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Fall - 2016

vol. 40 no. 4 Voice of the Kansas Sierra Club

The View from Standing Changing Kansas, One Rock Election At A By Brian Koon Time First night in the camp of the Rosebud Sioux on the south bank of the Cannonball River. I arrive just before midnight. We must not let this opportunity Pitch black surrounds the camp. A few fires offer some light. pass us by!! So much in our natural No road but a dry dirt lane packed hard by hundreds of cars world is being subjugated by the dic- and pickups traveling here over the months of the protest. I tates of Big Fossil Fuels and Corporate park, climb out, stretch from the long drive, and as I look America. Go to page 6 to learn who to upwards. It’s as if the sky has exploded into stars. The Milky vote for and, importantly, how YOU See Elect on page 6 See Standing Rock page 8 can help.

inside Frackquakes Migrating to Northwest Kansas ...... pg 4 The Climate Crisis and the Food We Eat...... pg 5 Endorsements and Political Information ...... pg 6 Thank You, Yvonne! ...... pg 12 “Burn, Prairie, Burn” say KSU Researchers ...... pg 14

www.kansas.sierraclub.org

1 Back to Table of Contents Changing Kansas, One Election At A Time For all our 2016 election information go to: http://kansas.sierraclub.org/get-your-kansas-political-information-here-2/ or, go to our home page www.kansas.sierraclub.org, look for Uncle Sam, and click Learn More

The above links take you to our Political Home Page on Elect Jay Sidie in the our website where we have tried to put all the information U.S. 3rd Congressional regarding our recommendations for the upcoming Kansas election. Specifically, you will find: District. • How to find your state House and Senate districts We have a great shot of electing some- • How to find your U.S. Congressional districts and one we can count on in the U.S. 3rd. Jay who your U.S. Senators are Sidie will be a breath of fresh air!! Get • Find out how to send in your Application for involved in Jay’s campaign. Go to Jay’s website and find out how you can help. Advanced Ballot http://www.jay4congress.com/ • Find our Kansas Sierra Club endorsements sorted by legislative district, by candidates’ last name, and Kansas Sierra Club Legislative by candidates’ home town Endorsements • Find a link for volunteer opportunities to help local candidates Office Dist Candidate • Find our link to donate to our Kansas Sierra Club Kansas House 003 Kansas House 010 John Wilson Political Action Committee online Kansas House 014 Merlin Ring • Find our Legislative Scorecard prepared by our Kansas House 015 R. Paul McCorkle Legislative Director Zack Pistora Kansas House 016 • Find our position on a Kansas Constitutional Kansas House 017 Helen M. Stoll Amendment about wildlife (FYI, vote no. See page Kansas House 018 Kansas House 020 Jan H. Kessinger 3 in this newsletter.) Kansas House 021 Kansas House 023 Amber Versola How can I say this? Kansas House 024 Kansas House 027 Larry A. Miller Kansas House 031 Louis E. Ruiz Ya’ll need to step it up!! Kansas House 032 By Craig Wolfe, Communications Director Kansas House 033 Kansas House 034 Valdenia C. Winn [email protected] Kansas House 036 Frankly, I have been disappointed in our members this year. Kansas House 038 Mike Fonkert Electing Environmental Heroes cannot be and should not be Kansas House 039 Angeliina Lawson only up to Kansas Sierra Club leaders. At our PAC parties, we Kansas House 041 have more candidates there than Sierra members. There are Kansas House 042 Kara Reed not enough volunteers to help our endorsed candidates. We Kansas House 044 Barbara W. Ballard Kansas House 045 Terry Manies are struggling to raise money so that we can direct resources Kansas House 046 Dennis "Boog" Highberger to elect the right candidates. Kansas House 048 Sandy Ackerson With Brownback’s record, this is such an enormous oppor- Kansas House 050 Chris Huntsman tunty. Anti-enviro legislators who are beholden to the Kochs Kansas House 053 Jim Gartner and Big Fossil Fuels have never been more vulnerable. Kansas House 054 Renae Hansen But you can still make a huge difference. Kansas House 055 The next few weeks are the weeks that really Kansas House 056 count! Check out our website. Volunteer Kansas House 057 Kansas House 060 William L. Ballard 6 your time,.Write a check. We can do this, or we can drop the ball. Kansas House 066 Kansas House 069 Gerrett Morris Please, show your true colors. Fall - 2016 Kansas House 070 Jo Schwartz Back to Table of Contents

