The Living River Group (LRG) (southdakota.sierraclub.org/livingriver) of the South Dakota Sierra Club Chapter continues to engage in numerous activities. Several significant activities and achievements are provided in the following list.
Outdoors
1.Organized Numerous Outings. Sierra Club members like the outdoors. Thus most groups seek to organize an ongoing series of outdoor events. LRG outings include walks in the Vermillion Prairie, a three-day canoe and kayak trip on the Missouri River, cleanup days on the Little Bow Creek and new Federal Reserve, biking trips in the Nebraska hills across the new bridge, and numerous sessions at Spirit Mound. All outings include educational sessions with local experts and many members add their own expertise.
2.Helped Develop Canoe/Kayak Trail. The Missouri River Institute has established a canoe/kayak water trail. The LRG has contributed funds for the Missouri River Institute’s new web site for a canoe and kayak trail. We have also helped fund, site and design several large signs on the water trail. LRG initiated and organized the annual Missouri River Water Trail canoe and kayak event.
3.Attempting to Establish Walking Trail. LRG members are still working to establish a trail along the Missouri River. As a result of the efforts of a LRG member one land owner has protected 60 acres of riverside land from development by working with Northern Prairies Trust. A large backwater area has been established in an old oxbow on that property.
Education
1.Increased Environmental Education Through Numerous Public Meetings. LRG regularly sponsors speakers from organizations like American Rivers, Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service along with a variety of botanists and zoologists who presented informative sessions. As many as 60 members attended some of the speaker events. We invited the public to discussions on Global Climate Change and Vice President Gore’s film.
2.Participated in River Appreciation Day. For several years the LRG has donated $500 annually to support this activity for fifth graders in Cotton Park and Clay County Park. It is a grand event! Many of our members have worked in planning and implementation.
3.Developed a Local Foods Brochure. LRG members contacted all local producers. Then, they provided the information needed for members of the public to quickly and easily contact local producers for purchasing.
4.Obtained a Cotton Park Lewis and Clark Sign. Working with a variety of state and federal agencies, club members designed and acquired funding for a very interesting Lewis and Clark Trail sign. It has been erected in Cotton Park. It marks the site where members of the expedition began their land hike to Spirit Mound. It is located where the mouth of the Vermillion River was in 1804. It explains the movement of the river three miles south of that site.
5.Promoted Research at Spirit Mound. The SD Chapter provided funding for an ecological study of Spirit Mound. Support was also made available for the presentation of findings at scientific meetings. The report is available at (www.southdakota.sierraclub.org/livingriver). The information was used by the Spirit Mound Trust to obtain a management grant from the National Park Service.
6.Sponsored a summer film series. LRG has sponsored a summer film series showing documentaries about the loss of prairie lands, the loss of bees to colony collapse disease, the Keystone XL pipeline, and other environmental issues.
Environmental Advocacy
Informed Members of the Union County Zoning Election. When Union County had its election to rezone and allow the Hyperion Energy Center to be built, the LRG joined with Save Union County (SUC) and Citizens Opposed to Oil Pollution (COOP) in a failed attempt to convince voters that the refinery was not in their interests. Although the LRG did not formally participate, some of its members in their individual capacity produced a PowerPoint presentationthat documented the problems associated with oil refineries. These individuals also developed three brochures which were distributed around the county, canvassed, wrote many letters to the newspapers, and spoke at public meetings, and aided other local associations in the distribution of their brochures and information.
Spear-headed the Legal Battle on the Refinery Air Permit. Once zoning was approved by the voters SUC and COOP had little legal resources to oppose the refinery. However, the national Sierra Club approved having their technical experts and attorneys work with the Chicago law firm, Jenner and Block to serve the members of the Sierra Club, SUC and the COOP. The Sierra Club legal division, the South Dakota Chapter and SUC have contributed a substantial amount of money to cover the cost of this enterprise. If the LRG did not exist it is highly unlikely that this effort would be in place. Without a cooperative state chapter there would be no legal effort.
Educated the public about the tar sands that would be refined at Hyperion. LRG helped fund and develop the “OpposeHyperion.com” website and ads in papers directing readers to the website. Club members wrote many editorials, developed and presented educational pamphlets and PowerPoints in an effort to alert the public to the air pollution this tar sands refinery would have caused.
