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By Carol Norton
From Rio Grande Sierran, March/April 2008
This Earth Day, let’s ask ourselves, “What can we do about the climate crisis?” “How are our lifestyle choices going to make a difference?” Surely every choice, from using compact fluorescent lightbulbs to riding our bikes, is important. Each slows or decreases greenhouse gas emissions and their effects on the environment.
Which then begs the question – given that climate change is happening, what can be done to increase resiliency to those changes? In particular, how does the diversity of wildlife species in the arid West survive?
It stands to reason that healthy, fully functional ecosystems are the most resilient to change. In a system with nothing missing, the sum is greater than the parts and can withstand changes that would be a fatal blow to an unhealthy or compromised ecosystem. Species are less likely to be pushed toward the brink of extinction in healthy ecosystems.
For 10 years, WildEarth Guardians (formerly Forest Guardians and Sinapu) has concentrated on restoring once-degraded streamside ecosystems to health as a step towards resiliency in the face of inevitable climate change. In this land of little rain, green river corridors are literally our arteries of life. Eighty percent of all vertebrate species in the Southwest depend on wetland areas, and over half of these species cannot survive without regular access to riparian zones. By removing invasive trees such as salt cedar and planting thousands of native cottonwoods and willows, WildEarth Guardians’ river preserves continue to grow as safe-havens for beavers, migrating songbirds, cutthroat trout, and numerous other wildlife. An added bonus is that these trees absorb some of the harmful greenhouse gas emissions from the air. Restoring streamside habitat makes wildlife less venerable to climate change while simultaneously offsetting our carbon footprint.
You’ve probably already replaced your lightbulbs and started riding your bike more, so why not restore an ecosystem this Earth Day! You’ve got the power in your hands. Join WildEarth Guardians this spring at any of our Earth Day volunteer restoration events; be a part of a wonderful day of tree planting that culminates weeks of preparation, and see another section of stream return to its fully functional beauty. The dates are:
For more information, contact Carol Norton at WildEarth Guardians (505/988-9126 ext. 1150, cnorton@wildearthguardians.org).
By Cliff Larsen
From Rio Grande Sierran, March/April 2008
Patricia Van Ingen as Anuba in Wind River (1998). (Photo courtesy of Lion’s Gate Films)
Late last year the Rio Grande Chapter received the timely and surprising news that we had received a bequest from the estate of Patricia Van Ingen. It was timely in that the bequest entirely made up our budget shortfall in 2007, which had been of much concern. It was surprising in that Ms. Van Ingen was entirely unknown to us.
For the next several months we worked to find out more about her – not an easy task as she had died in February 1999 and her estate had been in adjudication since. But what we learned told us about a very surprising individual and one we would have liked to have known.
Patricia Van Ingen was part Anglo and part Cherokee. How much of either is unknown to even her closest friends. But it was from her Cherokee mother that she received her native heritage and created within her the themes that dominated her work and her art.
She studied art first in New York and then in Paris. While in Paris developing her art, she became a part of the expatriate American artist community. Ms. Van Ingen was then – and remained – a very striking individual: so much so that Man Ray, already a renowned photographer, used her as a model in his work. Returning to New York in the 1960s and following a suggestion from Andy Warhol, she opened the PVI Gallery on East 73rd Street. She showed superb ethnic art as well as works by such artists as Warhol, John Chamberlain, Samaras, and Christo.
It was natural then that Ms. Van Ingen ultimately came to live and work in Santa Fe. Those who knew her then referred to her as “exotic” and “mysterious.” She seemed to have lived a modest life in New Mexico. It was a place that seemed to fit her. In 1989, however, she found a new expression for her art – motion pictures. In that year she appeared as “Pueblo Woman” in the feature film Powwow Highway. Small parts followed and in 1994 she moved to Los Angeles, registered with the Native American Indian Talent and Casting Agency, and got more serious about her acting career.
