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Kendra Kimbirauskas Portland, Oregon
Conservation Organizer
"I’m going for the record of working in the most states
as a Sierra Club employee," says Kendra Kimbirauskas. "So
far I’ve worked in Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, and Oregon,
plus I volunteered in Illinois while working for another organization."
Prior to moving to Portland last year, Kimbirauskas worked on factory
farming and sustainable agriculture. "I grew up on a farm,"
she explains. "My dad is a sustainable farmer, and I thought
everyone farmed that way. I was so naïve I didn’t even
realize factory farms existed, let alone that they were putting
family farms out of business."
After college, Kimbirauskas worked for a Michigan state senator
who sat on the agricultural committee, during which time she came
in contact with people in the Club’s Mackinac Chapter office.
Before long, she joined their staff, and she’s been on the
move with the Club ever since. She met Mabel, pictured here, in
Iowa. "A farmer I was working with insisted that I own a pig
if I was going to be talking to pig farmers, so he gave Mabel to
me. Truth be told, I think he didn’t want to see her go to
meat, and if she was ‘mine’ he couldn’t send her.
She’s still on the farm in Iowa, where she’ll remain
happily ever after."
Kimbirauskas is a lifelong horseback rider; her horse, Snickers,
lives 90 minutes north of Portland with family friends. "I
used to be very competitive and do 3-day eventing, which is basically
the triathlon of riding," she says. "These days I’m
too busy for that, but I still try to ride whenever I can. Hopefully
I’ll have a lot more time for that after November!"
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Dale Stocking
Stockton, California
Delta-Sierra Group Chair and Outings Leader
"I was raised in a hunting and fishing family," says avid
backpacker Dale Stocking, "so we generally stayed below 8,000
feet. It’s only in the last few years that I’ve really
started going to higher elevations."
The 64-year-old orthodontist summited 14,162’ Mt. Shasta in
1997 and has done so twice since. He also counts Mts. Langley, Tyndall,
and Whitney in the Sierra Nevada among the California "fourteeners"
he has summited. "I met a 76-year-old guy on Forester Pass
[13,200’] recently who was hiking the John Muir Trail solo,"
Stocking says. "Now that’s inspiring!"
A member of the National Rifle Association and the American Civil
Liberties Union, Stocking’s Sierra Club activism centers on
water issues. "Water will be the environmental and public health
issue of the 21st century," he says. He has lately been involved
with the issue of water privatization, currently a hot topic in
Stockton. The mayor and a majority of the city council favor contracting
out municipal services to a private company for the next 20 years.
Stocking opposes the scheme, and has been working with community
groups to demand that the public be allowed to vote on the proposal.
Stocking recently helped develop the Sierra Club’s policy
on water privatization and commodification as a member of the Club’s
national Water Privatization Task Force. He advises people facing
privatization of their water systems to organize and get active
when they first hear about it. "Water is a human necessity
and not a commodity for for-profit trading," he says. "Once
you dismantle a functioning public system, it’s not so easy
putting Humpty Dumpty back together again."
Stocking is featured in a new documentary film, "Thirst,"
that will premiere on PBS July 13; check your local listings for
time.
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Peter Butler
Boulder, Colorado
Webmaster, Indian Peaks Group, Rocky Mountain Chapter
"I was brought up in England," says Peter Butler, "but
as an amateur photographer one of my long-time heroes was Ansel
Adams. I read all his technical photography books, and there were
many references to the Sierra Club. From across the Atlantic this
organization seemed very romantic and exciting."
Butler and his wife Deirdre moved to Boulder in 2000, where he now
works as a graphic designer. "Deirdre was a Sierra Club member
before I was and got me involved," he says. "She’s
an outings leader and volunteer coordinator. We love living in the
Rockies, surrounded by eagles, elk, deer, skunks, bobcats, and lions.
We had a mountain lion talking to our cat Ansel through the French
doors last week at 4:15 a.m."
In addition to running the Web site, he designs posters, ads, and
other communications materials for the Indian Peaks Group, and serves
as Webmaster for the Rocky Mountain Chapter. He also volunteers
as a photographer, newsletter editor, and general helper for Greenwood
Wildlife, a rehabilitation sanctuary in Lyons, Colorado. "Last
year, Greenwood looked after 3,800 animals from 142 different species,"
he says. "I scrape up lots of duck and raccoon poop, but rewards
come from up-close access to rare and unusual animals.
"I love being involved as a Club activist," Butler says.
"I feel humble surrounded by so many local Sierrans with gigantic
environmental credentials, but I enjoy being a back room boy, acting
as the lubricant that helps their activist battering rams slide
toward the target more easily."
—Tom Valtin
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