Meet Your Chapter

Palos Verdes-South Bay Group

The facts

Founded in 1965

Serves the 4,000 Sierra Club members residing in San Pedro, Torrance, Redondo Beach, Palos Verdes Peninsula, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Lawndale, Wilmington, Gardena, Carson, Lomita, and Harbor City

Number of currently active leaders: 54

The fun stuff

Upcoming hiking destinations include Chile, New Zealand, Ireland, Greece, and Mexico. Closer to home, the group frequently hikes around the Santa Monica Mountains and Palos Verdes Hills. The conditioning hikes are always very well attended, according to group chair Kevin Martin. The group's social chair, Joyce White, likes to plan fun events like picnics at the Hollywood Bowl and after-hike parties for members to mingle in a fun, relaxed social setting. Visit http://angeles.sierraclub.org/pvsb/ for more information about upcoming PV-SB Group events.

Palos Verdes-South Bay Group on 2002 trip to New Zealand. Photo by Phil Wheeler.

The good work

The Palos Verdes Peninsula and the South Bay area contain many large areas that are still undeveloped. Most of the PV-SB Group's conservation efforts are focused on keeping those areas safe from development. Many members have been working to prohibit the city from turning the Palos Verdes Landfill into a golf course. 'Development on the site would be extremely precarious for the entire community,' said Christina Zimmerman, a PV-SB Group member who has been very active in the golf course opposition project for the past two and a half years. More than 3,000 people in the Palos Verdes community have voiced their opposition to the planned golf course to the city council, and the surrounding school districts have drafted formal oppositions for the City Council, citing extreme environmental hazard, Zimmerman said.

The PV-SB Group has also been lobbying the Redondo Beach City Council, which is currently weighing public opinion regarding two options for changes to downtown. One plan involves building 350 homes and condominiums, two hotels, commercial space, and a small park downtown. The PV-SB group supports the Heart Park renovation plan, which would restore the area's natural wetlands and create a large park for recreation and the restoration of the area's original wildlife.

In early December, the group won a large victory in convincing the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council to limit mountain bike usage on a 160-acre nature preserve.

How to

Club members who wish to get involved with the PV-SB Group can contact chair Keith Martin at kwmartin-at-verizon.net or 310-316-7617. To keep updated on the PV-SB Group's activities and conservation efforts, you can also read their Group newsletter, The Foggy View. The newsletter is distributed to PV-SB area members every month through the Southern Sierran, and it is also posted on their Web site. Join group members for the quarterly meeting Jan. 26 at 7pm at the Palos Verdes Library Community Room, 650 Deep Valley Drive. Guest speaker Murial K. Horacek, a volunteer for the Earthwatch Institute, will show slides on her many trips around the world.

-- Jessica Parks