The Sierra Club SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Spoonman]

Last November close friend of the family who is a farmer informed my father that the land he has been leasing for 28 years was being sold.
The sale was cancelled after the buyer’s EIS revealed approximately 100 acres of the 523 total acres is wetlands.
All was well and good for the gentleman farmer, and my wife and kids spent many spring days walking the fields and playing around the ponds watching the ducklings learn to swim.
Last week I receive a call from my father, the property is being sold to another group of investors that are planning on building a sub-division on it.
They have informed the farmer that they plan on ditching the property so that it will drain better as soon as the paperwork is signed. They have already drawn up plat maps and started staking it, and the sale has yet to go through.
Having some knowledge of the legalities of development the friend asked me if this was legal, and could we slow them down.
Of course, I said, they have to conduct studies and acquire permits for anything this large.
There has been nothing filed with ACOE or TCEQ.
Being a members for the last 12 years I decide to call the Sierra Club.
Well the local Houston office NEVER returned any of the 3 phone calls, and the LoneStar Chapter told me “your best bet is to hire a lawyer”. I ask the gentleman on the other of the phone what my donations were used for if not this, and his reply was “legislative stuff”.
With this in mind I will never send another penny to that organization again!
I highly recommend you contact your local chapter and see if they get involved with issues as small as this one, or do they only do “legislative stuff”.
I never expected to get a team of activist flown in from D.C. to right this wrong doing, but I did expect them to at least offer to help somehow.

You spend years supporting something, just to find out they're worthless when it comes down to the little things they're meant to support.

[shance]

1. Perhaps its inevitable, but I hate development.

One thing I would recommend is calling their corporate office and letting them know.

[bahrbearian]

2. Acutally there isn't much left to save the Wet Lands

Here in King County Washington, my property is wet land buffer and my neighbors is wet lands he came in and ditched out I filed a complant he was warned. He then came in a filled and graded I camplained " this is real wet lands blue herons and every thing, he got red tagged , he came up to me and cursed me out. He is a long haul trucker he told me all he was going to do was build a place to repair his trucks, his sons, and his sons friends. they then brought in a bunch of old containers, container forklift. dollys old break drums wheels transmissions ectect and the five running trucks and 3 broken trucks. I comlained again I think thats when they rasised his taxes. The whole government is for sale.

[Spoonman]

3. Shame, but your right

Yea "my" place is the same, Blue Herons, 6-7 species of frogs (my brother used the place for his masters thesis), ducks, rails, galinuels, everything.
I'm afraid of experiencing what you went through - reaction, not action.

I'm bummed out!

[pmbryant]

4. The Sierra Club in Texas is a pretty small organization

I'm in San Antonio and have been to a few meetings of the local Sierra Club group here. I'm not at all surprised that the Texas Sierra Club cannot help you, as the pool of people they have available are all volunteers at the local level, I think, and very few in number. At the state level, they probably have a few paid staff, which is why they were able to at least return your call.

Perhaps there is some other organization in the Houston area that could help you. Local (or even national) land trusts are probably the best bet, but I am not at all an expert.

The Sierra Club, especially in Texas where it is a small organization, just doesn't have anywhere near the resources to get involved in much. They are barely involved in "legislative stuff" as it is.

--Peter

[Township75]

5. SC does suck.

Sounds as if you have saved your money for the last 12 years you could put it towards a lawyer now, which really defeats the purpose of being a member.

[rustydad]

6. Sorry, your wrong

I live in Santa Barbara, CA. We have several local chapters of the Sierra Club. The national SC organization does not get involved in local land use issues. Sometimes on regional issues the California branch of the SC will get invloved, issues like offshore oil drilling. On local land use issues the local chapters may get invloved, usually not though. We have other local environmental orgs that often tackle issues project by project. You can't expect any national environmental group to pony up to an issue of one small land use change.

Perhaps if you look locally you can find a public interest legal foundation that can help, sometimes pro bono or at a reduced rate. If you have the time you can dog this project through your locally permitting process. Talk to your local planning people or even contact your local City or County Supervisor. Make yourself a real pest and you may be surprised at what you can do. Bob

[sandnsea]

7. "watchdog group"

That was the reply I got in Montana when I tried to find an environmental group to help me and my Girl Scout troop keep a riverbank from eroding. We were willing to do all the work and spend the money on whatever plants would be appropriate, we just couldn't get anybody to tell us how to do the work. It was very discouraging and actually didn't get done.

But still, they do alot of other good work and I can't imagine how bad the environment would be without organizations like that. But maybe there's some other group that can help, Audubon or a special wetlands organization or something. It also goes to show that farmers are often wonderful keepers of the land and don't always get the credit they deserve.