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Chapter History

1924 The San Francisco Bay Chapter is established to include San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin and San Mateo counties. The first Chapter Chair is Orwell Logan. The first subcommittees are: Membership, Trails, Local Walks Schedule, Education and Entertainment. Chapter adopts San Francisco Tuesday Dinners from the Club. Dinners are held at Clinton Cafeteria and chaired by Wanda Bernhard. San Mateo will later come under the Loma Prieta Chapter.

1925 For its Education Committee and Tuesday Dinner programs, the Executive Committee invests in a "projecting machine" and solicits members' photo negatives to make "lantern slides" of outdoor treks. Dinners begin to draw more people into local walks.

1926 The Sequoia National Park is enlarged after Chapter and other groups pressure congressional representatives. The Chapter strongly opposes a road building plan to traverse the south side of Mt. Tamalpais. It also opposes plan to divide portions of Tamalpais open space into private cabin sites.

1927 The Chapter enlists the support of the Angeles Chapter to campaign for passage of Assembly Bill 677 which will create Mt. Tamalpais State Park. The bill passes both houses.

1929 The Chapter participates in dedicating a plaque in Muir Woods to the memory of William Kent who generously donated many acres to Mt. Tamalpais.

1930 Mt. Tamalpais starts operating as a state park.

1931 Francis P. Farquhar and Robert L. M. Underhill introduce the use of the rope in rock climbing on premier ascent of Mt. Whitney's East Face.

1932 Despite safety concerns, Executive Committee Chair Lewis Clark succeeds in adopting the Cragmont Climbing Club into the Chapter as the Rock Climbing Section.

1934 The East Bay Regional Park District is established, cheered on by the Chapter and other conservation groups. The Publications and Publicity Committee is established. Chapter leaders Richard Leonard, Bestor Robinson and Jules Eichorn make the first technical Yosemite climbing ascent of Cathedral Spires.

1935 Legislation is introduced to establish Kings Canyon National Park.

1936 Morgan Harris pioneers the pendulum traverse while climbing Royal Arches with two others.

1938 The first issue of the Yodeler goes to press: a hefty 75¢ subscription for one year.

1939 The first summit of Shiprock in New Mexico is achieved by Chapter officers David Brower, Raffi Bedayn and two others with the first use of expansion bolts. The Natural Science Section is formed (originally called the Nature Study Group).

1940 Congress establishes Kings Canyon National Park. This has been of major concern to the Chapter for some time.

1941 Club Vice President Bestor Robinson urges the Chapter's now famous Rock Climbing Section to "perfect and standardize" climbing techniques for U. S. Army mountaineers. The Yodeler stages a central mail clearinghouse for Chapter families to correspond with loved ones overseas and for servicemen to continue a dialog with their Yodeler at home.

1942 Brower edits the Sierra Club Manual of Ski Mountaineering, which is used to train U.S. mountain troops heading overseas during WWII. The Chapter enlists Cicely Christy to run its Harvest Camp in the Napa Valley to assist the war effort. On weekends and vacations many Chapter members replace enlisted farm laborers to harvest crops. St. Helena High offers its kitchen and showers to the group, which camps on the school grounds.

1943 The Chapter takes over the West Point Inn, saving it for future Mt. Tamalpais hikers. Nearly 1000 Sierra Club members are in the armed forces.

1944 The Advertising Committee and the Elections Committee are formed. Mountain gear and nylon climbing rope are developed by enlisted Chapter leaders for military use.

1945 The 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army returns home from the war. Many Sierra Club climbers are in this division. The Yodeler celebrates their return with a special Victory Edition on September 4, 1945. Chapter members resume their civilian lives and turn their attention to mounting concerns over threats to wilderness.

1946 The growing demand for lumber for post-war housing and dams for power alarm Sierra Club conservationists and other such organizations.

1948 Jack Sudall establishes the East Bay Dinners to provide a social venue for educational programs.

1949 San Francisco Tuesday Dinners celebrates 25 years.

1951 Ed Wayburn establishes the first Chapter Conservation Committee, which he chairs. The Chapter urges members to protest the proposed aerial tramway up Mt. San Jacinto near Palm Springs to preserve wilderness.