Her friend and agent Marjorie Tanin referred to her in this period as the oldest female Native American in the talent pool. Character roles naturally followed in television (roles in Dr. Quinn – Medicine Woman, Harts of the West, Promised Land, and even Roseanne) and in independent features. Her last role (1998) was as Anuba in the feature Wind River, opposite Russell Means, Wes Studi, and Karen Allen. The photo accompanying this article is from that movie – her last.
We at the Sierra Club thank Patricia Van Ingen for her love of the land and her concern for New Mexico. We would have liked to have known her in life. Our research continues.
For more information or to learn how you can leave a bequest to the Sierra Club, contact Chapter Treasurer Cliff Larsen.
To raise funds for our conservation and climate change initiatives, we are selling limited edition prints of seven different raptors painted by Richard Sloan. At $140 a print, you can decorate your wall, make an investment, and help the cause. Details.
Bequests and a Kindly Spirit
Club Election Coming This Spring
Earth Day (4/22): Working to Preserve
Ecosystems
Buy a Bird Print / Make a Donation
A Note From the Chair
2004 Rio Grande Sierrans
2005 Rio Grande Sierrans
2006 Rio Grande Sierrans
2007 Rio Grande Sierrans
2008 Rio Grande Sierrans
The Chapter’s Spring 2008 Conservation and Executive Committee meetings will be held aMarch 29-30, at Sevilleta Wildlife Refuge. Contact Conservation Chair Ken Hughes or Chapter Chair Susan Martin or more information. Carpooling is encouraged.
The annual election for the Club’s Board of Directors is now underway. Those eligible to vote in the national Sierra Club election will receive in the mail (or by Internet if you chose the electronic delivery option) your national Sierra Club ballot. This will include information on the candidates and where you can find additional information on the Club’s website.
The Board of Directors sets Club policy and budgets at the national level and works closely with the Executive Director and staff to operate the Club. Voting for candidates who express your views on how the Club should grow and change is both a privilege and responsibility of membership. Members frequently state that they don’t know the candidates and find it difficult to vote without learning more. You can learn more by asking questions of your group and chapter leadership and other experienced members you know. Visit the Club’s election website: www.sierraclub.org/bod/2008election. This site provides links to additional information about candidates, and their views on a variety of issues facing the Club and the environment.
By Susan Martin, Chapter Chair
From Rio Grande Sierran, Jan./Feb. 2008
Welcome to a New Year and thank you for “staying in the fray” and
protecting the environment of the Land of Enchantment and El Paso. While
one can’t escape messages exhorting you to vote for a presidential
candidate, other, less publicized campaigns are in the making: campaigns
for offices that can have a much greater impact on your community.
The Sierra Club has a rigorous procedure that must be followed in making endorsements. Each endorsement requires at least a two-thirds vote by two entities of the Club, and is the product of candidate questionnaires and interviews. Your fellow activists at the Group and Chapter levels take the endorsement process seriously and volunteer many hours to ensure the integrity of their selections for public office. I ask you to pay attention to the choices your Group makes for local political offices, from city council and county commission to your representatives in the state legislature. The Chapter Executive Committee may also be making endorsements for the primary and general elections for the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representative.
January 2008 heralds not just another election year for a new Commander-in-Chief, but it is also the beginning of a 30-day legislative session in Santa Fe. In 2008, the New Mexico Legislature is constrained to considering fiscal matters, bills that were vetoed the previous session, and bills directly requested by the Governor (often referred to as being on his “call”). Dan Lorimier, our experienced and able lobbyist, needs your help in contacting your state representatives and senators when they consider environmental issues. Dan can be reached at 575/740-2927 or daniel.lorimier@sierraclub.org. He can assist you in reaching your legislator. Contacts by constituents (and voters) from a politician’s district have strong impacts on legislators, often more so than lobbyists representing industry, since the politicians recognize they hold their office only by virtue of winning an election, and lobbyists don’t vote in their districts.
This year is a key time for you to make your position on protection of our air, land, and water resources known through your vote and your voice. I urge you to take action, starting with contacting Dan to see how you can help during the legislative session, from January 15 to February 14. Thank you in advance for amplifying our influence and protecting our environment. —