Government/Political
1.Negotiated New County Zoning Ordinances to Preserve the Environment. Several members worked diligently with Clay County officials for over two years. They produced a zoning ordinance that is environmentally protective. It is less than perfect, but without their efforts county residents would be very poorly served by county rules. We continue to be active in promoting sound county zoning.
2.Sponsored a Political Debate. All six of the District 17 House and Senate candidates were questioned concerning environmental issues. This well attended event was held at the Vermillion Fire House.
3.Established a COOL Cities Initiative. LRG members contacted numerous local leaders of USD, the City of Vermillion, Clay County, other public agencies and private businesses to encourage adoption of a COOL Cities Resolution. Although not successful yet, these activities educate many leaders about environmental issues.
4.Lobbied during the State Legislative Session. Working through the chapter, the LRG worked to secure the funding and hired a lobbyist to monitor, and provide weekly reports on environmental and conservation bills during the legislative session, as well as represent Sierra Club in testimony at hearings and in needed lobbying efforts.
Sponsorships
1.Cosponsored an Art Exhibit. With our encouragement a USD Professor organized “A Photographic Survey of Local Prairie Grasslands” at the W.H. Over Museum. The opening night reception was very well attended. Plans included an exhibit in Sioux Falls. The LRG provided $500 obtained from the Sierra Club Northern Plains Regional Conservation Committee.
2.Cosponsored Environmental Presentation. The South Dakota Chapter, the East River Group and the LRG were among the sponsors of an environmental presentation from a Native American perspective by famed author, Winona LaDuke.
3.Cosponsored a Grass Dance Special. We worked with the Spirit Mound Trust to offer prizes to Native American dancers. It was a welcome back to the prairie being established at Spirit Mound.
4.CoSponsored VAAC art exhibits. LRG helped fund and support VAAC artists, displays, and recitations for the “River, Mound, Prairie Sky” exhibit. We also helped fund and set up the photographic display “Continental Divide” by International League of Conservation Photographers showing the ecological destruction caused by the border fence.
Missouri River
1.Inaugurated a Multi-State Organization of Sierra Clubs to Focus on the Missouri River Basis Issues. We established a Missouri River organization within the Sierra Club. The last meeting was held in Missouri in 2008. Representatives from six of the states in the basin are participating. A list-serve facilitates information exchange concerning river events. This year (2009) the basin organization is financing one of the three environmental representatives on the Corps of Engineers’ Missouri River Implementation Recovery Committee. The other two environmental representatives are from The Nature Conservancy and Isaac Walton League. Both of those representatives are full time staff members.
2.Facilitated American Rivers Photo Display. We arranged to have the Missouri River photo display at the W.H. Over Museum for several months.
3.Attempted to Establish a Citizen Advisory Group. We participated in trying to establish a coalition of land owners, bank stabilization proponents, hunters, boaters and environmentalists. That organization (Missouri River Life) failed. However, several of our members participated in Missouri River Futures. That group is funded mostly by Natural Resources Conservation Service. The LRG has contributed financially and we have a representative on the board.
4.Supported the NPS ban on jet skis. Without our efforts the number of people expressing the desire to support the National Park Service ban on jet skis would have been very small. The ban would have been lifted. We carried all four states that were involved in the NPS survey: Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa. We were able to enlist the assistance of the Sierra Club in all four states and had a clean sweep. Peace and safety on the river were protected.
5.Lobbied for NPS funds. Members of the ORG went to Washington and lobbied our delegates to support the presence of the National Park Service on the National Recreational River. They were joined in Washington by club members from North Dakota and Nebraska. Our efforts played a role in the NPS receiving over one million dollars for land acquisition. According to NPS personnel the public land at Little Box Creek was acquired through those funds.
6.Encouraged the NPS to acquire Goat Island. Most river fans know now that Goat Island is public land. In 2000 there was considerable confusion about public ownership. The only question remaining in 2009 is which governmental entity will control the island: the state of Nebraska, the state of South Dakota, or the NPS.