1952 Kings Canyon National Park continues to be threatened with the building of dams: Tehipite Valley, Copper Creek and Cedar Grove in the park are targeted.

1953 The Secretary of the Interior recommends the immediate construction of Echo Park Dam and Split Mountain Dam in Dinosaur National Monument which galvanizes the Sierra Club into action.

1954 By this year, a Speakers Bureau, Hospitality Committee and Winter Sports Committee have long since been thriving as well as several Sections: Conservation-Education, Natural Science, Hiking, Knapsacking, Car Camping and River Touring.

1955 Chapter membership reaches 4,500. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is created by the California Legislature, the State's first regional agency dealing with air pollution. Following an extraordinary Sierra Club publicity blitz, and with the aid of other conservation groups, Dinosaur National Monument is saved from damming.

1956 Ed Wayburn submits a plan to the State Parks Commission which calls for acquiring the whole bowl of Frank's Valley and includes Kent Canyon for Mt. Tamalpais parkland.

1957 The California Legislature establishes the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) to include the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco and others based on the environmental concept that a regional rapid transit system is essential to stem the tide toward dependence on autos and freeways. The Richardson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary is established and will include over 900 acres of wetlands.

1958 The National Club and Chapter successfully oppose the proposed PG&E nuclear plant at Bodega Head, situated near an earthquake fault.

1960 The Sierra Club, National Audubon and affiliates continue to lease Leslie Salt's marsh and intertidal lands for wildlife sanctuaries as an innovative way to protect habitat.

1961 By this year, the Chapter is sponsoring more than 300 outings per year. The Mountaineering Section is formed. The Chapter supports establishment of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), the official regional planning agency for environmental quality, transportation, etc. Claudia Doerr revives the San Francisco Tuesday Dinners, which had discontinued in 1952. The first dinner costs $1.85 at the Golden Gate Yacht Club. Two hundred attend.

1962 Point Reyes National Seashore is established per legislation introduced by Congressman Clem Miller and California Senators Clair Engle and Thomas H. Kuchel. The Chapter and voters support plan to construct BART.

1963 An exceptional film on the beauty of Point Reyes by Laurel Reynolds is produced and shown across the country. It is financed by the Chapter's rigorous fund-raising campaign to educate legislators and the public and to solicit land acquisition monies for the seashore.

1964 The Wilderness Act is passed. Chapter membership reaches 8,000. The John Muir National Historic Site at Martinez is established as a national park.

1965 Spearheaded by the Save The Bay movement and indominitable leaders like Sylvia McLaughlin, Kay Kerr and others, the McAteer-Petris Act is passed establishing the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC). It is made a permanent agency in 1969. The Williamson Act is passed giving tax incentives to land owners to restrict their lands to agricultural and open space uses.

1966 Chapter membership rises to 11,648.

1967 The East Bay Regional Park District obtains title to 1,200 acres of additional land in Wildcat Canyon. Briones Regional Park, 3,100 acres, opens to the public in Contra Costa County.

1968 Redwood National Park is established preserving 58,000 acres, of which 8,990 acres are old growth redwoods.

1969 Sierra Singles is formed. Chapter bicycle trips are begun. Membership in Chapter reaches 20,000. The Porter-Cologne Act is passed, which provides for regional water quality control. The National Environmental Policy Act is passed. The Chapter moves into its own small office (room 1043) of Mills Tower, San Francisco, down the hall from Sierra Club headquarters.

1970 The Legislature enacts the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The campaign to save Point Reyes continues and is a top priority for the Chapter. Dave and Pat Michener take over editorship of the Schedule and continue almost 30 years.

1971 The Chapter is midwife to the birth of People for a Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the organization which pushes successfully for the legislation to establish the GGNRA. (Ed Wayburn chair, and Amy Meyer co-chair.) The Mt. Diablo Regional Group of the Chapter is formed. Save Mt. Diablo is formed with the leadership of botanist Mary Bowerman, long a committee member of the Chapter's Natural Science Section. Inner City Outings is formed to introduce inner city youth to the wilderness experience. This pilot program adopted by the Chapter spreads to cities across the U.S.

