Students Exploring Donner Summit and Clair Tappaan Lodge

Published on Oct 6, 2008 - 7:20:48 AM

By: Sierra Nevada Group of the Sierra Club

Oct. 6, 2008 - The local group of the Sierra Club, the Sierra Nevada group, will showcase young environmentalists from SYRCL and student filmmakers from Synergia Learning Ventures at our evening meeting on Friday, November 21, 2008.

These two groups of young people participated in overnight stays at Clair Tappaan Lodge during the summer of 2008. SYRCL (South Yuba River Citizens League) took their students on a field project for leadership training and for an applied science curriculum of ecological assessment and experiential education set in the natural beauty of Donner Summit, the headwaters for the South Yuba and North Fork American Rivers.

During their time staying at Clair Tappaan, Hank Meals, a local historian, led the SYRCL students on a hike up Mount Judah and Mount Lincoln. He discussed the various watersheds as well as the history of indigenous people and European settlers who traversed Donner Summit. Students also participated in a discussion of land-use principles. They served as site leaders for SYRCL's Great Yuba Clean-Up on September 20th.

The students from Synergia interviewed guests and staff, took photographs of the surrounding forest and the rustic, beautiful building to get a sense for the place, shooting footage for a short documentary film about the Lodge, its history and its contemporary value to the public. The young filmmakers talked to people who were there for the first time, and those who had been coming there for almost half a century. What they came away with is a beautiful story of a piece of Sierra history and heritage. The Clair Tappaan story has been crafted into a short film that will be used to help spread the word about this historic Lodge so that others may use it and therefore keep it alive and thriving. The world premiere of their film will be shown at the meeting.

These experiences for youth were made possible by The Denny and Ida Wilcher award of $3,000 earned by the Sierra Nevada group (SNG) "for its fundraising efforts on behalf of the Clair Tappaan Lodge." SNG decided to apply the award to further environmental education for youth in our area.

Sierra Nevada Group annual awards will be presented during our November meeting.

This meeting is the monthly gathering of the Sierra Nevada Group at Seaman's Lodge at 425 Nimrod Street in Nevada City. It starts with a potluck at 6:30. p.m. The program begins at 7:15 with announcements. At 7:30 the program will begin. All are welcome and admission is free. Bring a dish to share, your own utensils and your family and friends.

For more information contact Lois Shelton at (530) 272-4160 or visit the group's web page at http://motherlode.sierraclub.org/SierraNevada/index.htm

In the interest of fostering civil and issue-oriented discourse, YubaNet does not publish reader comments identified by anonymous Internet "handles" (fake user ID names like "farfromthinkin"). Your full and real name will be published with your comment. Your email address will not be shown, unless you specifically "uncheck" the box 'Hide my email.' By submitting a comment you consent to our rules.