| SEPTEMBER 1992 | 221 | |
The Sierra Club is a national environmental organization which has a very active and broad outings calendar in Southern California. In other areas of the country the outings organizations are usually more specialized in nature and have a much higher percentage of members participating in outings than is the case with the Sierra Club. The Mountaineers and Mazamas in the Northwest, and the Colorado Mountaineering Club in Colorado are examples of outings clubs which put an emphasis on the heavy duty stuff. The Appalachian Mountain Club provides a wide range of outings in the North East, very similar in range and depth to what the Sierra Club has in Southern California. The American Youth Hostel Association provides a number of outings somewhat similar to those of the Sierra Club National. Environmental activism is not the first thought that would spring to mind with regard to any of these organizations, and the number of people in these groups interested only in environmental protection and not in outings is probably a much smaller percentage than in the Sierra Club. And of course there are environmental organizations that run few or no outings. The Sierra Club seems to have struck a balance between world class environmentalism and very extensive outings, both in the national outings and the outings run by the various Southern California Chapters.
Prior to the 1950's the Sierra Club was much more inclined to be an outings group. To be sure, it always had a large interest in preserving the environment, especially the Sierra Nevada, but it was a fairly exclusive elitist organization and one had to be sponsored by an existing member to join. When David Brower became executive director of the Sierra Club in 1952 there were 7,000 members and the club was primarily a parochial hiking group. Brower had joined the club in 1932. and was an enthusiastic outings person, with many first ascents, and at one time even supported building a ski lift to the top of 11,000 foot Mt. Hoffman in Yosemite to enhance the ski mountaineering possibilities. By 1969 he had transformed the Sierra Club into a 70,000 member awesome force in national politics, preventing no end of mischief on the part of dam builders and others. His take no prisoners tactics were legendary, and in 1971 John McPhee wrote quite a good book called Encounters with the Archdruid where he took Brower on wilderness outings with arch enemies, and made notes of the discussions. For example a raft trip down the Grand Canyon with the main government executive who was promoting the idea of damming the Grand Canyon forms the last section of the book.
One of Brower's main tools of advocacy was running expensive ads using Sierra Club funds, and his save the environment no matter what the price attitude caused the Sierra Club board to vote 10-5 to remove him from his position in 1969. His old friend Ansel Adams voted against him, although Adams later was instrumental in getting Brower back on the board in 1983. I think it's safe to say that today's Sierra Club is the organization that it is because of the vision of David Brower.
Meanwhile, in the 60's and 70's the Southern California branch of the Sierra Club was going though a truly invigorating phase with BMTC and LTC churning out thousands of people interested in leading and participating in outings.
When the dust settled from all this activity the Sierra Club was a heavy duty environmental player with a very vibrant outings branch in Southern California. Outings types living in Southern California are geographically blessed with the Sierras in the summer, the desert in the Winter, and our easy access local peaks for year round activity. And to make things even better, we have an almost endless collection of Sierra Club outings to make sure that we explore all corners of our outdoor universe. Well, almost all, the changes that have overtaken our Legal system in the last 20 years or so have had the result of trimming the activities that the club can officially sponsor, first Mexican trips and then anything requiring aid. But the outings that the Sierra Club cannot sponsor seem to be well covered by private trips or by a purposely asset-less outings club set up to fill the gaps created by the liability crisis. But the Southern California chapters of the Sierra Club continue to provide the basic structure that brings us all together, with our Desert Peaks Section having a large chunk of the action in the winter months.
Our bundle of energy Conservation Chair, Pat Acheson is always looking for ideas and help in her efforts to preserve and enhance the environment. Give Pat a jingle if you have any ideas about the environment or want to give her a hand the next time she needs it.
