Every month, Gianna Patchen, our Chapter Organizer, and Andrew Christie, a member of the chapter’s Conservation Committee and Chapter Director from 2004-2023, publish an opinion column in New Times. Here are summaries, with links to their most recent articles.
The Trump administration's forest wrecking crew
Published in New Times on September 10, 2026
The September installment reports on the Trump administration’s eagerness to hand a chunk of Yosemite to a developer and lets readers know where to send their comments on Trump’s plan to rescind the Roadless Rule that has protected 45 million acres of national forest land from new road building, logging, mining, and other development for the last 25 years.
Environmental laws are not your enemy
Published in New Times on October 8, 2026
The October installment notes the ways in which the Trump administration’s attacks on our public lands, forests, and our coast has been joined by California state legislation and ballot measures that seek to weaken the California Environmental Quality Act in the name of “reform” and “streamlining.”