On 50th anniversary, John Muir Chapter of Sierra Club to reflect on past, look towards future

When Sierra Club members assemble from around the state to celebrate 50 years of grassroots action this weekend, they will not only reflect on their past – but introduce ideas and new goals for the decades ahead.

“We don’t want to sit there naval-gazing,” said Liz Wessel, the chair of the Sierra Club’s John Muir Chapter. “We want to assess how we can move forward with the organization and diversify.”

The John Muir Chapter, which is the Wisconsin branch of the Sierra Club, will hold its 50th anniversary celebration at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery this Saturday, April 20. Featured guests include former state representative Spencer Black and Michael Brune, the executive director of the national Sierra Club.

Wessel, who spent a year organizing Saturday’s event, said the John Muir Chapter brings together active people who “love the land.”

“They are out there protecting it; they are enjoying it and exploring it,” Wessel said, adding how the volunteer-based group has focused on pollution, conservation, and wildlife issues since the chapter was founded in 1963 with the creation of the state’s Ice Age Trail.

Wessel said the group has a desire to make a change -- to focus their efforts on recruiting young, energized volunteers and tailor their initiatives to combat climate change, what she called a “tough” issue.

“It’s the issue of the day,” Wessel said. “If we don’t win this, we are in trouble.”

 For the past 50 years, the organization’s volunteers have worked to raise awareness and lobby state government officials for conservation issues including mining and transportation. Wessel said the club worked with state officials 15 years ago to implement the mining regulations that were recently changed under the state’s contentious mining bill, which Gov. Scott Walker signed into law March 11.

Wessel said the Sierra Club’s chapter at UW-Madison staged a lobby day in the months before the bill passed to visit legislative offices and advocate against the bill -- a common tactic the club uses to elicit change.

“We do not rely on paid staff, but we rely on members who are very, very active, and they are from all over the state,” Wessel said. “Sierra Club, in many ways, is a powerful organization that works all over.”

Other projects members are currently taking on involve cleaning Madison’s lakes, as well as advocating for cleaner transportation through the organization’s “Beyond Oil” campaign.

For more information about the 50th anniversary event on April 20, visit their website here.