The "ExCom" meets each month and any member is
invited to attend. Currently, meetings are at 7:00 on the second
Wednesday of each month. This can change. Please recheck this website to
be sure of the date and time. We meet 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.
Sunday, March 15th:
On Sunday, March 15th, the Lehigh Valley Sierra Club will be joining local
hiking clubs for a hike at the Trexler Game Preserve.
We will be hiking various new trails on this lovely park located Northwest of
Allentown.
First time hikers with leader will be screened. Optional Pizza stop after hike.
Contact hike leader al-schwartz@fast.net
610-258-0959 for details and registration.
Saturday, April 11th:
On Saturday, April 11th, the Lehigh Valley Sierra Club will be joining local
hiking clubs for a hike at the Delaware Water Gap.
The hike starts on the Mt Tammany Trail, with a 1200 ft climb of Mt. Tammany.
Continue along the ridge for several miles and then turn onto a spur trail
which will take us to Sunfish Pond. Hike around Sunfish Pond and return via
the Dunnfield Creek Trail.
First time hikers with leader will be screened. Optional Pizza stop after hike.
Contact hike leader al-schwartz@fast.net
610-258-0959 for details and registration.
Saturday, May 30th:
On Saturday, May 30th, the Lehigh Valley Sierra Club will be joining local
hiking clubs for a hike at the Delaware Water Gap.
Hike up the Glen Onoko falls trail. Continue along Ridge to the Lehigh Gorge
Overlook. After the Overlook continue on the ridge then work down the mountain
and onto the bike path. Return back to Glen Onoko via the bike path.
First time hikers with leader will be screened. Optional Pizza stop after hike.
Contact hike leader al-schwartz@fast.net
610-258-0959 for details and registration.
Saturday, June 20th:
On Saturday, June 20th, the Lehigh Valley Sierra Club will be joining local
hiking clubs for a hike at the Pinnacle near Hamburg, Pa.
Start with Uphill climb on the Appalachian Trail to the Pulpit Rock Overlook.
Continue on to the Pinnacle Overlook. Dirt road walk along AT continuing past
the Helicopter pad 1 mile. Finish the loop walking downhill past the Hamburg
Reservoir.
First time hikers with leader will be screened. Optional Pizza stop after hike.
Contact hike leader al-schwartz@fast.net
610-258-0959 for details and registration.
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.
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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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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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.
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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