Report from Front Lines: Visit to Sierra Club Office

me | 6/25/2002 | me

[RooRoobird14]

Hubby just called to report on his visit to the local Sierra Club office in Phoenix.

He had tried calling many times yesterday, and couldn't get through on the phone lines.

Their office front doors were locked--he kept knocking and knocking until they gave up and let him in (LOL). The office window shades were drawn, and they obviously wanted everyone to think they were closed.

The woman who runs the office is one PISSED OFF bull dyke(not making this up). She was extremely angry that he was "bothering" them. She said she was "too busy" and "didn't have time to talk to people like him."

He asked her how many lawyers the Sierra Club employed, and she refused to answer. He asked her what the Sierra Club was doing to help put out the fires and she said "that's none of your business.". He asked her how much federal (taxpayer) grant money the Sierra Club got this year; she said "I don't have to answer that question."

There was a young man in the office who was actually polite and willing to talk to my hysband, but the B.D. was an absolute b*tch.

While hubby was in the office, the B.D. was replaying recorded phone messages left for them by angry callers. Hubby overhead three of the messages. All three were from enraged refugees of the fire who left f-word-peppered messages. One man (said he lost his home in the fire) said he was going to get even with them, he had a gun, and he'd take his time to get even. The BD was taking notes and muttering about filing police reports.

While I don't support anyone threatening violence on the Sierra Club, I can certainly understand how some of the displaced residents could be completely enraged at this point.

Frankly, I'm glad Governor Hull set off a firestorm criticizing enviro-wacko groups and how their lawsuits have paralyzed the Forest Service in general. The dialogue that's ensuing is a good thing.

[LarryLied]

Going to organize a Sierra Club freep in Colorado? If you haven't been to one, they are a heck of a lot of fun. Please ping me if you post a thread on it. Lots on experts on FR who know how to get the maximum media exposure.

[Stultis]

You should go to the Sierra Club web site and read a little of their "explanation" of why the fires are made worse by the big logging companies. Oh yes, I'm not kidding. They say that the loggers just chop down the biggest trees which are more resistant to fire and leave the little ones and debris all over. It's really amazing.

Even more amazing, in light of this "explanation," that the fires are starting in and ravaging public lands while the private forests, owned and exploited by the logging companies, go relatively unscathed. Apparently Mother Nature hasn't been reading the Sierra Club's tripe.

[AnAmericanMother]

Another little-known major wildfire was the Peshtigo blaze in Wisconsin, in October 1871. Oddly enough, it happened the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, so there was very little in the press (then or now).

It was the largest forest fire in American history. It burned the entire north shore of Green Bay from just north of the city of Green Bay up over the Michigan border. Estimated 1300-1500 dead. At least 800 dead in the town of Peshtigo ALONE.

The Peshtigo Fire

[Let's Roll]

"Just recently, someone posted here that there's a law protecting these types of orgs against lawsuits. Maybe someone has the details."

UNBELIEVABLE!

[Stultis]

at least the sierra club is anti immigration.

A perfectly logical consequence of their anti-growth philosophy. I'd glady trade even one granola munching environazi for ten thousand hard-working Mexican immigrants.

[SGCOS]

I'm in Colorado and listening to a local station on Phoenix, http://www.kyfi.com/

CNN just got escorted out of the town of Show Low, which is 1/2 mile from the fire.

[mc5cents]

Apparently Mother Nature hasn't been reading the Sierra Club's tripe.

Apparently indeed. Strange, no? --LOL

[patton]

So does Mgabe, when discussing the famine in Zimbabwe.

I wonder what else they have in common?

[Tijeras_Slim]

The "Forest Guardians" are another group of Santa Fe proto-druids that are dangerous.

[PeterPrinciple]

"biggest trees which are more resistant to fire and leave the little ones and debris all over. "

I hate to agree with them but I think this may be true. But I don't interpret this to mean we don't harvest trees, just that we manage the problem to create a win/win for the economy and the environment

Any experts out there?

[Let's Roll]

"We can't sue them, thanks to an Executive Order signed by their Poster Boy, the Clintoon, the first Black Enviralist President."

So, let's see, we can't sue them and we have to support them through our taxes - so now when normal people take the law into their own hands re the SC and their kind, there will be gasp much outrage etc.

[RooRoobird14]

CNN escorted out? Obviously Chip the CNN Boy Toy Reporter was tired of that pesky smoke messing up his hair style.

[PeterPrinciple]

In looking a little more at fire history, it does appear there were a lot of fires during the late 1800s and early 1900s..........and then we got "lucky" with fewer fires.

So no matter how you managed forests it didn't matter because of the prior fires.

History has a way of teaching us lessons???

[MotleyGirl70]

Great report! Way to go RooRoobird14's hubby!

Love your abbreviation B.D.=Bull Dyke. hehe

[AnAmericanMother]

No luck about it.

I used to share an office with a former forester for GP who saw the light and became a lawyer. :-D

He told me that the devastating fires of the late nineteenth century revolutionized forestry practice. Good forest management concentrates not only on producing salable timber, but protecting that timber from loss . . . whether it's pine beetles, timber poachers, or fire. Even the greediest evil clear-cutting timber man in the world, motivated only by his selfish desire for profit (/sarcasm) would not want his entire stock in trade to go up in smoke.

The Sierra Dumb crowd, on the other hand, remind me of the jealous husband or boyfriend who says, "If I cain't have her, ain't NObody gonna have her."

[savedbygrace]

Curiosity question: You've been an FR member since Nov of 2000, and your screen name is Let's Roll. Did you get your screen name changed after 9/11/01? Without losing your Member Since date?

If so, how'd you do that?

[HiJinx]

Glad to hear that the Sierra Club is also feeling the heat.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but...
The local Sierra Club rep ought to be on the firelines in Show Low, where she'd have an idea what heat really is.

< /rant>

[RooRoobird14]

The Sierra Club would have everyone believe that logging hasn't changed at all in the last 150 years, and the logging companies are still doing the same self-destructive dumb things that were done in the 180o's. U.S. logging companies DO NOT clear cut anymore, DO NOT careless torch the slash from logging, etc.

The Sierra Club Watermelons are the same fools who say forest roads aren't needed to clean the forests out through salvage logging or to effectively fight a wild fire ("They can just parachute in....that's what smokejumpers are for....")

[HiJinx]

Please, Lord, tell me someone didn't actually suggest smokejumpers!

How many times did Jim(?) Paxon tell us about using bulldozers to run a fireline off of Juniper Ridge last weekend in an effort to turn the fire away from Show Low?

Don't they realize the firefighters used the bulldozers because THERE AREN'T ANY ROADS!!!!!!!???????

[Paulus Invictus]

Other major contributors are the Ford, Rockerfeller and Petty Foundations. Major money is flowing into Sierra Club and the Sierra Club's Legal Fund coffers. They need to face a huge class action suit and so does the Forest Service. Go for it residents of AZ and CO!