Jean McGraw

Jean McGraw, long time activist and advocate for the environment, died at the age of 90 on Tuesday, April 5, 2005, at her home on the island of Kauai. Born in Newport News, Virginia, Jean spent her youth in various parts of the U.S. as her family followed her father, Colonel Thomas McNeil, to various posts. During high school, Jean spent a year in France as a foreign exchange student. While there, she became fluent in French and acquired a keen interest in French culture which she retained throughout her life. She held degrees from Ohio University and Colombia Teachers College in Foreign Languages and from UW-Madison in Library Science.

During World War II, Jean served with the Red Cross in Northern Africa and Europe. In 1947 she married Walter McGraw and moved to Racine, his home town. The couple had four children. Professionally, Jean worked as a school librarian and as an accompanist for the school choir for 25 years.

Fearless by nature, Jean loved active, individual sports and this probably led to her lifelong passion for the natural world and her wish to protect it. Over the years, Jean made a considerable contribution to the work of the Sierra Club. She was a charter member of the Southeast Gateway Group and, until her decision to move to Hawaii in June 2004, was one of our group’s strongest and most consistent leaders, serving on the Executive, Political and Conservation Committees.

Understanding the critical need to educate citizens and politicians on environmental issues, Jean applied her considerable skills as a communicator in her numerous letters to the newspaper and to policy makers and through her column in the Southeast Sierran entitled "From Your Legislative Watchdog". She was the "in house environmentalist" of the Democratic Party of Racine and in 1998 was named Democrat of the Year. Beloved in the club, she rarely missed an outing.

On the state level she was a member of the Executive Committee for a number of years and was the JMC representative to Great Lakes United and the Midwest Regional Conservation Committee. She was involved in a wide range of environmental issues, from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to clean air and water and wetlands protection.

A memorial service celebrating Jean’s life was held May 15 at at Hawthorn Hollow. Memorials are suggested for the Kenosha/Racine Land Trust, The Southeast Gateway Group of the Sierra Club or the Chiwaukee Prairie Preservation Fund.
...contributed by Bev Iverson

"Jean was a terrific fighter on our issues. When U.S. Senator Bob Kasten needed to be contacted, we would regularly 'McGraw' him by asking Jean to telephone or meet with him. Jean always responded to our requests to take action on a national issue and generously contributed to help pay for our special conservation and electoral campaigns."

Jean's advice on candidates for office was sought each election season. She continued to be listed as part of the Chapter Political Committee through 2003.
...contributed by Caryl Terrell


Calendar:

May 28: Work day in Colonial Park. We hope to see some new people come and join the others at work on ridding Colonial Park of invasive species. Bring work gloves, weed diggers, shovels, insect repellent and a willing attitude starting at 9:00 a.m.

June 2: Conservation Committee Meeting at Berges’ house, 1529 Crabapple Drive, Racine, at 7:00 p.m. Contact John at (262) 633-8455 with questions, items for the agenda, directions or any other additional information.

June 9: Southeast Gateway Executive Committee Meeting at Berge’s house, 1529 Crabapple Drive, Racine, at 7:00 p.m. This is a temporary change in meeting place.

June 11: Third Saturday Hike and Lunch at Bong Recreation Area. Meet at the Trailhead Parking Area near the fishing pond at 10:00 a.m. Bring a picnic lunch. Beverages and dessert will be provided. (Yes, this is only the second Saturday of June. The Third Saturday Hike has been rescheduled to avoid conflicting with the Midwest Renewable Energy Association Fair that will be held on the third weekend in June.)

June 15: Work day in Colonial Park. Again, we hope to see some new people come and join the others at work on ridding Colonial Park of invasive species. Bring work gloves, weed diggers, shovels, insect repellent and a willing attitude starting at 9:00 a.m.

June 16, 2005: Annual Picnic at Bong State Recreation Area located on Highway 142 and 75. Meet at 5:00 at Parking Lot C at the Beach Area. There is a shelter if there is rain. Guests and children are welcome. Please bring a dish to share and your own plates and flatware. You may wish to carpool if you don't have a park sticker. Come and enjoy hiking and good conversation.