1972 This is a landmark year. Congress authorizes establishment of Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA). Dwight Steele and the Chapter celebrate the defeat of the Southern Crossing. The 2,100 Marincello Development acres at the Marin Headlands are sold to the Nature Conservancy, thence to GGNRA. The Coastal Zone Initiative is passed to establish the California Coastal Commission. This is the first time the Chapter is involved in a major statewide initiative. The San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Act passes to protect a 20,000 acre wetlands habitat in the South Bay.

1973 Membership reaches 27,500. San Francisco Bay Chapter moves to a new office and bookstore in Oakland. EBMUD opens its lands for recreational use. The Marin Regional Group of the Chapter is formed. The original Tri-Valley Group (Livermore-Amadore) of the Bay Chapter is formed and operates successfully for the next 15 years. The Marin County Open Space District is established and will later purchase over 13,500 acres.

1974 The San Francisco Bay Chapter's 50th anniversary is celebrated.

1975 The San Francisco Regional Group of the Chapter is formed.

1976 Chapter Activities continue to thrive such as Sierra Couples, Snow Camping, Solo Sierrans and Ski Touring (Skiing is one of the oldest) and others.

1977 John Shively takes over the East Bay Dinners and organizes them with Jack Sudall and Jane Barrett.

1978 Redwood National Park is enlarged with 48,000 acres, protecting the watershed of the world's tallest trees.

1980 Save the Bay and the Chapter propose creation of the Eastshore State Park.

1981 The Bay Chapter Yodeler conducts a series of interviews with local and national figures including Linus Pauling, Daniel Ellsburg, David Brower, and Dr. Helen Caldicott. Concerned with nuclear issues this published series receives national attention and results in the Sierra Club adopting a Disarmament Policy in 1981 after 18 months of debate. More than one million petition signatures demanding the dismissal of Interior Secretary James Watt are gathered by the Sierra Club and other conservation groups.

1982 By now, the Chapter has fourteen conservation subcommittees including Wilderness, Hazardous Waste, Transportation, Wildlife and Coastal.

1983 The Chapter establishes an Urban Creeks and Wetlands Task Force, chaired by Judith Goldsmith. This committee plays an important role in creating a regional movement for preservation and restoration of creeks. Secretary of the Interior, James Watt is forced to resign from office.

1984 Membership reaches 33,538. The Chapter opposes and closely monitors the proposed 18,000-home Las Positas development in Alameda County. The Chapter vehemently opposes plans for a massive basalt quarry near Sunol at Apperson Ridge, home to the golden eagle and prairie falcon.

1985 The Citizens for an Eastshore State Park is formed (CESP), guided by Dwight Steele, Norman La Force and others. The Chapter's Legal Advisory Committee is established.

1986 Proposition 65 is passed (The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act). GLS is established, the Club's first Gay Lesbian Section.

1987 The Bay Trail is created with Chapter support through the Lockyer Bill S.B. 100, referred to as "The Ring around the Bay." The Delta Regional Group of the Chapter is organized.

1988 The Chapter invests $30,000 and incalculable staff and volunteer time in Proposition 70, a State Bond measure which passes. East Bay voters pass Measure AA, a local park land acquisition measure. Both bond acts will help fund Eastshore State Park and other park land acquisitions. The Chapter stages a major campaign to fight a plan to build a $190 million dam and reservoir in Buckhorn Canyon near earthquake faults.

1990 The West Contra Costa Regional Group is formed. The Alameda County Source Reduction and Recycling Board is created to reduce landfilled solid waste by 75% over time and establish commercial and residential recycling. Pleasanton Ridge is established as a regional park of over 2,000 acres after a long battle by Bob Walker and others to save it. Walker also leads campaign to double the size of Morgan Territory, which now contains a ridge named in his honor.

1991 The Eastshore State Park is created. San Francisco Dinners celebrates 30 years of service (it had recessed from 1952-1961).

1992 The Northern Alameda County and the Southern Alameda County Groups of the Chapter are formed. AB 754 makes East Bay Regional Park District a state agent for acquisition and development of Eastshore State Park, to run from the Bay Bridge to the Richmond Marina. The 11,000-home Dougherty Valley development is approved in Contra Costa County in the face of fierce opposition by the Chapter and other conservation groups.

