Bill Armstrong hiking the John Muir trail. He'll share the trip on Zoom at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 9. See our Meetup page for registration and log-on information. (photo from Bill Armstrong)
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Our outings change
to Zoom adventures
most Thursdays
By BILL ARMSTRONG
Outings Chair, Northeast Florida Group
We can't take you out into our beautiful parks or on our wonderful creeks due to COVID-19—we’re still closed down until at least August 31. But we have an exciting array of free online outings for you this summer.
• We have a full slate of virtual outing programs scheduled for Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. via Zoom. You can find registration forms and complete instructions
on our Meetup
page.
Upcoming programs include tours of National Parks such as Yosemite, Sequoia, Yellowstone, Glacier, Mesa Verde, Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Denali.
We'll also take you on virtual hikes of the Appalachian Trail, the John Muir Trail, and the trail along the C&O Canal.
These will be posted on our Meetup page several weeks in advance.
• We have completed video tours of 13 parks and hiking trails in our area, and we'll be doing more. You can find links to these virtual
hikes here
. These short videos are a great way to familiarize yourself with the wealth of parks and preserves in Northeast Florida.
•
We have an informational video on Introduction to the Ecology of Florida's Coastal Systems. You can
find it here
.
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Group chair leaving
after decade of work
and many accolades
Janet Stanko, a long-time environmental activist and the chair of the Sierra Club’s Northeast Florida Group, is leaving her post to move to Tampa this fall.
Stanko, who has chaired the group for nearly 10 years, said she and her husband had been thinking for the past few years about moving to the Tampa area to be with family, but have just found a perfect townhouse there and decided the time to change is now.
An excom subcommittee will explore the possible candidates for the job. The full excom—the 11-member executive committee that is the group’s governing board—is responsible for choosing her successor. A decision will be made by September.
Stanko is a well-known environmental leader both in the Jacksonville area and in the state—she received the state chapter’s highest award, the Florida Chapter Medal, last fall. After she moves to Tampa, she plans to keep up her involvement with the club, especially leading a state-wide effort to convince Publix to eliminate plastic bags.
She joined the club in 1993 and became a leader in fighting a major Northeast Florida environmental plague—the air and water pollution caused by the Jacksonville Electric Authority’s use of coal fired power plants. Working with other groups, Janet represented Sierra Club in its 1999 campaign, challenging JEA to adopt a Clean Energy Program. After its success, in 2005 she organized an event to recognize JEA for its commitment to renewable energy solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, and landfill gas capacity.
In the Northeast Florida Group, she was involved in vetting political candidates who sought the club’s endorsement, and she established relationships with politicians to educate them about the club’s positions. In 2011, she was elected group chair and broadened her advocacy work by forging links with other environmental groups such as the St. Johns Riverkeeper.
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St. Johns River
needs help to ease effects of dredging
The Sierra Club is joining with the St. Johns Riverkeeper to seek mitigation for the planned St. Johns River dredging.
“The bottom line is that the dredging will harm our river and its wildlife and will make our community more vulnerable to future storms. Yet, we are left with no mitigation to offset the damage that will be done. The good news is that it is not too late to fortify our river and our neighborhoods," Riverkeeper Chair Marty Jones writes in the Florida Times-Union.
Here’s the background and what you can do.
After eight years of lawsuits and protests, the Riverkeeper writes, the Deep Dredge is underway with virtually no mitigation, putting the St. Johns and our communities at risk.
On June 22, the Mayor's Budget Review Committee voted to authorize borrowing $75 million to fund a bridge loan and grant to the Jacksonville Port Authority for dredging the St. Johns River. The loan and grant proposal now goes to City Council for final approval.
Right now, your voice is needed. If you live in Jacksonville, contact your City Council member and Mayor Curry. Tell them NO funding should be provided from the city without mitigation to offset the impacts from the dredging. If Jacksonville taxpayers are going to fund the dredging, our elected leaders have a responsibility to protect our River and our community. Future generations depend on our collective voice.
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Meetings
July 20, Monday, 7 p.m
. on Zoom. A discussion on the environment with Donna Deegan, a candidate for U.S. House District 4.
Go to Meetup
for details and log-in information
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Trump prepares to open
Florida Coast for oil drilling—after the election is over
The Trump administration is preparing to open the door to oil and gas drilling off Florida’s coast — but will wait until after the November election to avoid blowback in a swing state whose waters both parties have long considered sacrosanct, the
online news site Politico
reports
.
Four people familiar with the plan told Politico that while the emphasis now is on the Gulf Coast, the Atlantic Coast may also be in play.
Drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico would fulfill a long-sought goal of energy companies, giving them access to potentially billions of barrels of oil that have been off-limits since the federal government withdrew leases it had sold in 1985.
But even the possibility of drilling is a politically explosive topic for Floridians, who worry that oil spills would devastate their tourism-based economy in a reprise of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster.
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About the Sierra Sentry
The Sierra Sentry is the newsletter of the Sierra Club’s
Northeast Florida Group
. It is published every month with environmental news and activites of interest to area residents.
Contributions—photos, essays, and poems—from readers are welcomed. Questions and comments? Write to the editor,
Robert Blade
.
Not a member of Sierra?
Go here
to join and receive a free tote bag.
The Sierra Club is the nation’s oldest and largest conservation group. It is subdivided into state chapters, and each state chapter is made up of groups from different areas of the state.
Its mantra is "Explore. Enjoy. Protect"
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Sierra Club, Northeast Florida Group | sierrasentry@gmail.com | sierraclub.org/florida/northeast-florida
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