North Alabama Sierra Club June 2015 Newsletter
Southern Herbalist to Speak at May Meeting
Come join us Thursday, May 21 for a fascinating talk on medicinal uses for local plants. Darryl Patton, the Southern Herbalist, has been hunting, gathering and working with medicinal plants for the past twenty-five years on Lookout Mountain. He will be discussing a variety of plants such as Yellow Root, Rabbit Tobacco, Mullein and Sumac. He will also talk about home remedies that many of the participants may remember their parents and grandparents using. There will be a large sampling of plants to show everyone.
Darryl Patton has been called a walking encyclopedia of herbal folklore and spent 12 years studying under the late A. L. "Tommie" Bass, one of the last of the old mountain herb doctors. During his apprenticeship with Tommie, Darryl was taught the identification and medicinal uses for literally thousands of plants found in the hills and hollows of the South. His passion in life is to pass the "old way" of using medicinal plants to his students and others wanting to continue the tradition of gathering wild plants as food and healing. Darryl is the author of, "Mountain Medicine, The Herbal Remedies of Tommie Bass," published by Natural Reader Press.
The meeting starts at 6:00pm and will be in the training room of the National Children’s Advocacy Center at 210 Pratt Avenue. This is at the corner of Pratt and Meridian streets. Meetings are open to everyone. Come join us!
The following are not North Alabama Sierra Club sanctioned events but may be of interest to our membership.
Building Bridges for Environmental Justice
Hosted by Black Belt Citizens Fighting for Health and Justice
Saturday May 23rd from 11 AM - 5 PM and Sunday May 24th in Uniontown, Alabama.
This event is created to unite citizens from across Alabama's Black Belt and the Southeast US to accomplish the following:
· Educate and train community members with skills and knowledge to empower and engage in local and state-wide campaigns
· Identify communities' environmental and public health concerns from coal ash storage and other dangerous fossil fuel associated pollutions
· Build plans and concepts for community development based equity and economic justice
· Address the causes and results of poverty and systemic discrimination
· Support grassroots organizations with peer-learning, mentoring, and networking
The workshop begins Saturday at 11:00am with a welcome and lunch. That afternoon there will be meetings to identify community needs, workshops on community organizing and building power, a special film screening of Coal Ash Chronicles and local coal ash storage updates. This workshop is sponsored in part by the Alabama Sierra Club and the Alabama Rivers Alliance.
For more information and to register, go to https://www.facebook.com/events/767305636719693/
Or email Liz at hiker@knology.net or Adam Johnston at ajohnston@alabamarivers.org
Documentary on Trail Trees
Mystery of the Trees will be shown Saturday, June 13 at 7:00pm in the Chan Auditorium in the Business Administration Building at UAH. This glimpse into a part of Native American culture is presented by the Mountain Stewards, a Georgia non-profit. There is no charge for the film.
The film is narrated by Native American actor Wes Studi with interviews of tribal elders from the Cherokee, Muscogee-Creek, Osage and other tribes.
New Web Address!
The web page for the North Alabama Sierra Club is now hosted at the national site. Please make a note of the new address:
http://www.sierraclub.org/alabama/north-alabama
We also have a new email address:
And you can always follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/254833822112/
Easy - Less than 5 miles, no serious elevation changes, no trail obstacles.
Strenuous - Over 10 miles, substantial elevation change, rocky, obstructed or nonexistent trail.
Exploratory - any event where the leader has not experienced the event; may fit any class above.
Note. Participants of Sierra Club outings are required to sign a waiver.
Tuesday, May 19 - Monte Sano Evening Hike. Easy.
Depart at 6:00 pm sharp from the Monte Sano State Park hikers’ parking lot on Nolen Avenue. There is a small fee to enter the park and all dogs must be on a leash while in the parking lot and during the hike. Though not strenuous, hikes may be vigorous and range from 3 to 5 miles. For directions or questions contact Alan Greene at agreene256@comcast.net
Thursday, May 21 - Sierra Club Meeting.
Southern Herbalist to speak. 6:00pm. National Children's Advocacy Center on Pratt Ave.
Tuesday, May 26 - Monte Sano Evening Hike. Easy.
Depart at 6:00 pm sharp from the Monte Sano State Park hikers’ parking lot on Nolen Avenue. There is a small fee to enter the park and all dogs must be on a leash while in the parking lot and during the hike. Though not strenuous, hikes may be vigorous and range from 3 to 5 miles. For directions or questions contact Michael Stewart at 256-656-5836.
Sunday, May 31 - Wade Mountain Hike. Moderate.