1993 Mt. Wanda --326 acres-- is added to the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez. Muir and his family often strolled there.

1994 As mandated by the Burton Bill of 1972, the U.S. Army transfers jurisdiction of the Presidio to the GGNRA on October 1st of this year. Today it encompasses 1,480 acres. Vicky Hoover leads the Chapter's efforts along with the California Wilderness Coalition and others to see passage of the California Desert Protection Act. This monumental conservation achievement will mean preservation of over 7 million desert acres. Chapter membership reaches 35,593.

1996 Contra Costa County's Good Neighbor Ordinance passes (it gives the county oversight of maintenance projects at Tosco, Shell and other refineries). The Pleasanton Urban Growth Boundary Measure is passed to protect open space from development for the next 20 years.

1997 With leadership from Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, planning efforts by Michael Alexander and the Chapter's Presidio Task Force, the Presidio Trust is established, an executive federal corporation with responsibilities to oversee the Presidio. Cyntha Patton, Margaret Tracy and others form a new Tri-Valley Regional Group of the Chapter. It had been inactive for some time but is revived with much enthusiasm.

1998 The Chapter is a major force behind the campaign to defeat Measure B, the Alameda County Transportation Sales Tax, which would enrich mega-transit and deplete small transit services. East Bay Dinners celebrates 50 years of entertaining and educational programs. Chapter membership reaches 36,282. The 5,330-home development plan in pristine Tassajara Valley is withdrawn in the face of mounting anti-sprawl opposition by the Chapter and other environmental groups. The Chapter plays major role in persuading the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors to begin reversing urban growth policies in favor of tightening county urban limit lines, and to adopt a strengthened Industrial Safety Ordinance. Urban sprawl and transportation issues mount and continue to absorb the San Francisco Bay Chapter. The Chapter Wilderness Committee works with the California Wilderness Coalition to participate in the Wildlands 2000 project, a campaign to identify California wildlands for designation as wilderness.

1999 The Chapter celebrates its Diamond Jubilee. San Francisco Airport proposes plan to fill up to two square miles of the Bay for runway expansion; the Bay Chapter begins major campaign to prevent this. Chapter settles its lawsuit over expansion of Altamont Landfill; Waste Management agrees to reduce expansion from 80 million to only 40 million tons and to pay $65 million for habitat and open space, recycling education, and other compensations to communities impacted by its operations.

2000
Stopping sprawl: Voters in Alameda County pass Measure D, the Save Agriculture and Open Space Lands Initiative, establishing a county Urban Limit Line. The Bay Chapter started the idea, coordinated the drafting, and spearheaded the campaign to gather signatures and pass the measure. The Chapter plays a big role in persuading the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors to pass a strong Urban Limit Line.

Parks and open space: The Chapter influences the East Bay Regional Park District to adopt a greatly refined park spending plan. The Chapter’s San Francisco Group helps pass Measures A and C, providing significant funding for parks and open space in San Francisco.

Transportation: The Chapter plays a key role in the drafting of Measure B, a greatly improved plan for Alameda County's transportation sales tax, just approved by county voters.

Chapter-endorsed candidates win nine out of 11 seats on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to establish a strong environmental majority. Chapter revises bylaws to include a representative from each of its regional groups on the Chapter Executive Committee. The year sees a major change in the Chapter's fundraising: instead of contracting out for telephoners, it brings its telephone outreach efforts in-house, so that phoners are Chapter staff and can make focused contributions to conservation efforts as well as raising money.

2001 Chapter helps elect new slow-growth majorities in Livermore and San Ramon. Marin Group helps referendum campaign to stop development at Bahia. Chapter hires Jonna Anderson for new role as volunteer coordinator, and achieves great increase in volunteer involvement. Chapter Activities Committee establishes the Michener award, named for Dave and Pat Michener, who edited the Chapter Schedule for 30 years, to honor outstanding outing leadership. The Micheners this year step down as editors, and the Chapter makes the transition to new editorial procedures. The Snowcamping Section celebrates the 30th year of its acclaimed Snowcamping Training Series.