June 19: Third Sunday Hike. Hike a portion of the the Ice Age Trail with the Sunday Hikers. We will meet at 10:00 a.m. at the Ice Age Trail parking lot on Hwy ZZ. We will hike north on the trail towards Pine Woods then loop back on the Scuppernong trails. Pack a lunch. We’ll eat on the trail. Take Waukesha County Hwy 67 north out of Eagle. Turn right on ZZ and proceed to the parking lot. Questions? Call Nancy (262) 639-5639.

July-August: Canoe the 149 miles of the Upper Missouri Wild and Scenic River designation between Fort Benton and James Kipp Recreation Area Montana. Retrace and learn about the journey of Lewis and Clark. Contact Mary Ann Ortmayer (262) 554-5058 for exact dates and more information.

July 1: Deadline for the August/September Southeast Sierran. Contact information is on the back page of this newsletter.

July 7: There will be no Conservation Committee Meeting this month.

July 13: Walk in Boerner Botanical Gardens. Meet at 5:30 pm. at the visitors center atrium. There will be a guided tour of Day Lilies from the Dutch to the Garden. For car pooling information, call Mary Ann Ortmayer (262) 554-5058.

July 14: SEGG on WGTD’s (91.1 on your FM dial) Morning Show from 8:05 to 9:00 a.m.

July 14: There will be no ExCom meeting this month. Instead there will be a special meeting at Pringle Nature Center, open to all members, for input leading to the Sierra Club Summit. The Sierra Summit will set priorities for the future. Your chance for input is July 14, 6:00 pm. Food provided. Pringle Nature Center in Kenosha County on Hwy MB south of Hwy C.

July 16: There will be no Third Saturday Hike in July.

July 17: Third Sunday Hike. Hike the Ice Age Trail at Lapham Peak. Take I-94 to Waukesha County Hwy C. Go south on C to the Kettle Moraine State Forest entrance road on the left. Follow the forest road, turn right to the first parking area. We'll meet at 10:00 a.m. Pack a lunch. We'll eat on the trail. Need more info? Call Nancy (262) 639-5639.

July 23: Highway 38 Cleanup. Report at Bob and Betty Gericke's house, 3927 North Lane, Franksville at 9:00 a.m. to pick up assignments and equipment. Pot luck lunch after the cleanup. Call Bob or Betty at (262) 886-9057 for directions or additional information. Our third cleanup date is October 1. Mark your calendar.



From the Chair
by Nancy Hennessy

I am a "wild" gardener with a prairie-like front yard and a woodsy back yard. This time of year finds me wandering around my back yard looking for signs of spring. The flowers of the bloodroot have come and gone. The mayapple plants are spreading their umbrellas. Ferns are poking up from the earth. Wild columbine, meadow rue, white baneberry, wild geranium and trillium are claiming their territory. No sign of the jack-in-the-pulpit yet. When the spring ephemerals are gone I'll move on to the front yard where I'll watch the succession and progression of the prairie plants under the summer sun.

I have always known that my work in the garden nourishes my soul but Pam Westfall's article "From Cropland to Prairie" in the "Wild Ones" journal reminds me that my garden is also playing a roll in limiting greenhouse gasses.

She tells about research that is being done that shows that a significant increase in carbon in the soil has occurred in farmland converted to prairie, compared to fields that have been planted with crops. She says, "In addition to curing some of the agricultural woes of erosion, improving water quality, and providing wildlife habitat, restoration efforts are actually helping the environment on another level by aiding in carbon storage."

"One native prairie grass that is grabbing the attention of many in the field of soil-carbon research is switch grass, Panicum virgatum. This plant has a hard time letting go of carbon. It uses a different metabolic pathway than most plants in a way that it releases carbon dioxide internally instead of into the atmosphere. Most plants lose about 50% of their CO2 intake back to the atmosphere through photorespiration, but switch grass doesn't. It keeps most of the CO2 internally. It's a prodigious grower which produces more biomass on the same amount of rain than any other plant species. Research is focusing on the wonders of switch grass and how it can be used to help sequester greenhouse gas."

So, if you have a sunny spot in your yard plant a patch of switch grass. It's beautiful, you don't have to mow it, and as you watch it grow through the seasons it will nourish your soul.



More Planting in Colonial Park

Planting of trees and shrubs at the north entrance of the Root River Pathway through Colonial Park was completed on May 2, with the help of a crew and lift truck from the City of Racine's Forestry Department. Their help was needed because of the size and weight of the ten-foot tall hoptree or waferash (Ptelea trifoliata). The other shrubs had been planted on the Saturday following Earth Day by volunteers from the Southeast Gateway Group, students from St. Catherine's Environmental Club and some of their parents. Melissa Warner counted thirty-three volunteers in all. At the Pringle Nature Center in Kenosha County, nine volunteers pulled enough garlic mustard to fill 30 large garbage bags.

