making trips and climbs as private groups without the sponsorship of the Sierra Club. With regard to the proposed rules for leader training and qualification, some DPS leaders who qualified under the "grandfather clause" may not have completed the Red Cross first aid course required by the new rules. Otherwise, DPS leaders are meeting the qualification requirements. Murray said that he expected that the proposed rules will be adopted and that the DPS must comply with them starting with the Outings Schedules for March - June 1976. Accordingly, John Hellman, DPS Outings Chairman, coordinated DPS trips for the next schedule by telephone with representatives of the Grand Canyon, Uinta, and Toiyabe Chapters. John learned, that the DPS trips present no conflicts with the other chapters. The representative of the Toiyabe Chapter even indicated that they would like to join the DPS on some of its trips.

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