Office Dist Candidate Kansas House 071 Jeffrey A Zamrzla I’m Not Asking for Your Kansas House 078 Jason K. Darby Kansas House 082 Danette Harris Money...Really! Kansas House 083 Kansas House 084 Elaine Giessel, Chapter Vice Chair Kansas House 085 Patty Beamer The Sierra Club actually values your passion and skills as Kansas House 086 Jim Ward much as your monetary support. That may come as a surprise, Kansas House 087 Tonya Howard given the many times you’ve been asked for donations. But in Kansas House 088 Elizabeth Bishop Kansas House 092 John Carmichael reality, the oldest and most effective grassroots environmental Kansas House 093 Deb Shepard organization in the nation depends upon the expertise and Kansas House 094 Susan K. Osborne commitment of its diverse members. Kansas House 095 Tom Sawyer Running an environmental nonprofit organization has real Kansas House 097 Stan Reeser challenges. Our “program,” including our many different out- Kansas House 098 Steven G. Crum ings and our conservation objectives, is what appeals to most Kansas House 103 Ponka-We Victors people and keeps them paying dues. It’s not that difficult to Kansas House 106 Todd E. Frye attract people who want to go hiking and or who hope to share Kansas House 116 Jolene E. Roitman their interests with fellow environmental advocates. 001 But the sustainability stool of the Sierra Club itself has two Kansas Senate 002 other essential legs: administration and fund-raising. Those Kansas Senate 003 individuals with expertise in leading outings or on specific Kansas Senate 005 Bill Hutton conservation issues have their work cut out, but we often lack Kansas Senate 007 Megan England true managerial skills. We simply can’t expect the technical Kansas Senate 008 Don McGuire “wonks” to do everything well. Kansas Senate 009 Chris Morrow We have a great need for new leaders, whose passion for the Kansas Senate 010 Vicki Hiatt environment is balanced with administrative experience. To Kansas Senate 011 Skip Fannen assist running the organization we welcome money-managers, Kansas Senate 014 Kansas Senate 014 Mark Pringle educators, secretaries, meeting facilitators, publicists, graphic Kansas Senate 016 Gabriel Costilla designers, grant writers, social media fans, students, campaign Kansas Senate 017 Susan G Fowler strategists, hospitality hosts and event coordinators who are Kansas Senate 018 willing to put their skills to work for the environment. It’s Kansas Senate 019 a huge challenge that is critical for the survival of the Sierra Kansas Senate 020 Candace Ayars Club in Kansas. Kansas Senate 021 Logan Heley Largely because the Kansas Sierra Club has a relatively small Kansas Senate 022 membership and limited financial resources, we can’t afford Kansas Senate 023 Spencer Kerfoot to hire full-time staff. Our Chapter is governed and driven Kansas Senate 025 Lynn W. Rogers by a “board” of elected volunteers who serve as the Executive Kansas Senate 026 Benjamin Poteete Kansas Senate 028 Keith Humphrey Committee (ExCom). Currently, the Chapter ExCom has Kansas Senate 037 Kevin King three under-paid and over-worked part-time staff to assist Kansas Senate 039 A. Zacheriah Worf volunteer efforts. The five local Groups in Kansas function Kansas Senate 040 Alex Herman almost entirely with volunteer effort, with assistance from Chapter staff as needed. Volunteer burn-out is real; we need help. Younger perspec- Help Elect Environmental Heroes. tives would be great, but retired members often can contribute Donate to Kansas Sierra Club PAC more time. If you can’t serve on a governing board now, per- haps you would work short-term on a special administrative, Make check out to the above and mail to: conservation or outings committee or project. A current leader Gary Anderson, PAC Treasurer can help find the right place for your skill set and passions; 5240 Decatur Rd you don’t need to be an issues expert. Meriden, KS 66512-9278 Now is the time to step up. Our annual For Online Donations, go to: Chapter and Group ExCom elections are ap- https://squareup.com/store/kansas-sierra-club-pac proaching. Nomination committees at both 7 Please note for checks and online PAC contributions, do- the Chapter and Group levels are searching nations or $50 or more require your address. For donations See Sierra Elections on page 17 of $150 or more require your occupation. Fall - 2016 Back to Table of Contents Southwind Recycling Burn Prairie, continued from page 15 stood by its alignment with a paper published in 2013 by Twidwell, et al6 of