September 26, 2003
Ayacara and Chile’s Patagonian Rainforests
by Richard Vercoe
In 1978 a prominent Chilean family purchased the Huequi Peninsula in southern Chile as a sanctuary. As one of the few coastal temperate rainforest of the world, it was highly sought for its timber and minerals. The Ayacara Foundation was established for multiple reasons: to protect this spectacular bioregion and to practice sustainable industry as a model for other Chilean communities. Today, the preserve and foundation conducts an eco-tourism operation, a laboratory for testing and manufacturing high-quality woods, a training center for sustainable construction, wood-making, and textile skills, and numerous biological and anthropological research projects. Richard Vercoe is a graduate of Sierra College and UCDavis and now is Director of Development for Ayacara.
October 24, 2003
Hetch Hetchy Valley: Yosemite’s Lost Twin
by Ron Good
In 1870 John Muir made his first visit to Hetch Hetchy Valley. He described it as “a grand landscape garden, one of nature’s rarest and most precious mountain mansions.” After a long battle to save it, the Raker Act (1913) dealt a crushing blow to Muir and fellow nature lovers. Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy was to be dammed; drowned and harnessed for San Francisco’s personal water and electricity. Hetch Hetchy, the name thought derived from an Ahwahneeche phrase meaning “grassy floor,” was a broad, glacier-carved canyon, with steep granite walls and luxuriant waterfalls; considered a twin of the famous Yosemite Valley. While the idea of constructing a man-made dam in Yosemite seemed preposterous, and contrary to the purpose of the national parks, this mountain treasure was removed from public enjoyment forever-or was it? Ron Good is Executive Director of Restore Hetch Hetchy. His slide and video program describes the natural history of this remarkable place and the debate to dam it…as well as current efforts to restore it.
November 21, 2003
Tracking the Tasmanian Tiger
by Guy VanCleave
To Guy VanCleave, nothing would be more thrilling than meeting a thylacine in the dark forests of Tasmania. The true story of this legendary “marsupial wolf” or “Tasmanian tiger”represents a tragic extinction of one of Earth’s great creatures-an extinction that could have been avoided, and a true loss for humanity. Lost was a highly evolved creature with millions of years of finely-tuned skills; intelligence and behavior begging for human communication. The thylacinids-one as large as a lion-represent a line of marsupial carnivores that evolved in Australia; the last survivors, the “Tasmanian tigers” were hunted to extinction. Guy VanCleave is professor of zoology at Modesto Junior College. His numerous expeditions to Australia left him with a desire to follow the enigmatic tracks of the thylacine. Countless treks, visits to museums, towns, and pubs reminded VanCleave that the thylacine tracks are still warm.
December 12, 2003
A Himalayan Odyssey
by Dr. Ed Weiss
Ten days after 9/11 on the third plane allowed to leave the U.S., Ed Weiss traveled to Nepal to join nine other Americans to participate in a philanthropic trek to some of Nepal’s most remote villages. The purpose of the trip was to provide medical care and to help remodel a school. Nearly 150 locals helped carry dental and medical equipment into the mountains from Kathmandu to Shertung, Dhunche and Tipling. Three men, two with only flip-flops on their feet and one without shoes, loaded the volunteers’ three 160-pound generators on their backs, held with straps around their heads, and walked for days, over a 13,000 foot pass, to get to these remote villages. While exotic travel is nothing new for Weiss, these Himalayan villages, their remarkable scenery, and their beautiful, graceful people captured his heart. An Auburn dentist, Weiss works along with others in the Flying Doctors, a group traveling to Mexico and elsewhere to offer free health care to the poor. His video presentation will set the stage for a description of this remarkable journey among the mountains, the wildlife and the people of the Himalaya.