"A special thanks is due to all the hardworking volunteers, both on April 23 and the following Saturday when we did the first of three Highway 38 Cleanups," said Group Conservation Chair, John Berge. "But we could use more volunteers on all our work days for the community and the environment. We were one or two people short on the highway cleanup. These are both priority projects for our Group."

Our planting of shrubs and trees native to Southeast Wisconsin at the entrance of the Pathway in Colonial Park replaced the horticultural specimens that had been originally put in by the Public Works Department and was paid for by a grant from the Root-Pike Watershed Initiative Network (WIN). Besides the hoptree, we planted a witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana), a bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia), a blackhaw viburnum (Viburnum prunifolium), a black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa), an Indiancurrant coralberry (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus), an American filbert (Corylus americana) and four gro-lo sumacs (Rhus aromatica). The shrubs and trees were all labeled with brass signs firmly epoxyed to rot-resistant 2 x 4's firmly embedded in the ground. "We hope the labels will last and they will be of educational value to those who might wish to plant native species in their yard," said Berge.

The volunteers not planting on the 23rd were pulling out large quantities of buckthorn, honeysuckle, garlic mustard, burdock and other invasive, alien species in the woods nearby. Under it all, they found some native species such as red trillium, golden alexander and spring beauties struggling for sunlight.

The next work days in Colonial Park are scheduled for May 28 and June 15. See the calendar for details. The next Highway Cleanups are July 23 and October 1.



Third Sunday Hike Explores the Ice Age Trail

Have you been thinking, if only those hikes weren't always on Saturday? Well, how about Sunday? A new series of hikes will begin on Sunday, June 19th (see calendar listing). These hikes will explore portions of the Ice Age Trail as it meanders through our part of the state. Would you like to know the difference between an esker and a drumlin? Or would you just like to get out and hike? Come with us as we follow the trail through the glacial landscape that was left behind 10,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age.



The Threat of a Sunset Commission
by John Berge

Three short sentences in the 2000-page budget plan passed by both houses of Congress recently could make it even easier for the Bush administration to wreak havoc on all sorts of environmental and health protecting programs of the Federal Government. These three sentences propose an eight-member "Sunset Commission" which would enable the president to eliminate any agency he dislikes--think of the Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Food and Drug Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and any other of your favorite protective governmental agency.

Democratic Senators Russell Feingold and Herbert Kohl both voted against the Senate budget resolution. Republican Congressman Paul Ryan voted for the budget resolution in the house. Since there are numerous differences between the two resolutions, they now will go to a committee to iron out those differences. Congress has not been able to do such reconciliation on budget resolutions in recent years.

"This year's budget eliminates twenty percent of the programs that were rated most effective, including efforts to improve the environment and education, and increases funding for programs that received the lowest possible rating," wrote journalist Osha Gray Davidson in a recent article in Rolling Stone. These ratings were from a "Program Assessment Rating Tool" implemented by the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

The two people that Davidson identifies as prominent behind the scenes instigators of this Sunset Commission are Clay Johnson and Wendy Gramm. Clay Johnson was a buddy of Bush's in prep school, roommate in college and in charge of all appointments when Bush was Governor of Texas. To get a picture of his power in the latter position, one of his first acts was to remove all three members of the state environmental protection commission and replace them with "a former Monsanto executive, an official with the Texas Beef Council and a lawyer for the oil industry." Johnson is now the Director of OMB. The Sunset Commission would go even further than cutting their budgets and actually eliminate them.

Wendy Gramm, the wife of former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm and the woman Ronald Reagan called "my favorite economist", fought to eliminate federal regulations. "Her most notorious victory came in 1992," according to Davidson, "when as chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, she pushed through a measure exempting companies that trade in energy derivatives from regulation, following an intense lobbying campaign by Enron. Gramm resigned from the commission and accepted a seat on the Enron board of directors, where she was paid $1.85 million and received donations from the company to support Mercatus (a free-market think tank founded by her)." It is well known how Enron operated after receiving this exemption.

