Conservation will be the topic of the day when on Saturday, March 27th, the Lehigh Valley Sierra Club will join local hiking clubs for an 8 mile hike at Jacobsburg State Park. We will be hiking various trails on this lovely park located off Route 33 at the Belfast exit. First time hikers with leader will be screened. Optional Pizza stop after the hike. Contact hike leader al-schwartz@fast.net 610-258-0959 for details and registration. No children under 16 due to the Strenuous nature of this hike. Dogs allowed.

Saturday, April 17th: 8 mile hike.

Conservation will again be the topic of the day when on Saturday, April 17th, the Lehigh Valley Sierra Club will join local hiking clubs for an 8 mile hike in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. We will be hiking various trails on this lovely park located off Route 80 at the first exit in NJ when heading East from PA. First time hikers with leader will be screened. Optional Pizza stop after the hike. Contact hike leader al-schwartz@fast.net 610-258-0959 for details and registration. No children under 16 due to the Strenuous nature of this hike. Dogs allowed.

Saturday, May 15th: 10 mile hike.

Again Conservation will be the topic of the day when on Saturday, May 15th, the Lehigh Valley Sierra Club will join local hiking clubs for a 10 mile hike at the Glen Onoko Waterfalls and the Lehigh Gorge State Park. We will be hiking various trails on this lovely park located in the Jim Thorpe area. First time hikers with leader will be screened. Optional Pizza stop after the hike. Contact hike leader al-schwartz@fast.net 610-258-0959 for details and registration. No children under 16 due to the Strenuous nature of this hike. Dogs allowed.

Saturday, June 19th: 9 mile hike.

Again Conservation will be the topic of the day when on Saturday, June 19th, the Lehigh Valley Sierra Club will join local hiking clubs for a 9 mile hike at the Pinnacle and Pulpit near Hamburg, Pa. First time hikers with leader will be screened. Optional Pizza stop after the hike. Contact hike leader al-schwartz@fast.net 610-258-0959 for details and registration. No children under 16 due to the Strenuous nature of this hike. Dogs allowed.

Click here to find out about past events.
Click here for our picture gallery of events, outings, and generally scenic pictures.
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Sign up for Lehigh Valley Group E-mail Updates

Our newsletter only goes out a few times a year, and environmental issues don't always arise on our newsletter schedule. Therefore, we are starting an e-mail alert service. When there is information about important environmental events in the Lehigh Valley, outings, programs, news from the group, and actions you can take to support the local environment, we will send out e-mail alerts to all who subscribe.

To become a member of the Lehigh Valley e-mail alert list, click on mailto:listserv@lists.sierraclub.org?body=SUBSCRIBE PA-LEHIGH-ALERTS
Be sure to add your name to the body of the mail.

Send us an email at lhv@pennsylvania.sierraclub.org
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Order Your Sierra Club Merchandise

Help support our group! Click here to order Sierra Club products.

Blue Mountain Development Project

Once again, the environmentally sensitive Blue Mountain and the Appalachian Trail are threatened with large-scale development. A landowner in Ross and Eldred Townships (identity unrevealed) is proposing a massive resort complex be built on 1100 acres of undeveloped land on the north side of Blue Mountain straddling the boundary between the two townships in Monroe County.

Elliott Building Group to develop 1100 acres on Blue Mountain. The proposed project will include a new ski resort, a mini-golf course, a large hotel, indoor and outdoor water parts, condominiums, and single-unit housing clusters.The developer is asking for 1200+ housing units and expects to bring 4500 to 5,000 visitors to the area daily.

This development would be on 1100 acres on the north face of the Blue Mountain in Ross and Eldred Townships at Smith Gap Road. The area borders the Appalachian Trail and the Aquashicola Creek, a high-quality cold water fishery. It is just west of the proposed Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge and east of the Wildlife Information Centers restoration of the Lehigh Gap

Action Needed:
Please write to the township supervisors to oppose this plan:

Ross Township:
• Howard A. Beers, Jr. Chairman
• Russell A. Kresge, Jr. Vice Chairman
• Tina Drake Supervisor
PO Box 276
Saylorsburg, PA 18353
Or check their website at www.rosstwp.com

Eldred Township:
• Glenn W. Beers
• Ilene M. Eckhart
• Sharon F. Solt
PO Box 600
Kunkletown, PA 18058
610 381 4252
Or check send them an email at eldred@ptd.net

Let the supervisors of Ross and Eldred Townships know that you expect them to uphold and enforce all existing Zoning, Subdivision and Land Development Ordinances as well as ensuring that all development along the Blue Mountain will be in accordance with the intent of the County and Regional Comprehensive Plans.
The Blue Mountain is a vital resource for our area. It is up to us to protect it.
Click here to read more
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Alpine Rose Race Track Action Needed

The threat to Blue Mountain from a proposed racetrack/resort in Eldred Township, Monroe County remains. This project has been the subject of years of litigation related to the noise that would be produced by the facility and its impact on the Appalachian Trail and neighboring residential communities.

On March 28, 2006 Blue Mountain Preservation, the Department of Environmental Protection and Alpine Rose Resorts Inc. faced off in the Courtroom of the Environmental Hearing Board in Norristown, Pa., for the first of four days of testimony about storm water and waste water plans for Alpine's ill-conceived racetrack proposal.

What You Can Do: download and send the sample letter to the PA DCED telling them that this project should not be financed with taxpayer dollars. Now we need you to write, too!

Write to your state legislators to oppose development aid for this project.
Click here to access letter you can print out and send

Click here to read about the Alpine Rose win
Click here to read the April 2006 update
Click here for information on contacting DCNR
Click here for the most recent update of the case
Click here to read about how they are being funded
Click here for the full article about Monroe County court ruling.
Click here for more information on the threat and what you can do.
Click here for more information about the appeal.
Click here for an article about the flawed noise study.
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We Need YOU to Help

Although the numbers of members in our local group are high, the numbers of active members are perilously low. This year alone, we accomplished a lot, but our small core of fighters is growing weary. We desperately need energetic and fresh faces because so much more needs to be done.

Help Shape Sierra Club Policies by Serving on the Executive Committee

The Lehigh Valley group of the Sierra Club’s executive committee meets once a month on the second Wednesday of each month from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Northampton County Community College Fowler Campus which is located in South Bethlehem. These Wednesday meetings are on the 6th floor in Room 640S at 7:00pm.

This 9-member board decides what issues the local group should pursue, which local candidates to endorse, and which projects to carry out. Please consider donating two hours of your time each month to serve in this important role.

If this doesn't appeal to you, but you are still trying to figure out what you can do to help protect the environment, the Lehigh Valley Group is looking for volunteers in many other areas. Click here for other volunteer opportunities

If you don't see the opportunity you want, call an executive committee member and start your own committee. Remember, think globally and act locally. We need you!

Click here to find out how you can help
Not yet a member? Click here to join the Sierra Club.
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Find out about our history and read our bylaws in the About Us section.

Find out what you can do to help on our Volunteers Needed page.

Find older articles and issue write-ups in our Archives.

View photos from Sierra Club events in our picture gallery.

Contact information for your committee members is in the committee section.
Send us an email at lhv@pennsylvania.sierraclub.org

If you have feedback or problems with this site, or wish to make a comment or suggestion, please contact:
al schwartz at al-schwartz@fast.net

Site last updated on December 21, 2008

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