Our desert lands with their sagebrush valleys and red rock formations, our snow capped mountains, our lakes, rivers, and forests, are home to hundreds of plant and animal species found nowhere else in the world. These wild areas give us a place to relax and recreate, while they add revenue to our economy and make our communities unique. And let's not forget about our indigenous communities - they have lived on these lands for thousands of years, and we owe it to Nevada Tribes to protect their native homelands.
But the Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter is more than just Nevada. We are unique in that the area we protect also includes areas of the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, including the tallest mountain in the continental United States, Mt. Whitney, and the crowning jewel of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Lake Tahoe.
While we agree that these special places need to be protected, not everyone believes the same. Developers and extractive industries are hard at work putting their profits over our clean air, drinking water, and habitable climate. Looking ahead at 2023, here's how that's going to play out:
- Developers will push for a new law that will allow for a massive expansion of urban sprawl outside the Las Vegas Valley. If passed, it would waste water and produce carbon and other toxic emissions that will further harm our cliamte and bring heat, air pollution, and a higher risk of diseases, to everyone in the Las Vegas Valley, especially low income and communities of color.
- Toxic aquatic herbicides will be used to combat noxious weeds in Lake Tahoe because a residential development destroyed the largest natural tributary wetland at Lake Tahoe, the Upper Truckee Marsh. These herbicides will need to be applied annually and could potentially harm this beloved lake, already designated as an outstanding National resource.
- Extractive industries will continue exploratory drilling projects in Nevada and the easter Sierra including Body Hills and Long Valley. These threaten to blight our hills and threaten local water sources.
These are big challenges and we need your help. The Toiyabe Chapter will continue to show up EVERY SINGLE DAY to protect our region's future. Together, we'll fight for our communities. Together, we'll explore the places we love. And together, we'll speak truth to power. We're deeply proud of how our donors and volunteers are responding to this unprecedented moment.
Just look back at this past year. Thanks to donors like you, not only did our chapter continue to march forward, we celebrated ground breaking victories. You supported us as we:
- Gathered thousands of petition signatures and letters demanding a new strategy for urban development in Clark County. This effort will save water, promote climate-friendly public transit, and increase walkability.
- Established a Northern Nevada Inspiring Connections Outdoors program. This 100 percent volunteer-led program will lead outings for high school students in the Truckee Meadows, who might not otherwise get to hike, snowshoe, raft, and explore.
- Founded the Nevada Rail Coalition, a citizen-based initiative that brings together unions, environmental organizations, passenger/freight rail advocacy associations, social justice organizations, and community associations for the purpose of building an expanded, robust rail system in Nevada and neighboring states as the keystone of a low-carbon, environmentally sustainable and socially just transportation system.
Sierra Club is the largest grassroots-led environmental organization in the country. At the Toiyabe Chapter, we number more than 6,000 members. If we're well-funded by folks like you across the region, there's no reason that 2023 can't be the year we make historic progress. The opportunities are clear:
- We will raise awareness and build public support for the permanent protection of Avi Kwa Ame as a national monument designated by President Biden.
- We will advocate for Nevada and California to spend Bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act funds on building electrification, meaningful mass transit solutions, infill and smart development, and renewable energy solutions.
- We will serve as an ally and partner to the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, the Nevada Environmental Justice Coalition, and our many other partners in Nevada, Lake Tahoe and our California chapter members.
Your financial support makes a real difference in how we protect the environment where Toiyabe Chapter members live, work, and play. Please make a year-end contribution of $25, $50, $100 or more today so we can seize this moment. And please consider giving monthly.
Local action makes a difference. Thank you for entrusting us with your dreams for a healthy, thriving environment in Nevada and the eastern Sierras.