Lobby Day and Other Updates
By Billy Davies, Missouri Chapter Field Organizer

Sierra Club Thomas Hart Benton Group (THB) Swarms Missouri Capitol for Crucial Sierra Club Lobby Day

Nearly a dozen Group volunteers joined Missourians from across Missouri to engage state legislators at Sierra Club's Lobby Day on April 16. This is always an important demonstration of our "people power," and THB Group leaders showed up to use their voice. We met with over a dozen legislators from across western Missouri and the Kansas City area, pressing legislators to stand up for people, not big polluters' profits, on issues including from preserving Missouri's parks, increasing public oversight of clean water, protecting farmers from pesticides, and defending energy efficiency standards across Missouri. Want to get involved? Check out our fact sheets on pending legislation, and learn how you can use your voice to help your community.

Sierra Club’s THB Group Represents Missouri at the Sierra Club Chapter Assembly in Tennessee
Two THB Group members, Kevin Grooms and Billy Davies, joined hundreds of Sierrans and represented the Missouri Chapter at the annual Chapter Assembly and Grassroots Network Workshop, hosted by Sierra Club in Lebanon, TN. Kevin serves as Missouri Chapter Chair and Billy serves as Kansas City-based staff and attended on behalf of Missouri's Chapter Director, Gretchen. They were also joined by Chapter Conservation Chair, Caroline Pufalt. They are excited to debrief with our executive committee team and bring back discussions from this historic meeting of Sierrans (the last Chapter Assembly was in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic). 

THB Group Represents at Annual Kansas City Earth Day Cleanup!
Thomas Hart Benton Group volunteers, alongside volunteers across the Kansas City metro and KCMO Mayor Pro Tem Ryana Parks-Shaw, braved the wind and cold for the annual Great City Cleanup hosted by Kansas City Parks & Recreation. This annual outing was organized by our own Ruanda McFerren, who just transitioned from her role as Group Vice Chair to Chair of the Executive Committee!

Longtime THB Group Leader Honored for Work Defending Night Sky
DeAnn Gregory, longtime volunteer leader with the Missouri Chapter (and former THB Group Executive Committee member) and Board Member with DarkSky Missouri , was honored with a special resolution by the Kansas City, MO City Council. The action was taken in Council Chambers before Earth Day, honoring DeAnn for her work to lead Sierra Club THB Group's Executive Committee and allies across the region to improve Kansas City's street lighting program to support both human health and wildlife. A dedicated and selfless leader, DeAnn thanked leaders across the KC environmental advocate community, including THB Group Legislative Leader Don Wallace and staff member Billy Davies, in a moving speech to the full Kansas City Missouri City Council on protecting our night sky and championing environmental justice. You can thank DeAnn for her leadership and say hi to DarkSky Missouri and Sierra Club Missouri at Fox Hollow Fest in Raytown, MO on June 1. See you there!
 

Conservation Committee Zoom Meeting
Date:  Mon., May 5
Time:  6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Any THB Group member interested is invited to join a Conservation Committee Zoom meeting on Mon., May 5. If you would like to join, please click here to RSVP and get the link.

Wildflowers - Phone Photo Phlowers
Date:  Tues., May 6
Time:  6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Location:  Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center, 4750 Troost, Kansas City, MO

Today's sophisticated phone cameras have opened up a whole new way to shoot and enjoy nature photography. Learn about spring ephemerals while making great images as we explore the Discovery Center's native landscape. Pat Whelan will teach you three basic photography skills that will instantly make you a better photographer using your phone. Pat is a conservation education consultant at the Missouri Department of Conservation. He has taught children and adults through creative and artistic environmental projects. He has led many hikes to the Kansas City wild places that he loves to photograph.

Please click here for more information and to RSVP.

Overnight Backpacking at Woodbridge Primitive Area

Date:  Sat., May 10, 3 p.m. - Sun., May 11, 10 a.m.
This outing is waitlisted.

Join us at Woodridge Primitive Park for a 1-night backpacking trip on the George Latham Trail. This is a 4-mile loop trail. We will meet Saturday afternoon and backpack to a designated backpacking site on the trail, then complete the loop and hike out Sunday morning. We will meet at the trailhead at the GPS coordinates shown in the Meetup entry.

Although this is a beginner level trip, you will need to bring your own backpacking gear to participate in the outing. We will not be loaning gear.

Please click here for more information and to join the waitlist. 

Native Plant Sale

Date: Sat., May 17
Time:  10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Location:  Anita B. Gorman Discovery Center, 4750 Troost

Please click here to find out more about this popular upcoming native plant sale, including the vendors and how you can pre-order.

Introduction to Wilderness Navigation (Starting May 24)

This perennial favorite three-part course returns starting May 24. If you know you know!  Reserve early! But please read the Meetup site carefully to see how to secure a spot.  

Please click here for more information including course materials and how to sign up.

Next Virtual Book Club Meeting July 16

Our next book (for July 16) will be A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson.  Eileen McManus will lead this discussion.  

 The next one up will be The Uninhabitable Earth, slated for October 2025.  

Upcoming Events Led by Allied Organizations

May 3rd: Repair Cafe at the Smithville branch of the Mid-Continent Public Library
May 3rd: Lakeside Nature Center - Hike with a Naturalist
May 6th: KC Climate Changemakers - Hour of Action
May 17th: Lakeside Nature Center - Celebrating Urban Birds
June 1st: Lakeside Nature Center - Fox Hollow Fest