Oklahoma State University. Both papers Activists Celebrate 75th advocates for “burning cooperatives” that pool labor, equip- ment and expertise to achieve more range burning. The OSU Wedding Anniversary group, however, has also pioneered the patch burn technique to mitigate some of the negative effects. KSU’s press release1, “Burn, prairie, burn,” announcing the subject article says: To find solutions for this problem, Briggs said land managers are working with fire cooperatives and the Kansas Flint Hills Smoke Management to find best practices and compromise. It’s unclear from which stake holders, the authors are expecting a compromise. The 2010 all-voluntary, Flint Hills Smoke Management Plan, which after six years has clearly failed to reduce the air quality problem, does not represent a compromise, not from the cattle industry anyway. Actually Bill Cather with Margaret and Paul Miller at the the 2010 SMP called for less burning, not more. Even if the Wichita Library celebrating their 75th Wedding authors’ recommendations were applied to only those areas Anniversary. Margaret volunteered at the Wichita currently unburned or burned only once every ten years, we Library for years. are looking at burning, every other year or so, another 1.5 2 Paul and Margaret Miller have been lifetime members of the million acres. That’s a lot of new smoke. Sierra Club and live in Wichita, Kansas. Last year Bill Cather Nonetheless, to the extent that this effort results in major dedicated a campsite to Paul and Margaret Miller along the Gi- changes to current range management practices, such as burn- ant’s Path at the Old Goat Ranch commemorating other Sierra ing outside the usual April time window and much greater use Club Giants. Paul and Margaret certainly are giants in their of the patch burn technique, it could be a step in the right own right. Their impact in Wichita, Kansas has been huge. direction. If it becomes a distraction from dealing with cur- They founded the Pro Kansas Miller Recycling Center, 725 E. rent intensive burning and grazing practices, with everybody Clark, Wichita, Kansas and Margaret advocated and assisted burning at roughly the same time, we will continue to have in forming the Citizens Utility Ratepayer Board. Margaret a major public health problem. All this smoke most directly is a former editor of the Kansas Chapter newsletter, and she afflicts citizens in small towns and rural areas. Some of these published the Recycling newsletter. Both Paul and Margaret people may not benefit when the cattle industry is able to are activists for the environment, and Bill Cather and I paid maximize profits with excessive burning and stocking. tribute to them at their 75th Wedding Anniversary celebration. Conclusions Check out the article Beccy Tanner with The Wichita Eagle The authors’ projection of woody encroachment in the published at https://goo.gl/pExTW6 . coming decades goes far beyond what is justified by the breadth and quality of their data. In particular their claim that a three- year fire burn frequency is not sufficient to prevent woody Sierra Elections, continued from page 7 encroachment is inadequately supported. Their model does not address several important variables in the Flint Hills including for new members willing and able to commit their time and topography, grazing intensity and grazer species. The authors energy to the Sierra Club efforts for the next two years. acknowledge that their primary independent variable, the Details on expectations for leaders and job descriptions are fire return interval that enables woody encroachment, needs available upon request; the Sierra Club has in-depth training significant refinement. materials posted online. Current leaders are willing to provide Author information: Craig Volland, of KC, Ks. is Chair of mentoring and are listed with contact information in the Planet Agriculture and Air Quality Committees of the Kansas Chapter, Kansas newsletter and on the website. We all started simply Sierra Club, and Ellie Skokan is a retired biologist and a member as dues-payers, the lowest rung on the “engagement” ladder. of the Conservation Committee of the Chapter’s Southwind group Give us a shout. in Wichita. Finally, if you can’t step up to help lead the Sierra Club in References can be found at: Kansas, don’t despair. We’ll still gladly accept your money in http://kansas.sierraclub.org/burn-prairie- support of the work we are doing. burn-say-ksu-researchers-1/ 17 Elaine Giessel – “Chief Prairie Dog Rescuer”

Fall - 2016