2002 After decades of efforts by the Chapter and the East Bay community, the State Park and Recreation Commission approves a plan for the Eastshore State Park that incorporates much of the Chapter's vision for the park. Voters in Fremont pass Measure T, a Club-supported hillside-protection ordinance, and in San Ramon voters pass Measure P, which includes an Urban Growth Boundary. Livermore City Council adopts Urban Limit Line for North Livermore. Sen. Barbara Boxer introduces the California Wild Heritage Wilderness Act, incorporating the results of the Wildlands 2000 mapping project, and Congress passes and the president signs a bill incorporating the Big Sur portion of the act. Chapter starts local chapter of the Sierra Student Coalition. Yodeler holds first annual Photo Contest, featuring full-color photos in Yodeler and exhibits at venues in each of the Chapter's four counties. Yodeler production goes all-electronic.

2003 San Francisco Board of Supervisors tells San Francisco Airport to drop runway expansion plan. Chapter leader Jane Seleznow, along with Richard Zimmerman of the Loma Prieta Chapter, played leading roles in galvanizing massive campaign to bring this outcome. Chapter helps persuade the Water Transit Authority to drop the most objectionable features of its ferry plan. Chapter helps persuade San Rafael to drop development plans for St. Vincent/Silveira. Chapter's Environmental Justice Committee and West Contra Costa Group co-sponsor large community forum on North Richmond shoreline. Chapter establishes Sierrans Outdoors in Accessible Recreation (SOAR) to sponsor and encourage outings accessible to people with disabilities.

2004 We achieved an unprecedented level of volunteer activity, fueled by the November elections. While the national results weren't pretty, we were over-whelmingly successful in electing or re-electing strong conservation-oriented candidates. All of the environmentalist incubents retained their seats on the San Franicsco Board of Supervisors and one endorsee was elected to replace Matt Gonzalez. Marin county was a clean sweep - all of our endorsed candidates were elected. We endorsed and won two critical East Bay ballot measures. Measure CC will provide funding for the East Bay Regional Park; and Measure M in Hercules will protect Franklin Canyon. East Bay election successes include Richmond, Fremont, Albany and Berkeley.

Our big open-space successes of the year were in Contra Costa County. We achieved a settlement agreement for permanent protection of 1,354 acres of land in and adjacent to the Gateway Valley in Orinda. These valuable open-space lands, rich with streams and wetlands, complete a 20-mile-long corridor stretching from San Pablo to Castro Valley. In another settlement agreement we won significant improvements and limitations to development in the Tassajara Valley.

The Yodeler switched to a bimonthly format which will save the Chapter a good bit of money. The new, fatter format also allows the Yodeler to go into more depth about the Chapter's priority campaigns.

2005 A major victory involved convincing the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to drop a plan to construct a fourth pipeline across the Central Valley.

East Bay Shoreline protection was enhanced when developers withdrew plans to build a casino across the street from Arrowhead Marsh.

And in a first of its kind in the nation, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission approved a policy to relate funding of transit projects to then prior introduction of appropriate land-use policies.

The Chapter led the campaign against four ballot measures brought by developers to get voters to authorize developments outside the Alameda County Urban Limit Line and the Contra Costa Urban Limit Line. The two bigger measures in Livermore and Brentwood were defeated. The upshot is 7,300 units rejected, and only 2,100 approved.

2006 Clean and affordable renewable energy is our highest priority. The Chapter Energy Committee surveyed local governments about what fees they were charging for the installation of residential solar systems. We, and the cities themselves, were surprised to learn that the fees in some cities were high enough to signifcantly discourage solar-energy use. Thanks to this effort by the Energy Committee, cities have cut their fees, and in two cases removed them altogether.

Our biggest victory this year came when the Board of the East Bay Regional Park District voted to acquire most of Breuner Marsh through eminent domain. We see the success at Breuner as the springboard for a larger campaign to win protection for other open spaaces and wetlands in North Richmond.

We got to celebrate many years of Bay Chapter efforts with the dedication ceremony on October 4th for the Eastshore Park.

The Chapter Wilderness Committee was one of many organizations that helped to get Congress to pass and President Bush to sign the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act, protecting more than 270,000 acres of wild lands in northwestern California.