By Jim Hines
Editor’s note: We continue with the Jim Hines Chronicles, which reflect the emails by our premier lobbyist on the ins and outs of environmental activism and its opponents. This covers the last two months (April, May). Jim is our Chapter and Ventura Network vice-chair and a conservation leader who belongs to many wildlife groups.
April 6: I had a wonderful time speaking last night to the 2023 graduation class of our Chapter’s Wilderness Basics Course.
It was WBC's 15th year and I have spoken each year to the graduating class. WBC does so much to educate people on the safety and enjoyment of our natural area.
April 21: Political pushback from several members of Congress has delayed for a year the designation of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary until sometime of 2024.
April 30: When I speak to various groups around our region the greatest number that elicits passionate interest is when I speak about my Sierra Club campaign to protect wolves. There are no wolves in our chapter region, but the second greatest interest is protecting mountain lions, which we do have.
So, let’s adopt the southern California population of mountain lions as the Santa Barbara-Ventura chapter wildlife symbol. Lions penetrate all issues we work on, climate, habitat, development impacts, highway overpasses and more. CA Dept of Fish and Wildlife are working on designating the lions as endangered status, which should come later this year.
May 3: First black bear in the Ventura County portion of the Santa Monica Mountains sighted and we need to protect black bears. Our Wildlife Committee is working on getting the state to ban the hunting of black bears and we hope to succeed this summer. Here’s the story: https://tinyurl.com/BB12bearSMM
Black bear track in mud (Photo: Canva)
May 4: Good News: The Biden Administration has announced the southern California population of steelhead trout will maintain its status as an endangered species, which we worked to make happen. But, there is currently a lawsuit by the United Water Conservation District challenging those protections in the Santa Clara River of Ventura county.
May 4: Political alert: The BRAVE Coalition (Businesses Representing America's Values and Enterprises) is focusing on keeping the 3-2 conservative majority on the Ventura County Board of Supervisors and getting voter support for the Oil and Gas Well Regulations Referendum of 2024. That ballot would remove all major restrictions on the oil and gas industry.
May 9: A first for me, I was referred to as a "woke environmentalist" while speaking to a group of people today in Ventura about the positive economic benefits of protecting the environment.
May 10: Well, that didn't go very well, our efforts to stop Utah from slaughtering mountain lions failed. Now all it takes to kill mountain lions in Utah is some poison, some leg traps and lots and lots of guns, although you must be at least aged 12 to get a year round license.
But here, we have great plans for protecting lions in our region and thanks to those who contacted me about our Mountain Lions FOREVER! Campaign.
May 11: Trouble is brewing for the protection of ocean waters which make up the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, 3000 miles away in Washington DC. Some House members propose a massive decrease in federal funding for CINMS and others, notably a trio of subcommittee members: McClintock, Hageman and Boebert.
Next week I will meet with the staff of that Subcommittee. The Biden Administration is not pushing back hard enough . . . time to speak with his officials.
May 12: Rough Week But a positive ending. We were defeated in our work to protect cougars in Utah, to protect marine mammals, wolves, Lake Casitas from uranium mining, and Rim of the Valley legislation.
I'm tired of being defeated.
But I do see so much positive hope too, for we are environmental activists, and we have a passion and fire within us which allows us to move on past our defeats. We will turn defeat into victory.
So, I am going to end this week in the serene beauty of my yard and the seedlings sprouting . . . which gives me hope. And like those seedlings your support for our campaigns will continue to sprout and grow with positive results.
May 15: The land I wandered as a child, the ranch land is so beautiful, vast open space grasslands, oak woodlands, creeks. The land I was born and grew up on I walk today knowing that these lands saw the sweat and toil of enslaved black and Latin American people.
I have been doing research on my family's history and this is one of the tragic sides to our human history here.
Sierra Club has expressed strong support for black reparations (policy adopted in 2021), though some members have pushed back on that policy. I, as a lifelong Sierra Club member, fully support its adopted policy of reparations .
This all fits into the vast framework of our greater work.
May 16: Your passion and commitment to helping protect our environment here in western Ventura County is inspiring, I told the new and returning members of the Ventura Network
While the Sierra Club is a large national organization. The most important part of the Sierra Club is YOU. The four groups of our chapter are grass roots: you help decide our policies, develop and carry out local campaigns and you inspire others.
May 18: Designate wilderness areas at Channel Islands National Park, an idea that I discussed with our Rep. Salud Carbajal's staff.
A wilderness study a few years ago found that lands on 4 of the 5 national park islands qualify for wilderness protection.
The staff is researching ways we can advance that, but we are realistic and will keep sight of it.
May 25: Working together we are winning for the lions. Our Sierra Club Mountain Lions Forever! campaign worked closely with Ventura County supervisors Jeff Gorell and Kelly Long and we have secured a position in the County’s Transportation Plan to include a much-needed wildlife overpass in the 5-year plan to widen the 101 freeway, Thousand Oaks to Ventura. The overpass will be constructed in the Conejo Grade area, this location is where several radio collared lions have crossed and unfortunately some have been hit and killed.
Edited by Condor John Hankins