Western End (Pulaski Pike Trailhead). Moderate 5-mile hike. Meet at 1:00 pm in the parking lot at the Wade Mountain Greenway trailhead on Pulaski Pike (1/2 mile south of the Toyota Plant). We will do a 5 mile loop with some elevation gain during the first half of the hike. Parts of the trail will be rocky but the first and last mile will be on the paved portion of the greenway. For more information or directions contact Liz at hiker@knology.net
Tuesday, June 2 - Monte Sano Evening Hike. Easy.
Depart at 6:00 pm sharp from the Monte Sano State Park hikers’ parking lot on Nolen Avenue. There is a small fee to enter the park and all dogs must be on a leash while in the parking lot and during the hike. Though not strenuous, hikes may be vigorous and range from 3 to 5 miles. For directions or questions contact Pete Luther at pluther@knology.net
Tuesday, June 9 - Monte Sano Evening Hike. Easy.
Depart at 6:00 pm sharp from the Monte Sano State Park hikers’ parking lot on Nolen Avenue. There is a small fee to enter the park and all dogs must be on a leash while in the parking lot and during the hike. Though not strenuous, hikes may be vigorous and range from 3 to 5 miles. For directions or questions contact David Jackson at 256-603-9081
Sunday, June 14 - Monte Sano Early Afternoon Hike. Easy.
Hike will be approx. 4 miles. Depart at 1:00pm from the Monte Sano State Park Hiker’s parking lot on Nolen Avenue. There is a small fee to enter the park and all dogs must be on a leash. For directions or questions contact Liz at hiker@knology.net
Tuesday, June 16 - Monte Sano Evening Hike. Easy.
Depart at 6:00 pm sharp from the Monte Sano State Park hikers’ parking lot on Nolen Avenue. There is a small fee to enter the park and all dogs must be on a leash while in the parking lot and during the hike. Though not strenuous, hikes may be vigorous and range from 3 to 5 miles. For directions or questions contact Carolyn Brooks at dr_c_brooks@msn.com
Tuesday, June 23 - Monte Sano Evening Hike. Easy.
Depart at 6:00 pm sharp from the Monte Sano State Park hikers’ parking lot on Nolen Avenue. There is a small fee to enter the park and all dogs must be on a leash while in the parking lot and during the hike. Though not strenuous, hikes may be vigorous and range from 3 to 5 miles. For directions or questions contact Judy Burley at jcburley@bellsouth.net
Saturday, June 27 - Summer on the Land Trust Property. Moderate.
8 mile hike. We will hike several trails, including Annandale, Flourish, Young-Kennedy, Alms House, and others, avoiding the steepest climbs and detouring around any wet slippery rocks. Meet at 8:00am at the Three Caves parking lot at Waller Road and Kennamer Drive - see http://media.wix.com/ugd/238963_d66ffbeb8c2a4de49f328ca25f09a757.pdf For information, contact Charlie Cohen at charlie.cohen@att.net or 256-361-3837
Sunday, June 28 - Monte Sano Early Afternoon Hike. Easy. Hike will be approx. 4 miles. Depart at 1:00pm from the Monte Sano State Park Hiker’s parking lot on Nolen Avenue. There is a small fee to enter the park and all dogs must be on a leash. For directions or questions contact Liz at hiker@knology.net
Tuesday, June 30 - Monte Sano Evening Hike. Easy. Depart at 6:00 pm sharp from the Monte Sano State Park hikers’ parking lot on Nolen Avenue. There is a small fee to enter the park and all dogs must be on a leash while in the parking lot and during the hike. Though not strenuous, hikes may be vigorous and range from 3 to 5 miles. For directions or questions contact Rick Gates at rgates@knology.net
2015 Excom Members
Chair /Membership Liz Poleretzky hiker@knology.net
Vice Chair/Programs Steve Jackson covecrawler@gmail.com 337-9702
Secretary/Chapter Delegate Jennifer Gresham jgresham98@gmail.com
Treasurer Charlie Cohen charlie.cohen@att.net
Environmental Education Charlotte Buening charlotte.r.buening@gmail.com
Outings Tom Burley tdburleyhiker@bellsouth.net
Energy Consultant Gretel Johnston gretel@best-matrr.org
Political/Conservation chair Joe Imhof enviroman88@earthlink.net
Programs Steve Jackson covecrawler@gmail.com
Publicity Jayanthi Srikishen signalmtn@hotmail.com
Social Media Michael Stewart/Sandy Kiplinger sandykip@otelco.net
Newsletter Jack Drost drostj@bellsouth.net
Web Page Steven Baty 489-0990