The administration's proposal would appear to be unconstitutional, based on the separation of powers, since Congress would be relinquishing its power to legislate. Congress may change that to allow them to appoint the Commission. Whether the Commission is appointed by Bush or Congress, it will still be challenged in court. Just one more reason to examine thoroughly and oppose the ultraconservative nominees that Bush continues to name to the appellate courts. Who knows how many Supreme Court nominees he will be able to name?



UEC Conservation Award Competition

The United Environmental Council of Racine and Kenosha Counties announces its first annual Ed Prins Community Conservation Awards competition. The awards recognize an individual or family, a youth group, a nonprofit organization, and a business in each county for contributions to the quality of land, air, water, natural areas, or wildlife habitat of our community. One set of awards will be given in each county.

The awards are named for the late Ed Prins in honor of his lifetime contributions to conservation projects in Southeastern Wisconsin. Ed was well-known in Wisconsin for his birding skills and nature photography. He coordinated bluebird restoration efforts at Bong State Recreation Area and helped found the effort to save Chiwaukee Prairie. The Wisconsin Society for Ornithology honored him with the 1994 Bronze Passenger Pigeon Award.

The United Environmental Council is an informal confederation of Racine and Kenosha county groups seeking to protect and improve local natural resources. Sponsors of these awards include Caledonia Conservancy, Friends of Chiwaukee Prairie, Friends of Hawthorn Hollow, Hoy Audubon Society, Kenosha/Racine Land Trust, Pringle Nature Center, Racine Zoological Society, Root/Pike WIN (Watershed Initiative Network), Southeast Gateway Group of the Sierra Club, and Sustainable Racine.

Applications for the awards are due by August 31, 2005. The winners will be announced in October. Applications are available now through August 31 at Pringle Nature Center in Bristol, Saturday and Sunday, 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.; Hawthorn Hollow in Somers, Tuesday-Saturday, 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. and 1:00-5:00 p.m.; and River Bend Nature Center in Racine, Monday-Friday 9:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 12:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.

For more information or to receive an application by mail, contact Dan Werner, Pringle Nature Center, 9800 160th Avenue, Bristol, WI 53104, or call (262) 857-8008.



Board of Directors Election Results
by John Berge

Congratulations to Barbara Frank of LaCrosse, WI on her election to a three-year term on the Sierra Club's Board of Directors. She was one of five candidates presented by the Nominating Committee to be elected. Wisconsin now has two members of the Board; Doug La Follette's term expires in 2006. Uncertified results show the following vote tally: Joni Bosh 89,549, Jennifer Ferenstein 87,151, Jim Dougherty 86,377, Jim Catlin 82,459 and Barbara Frank 68,878.

None of the Petition candidates were elected with none getting more than 16,775 votes.

Voters rejected the ballot measure--should the Sierra Club adopt a policy on limiting immigration into the United States--by a vote of 102,455 to 18,998.

Both Bylaw changes were adopted. The one to end the provision for write-in candidates was approved 92,289 to 26,936. The provision for petition candidates continues with the new requirement (Bylaw change #2) that all candidates be members in good standing for at least one year prior to nomination winning by a resounding 115,392 to 5,272 votes.

The total number of ballots returned was 124,337, but 2,029 were invalid. The disturbing statistic was that only 15.2% of the 807,375 ballots mailed were returned either by mail or the internet. (The arithmetic doesn't quite check out, but this is what the election committee reported.)



Green Award...
by Barry Thomas

This year's Green Award goes to Megan Ower. Megan is a Junior at UW-Parkside and will use the award to attend the Midwest Sierra Student Coalition Camp in July. It is Megan's intent to use the knowledge obtained at the Camp to establish a Sierra Student Coalition at UW-Parkside.



Riders Wanted! Renewable Energy & Sustainable Living Fair
Saturday, June 18 • Bus Trip: $25
Spend a day in Custer, WI at the world's largest venue to learn about renewable energy and sustainable living. $25 includes bus ride and fair admission (a $40 value).

The bus leaves Racine at 7:45 a.m. from Hwy. 20 & Hwy. 31 parking lot at Hardies / Hobby Lobby and Milwaukee at 8:30 a.m. from Petit Ice Arena parking lot. The bus leaves the Fair at 7:00 p.m. to return to Racine.

Reserve a space on the bus. Contact the Midwest Renewable Energy Association at (715) 592-6595 or on the internet at : www.the-mrea.org .