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From Dick Simpson (note - if you want your suggestion for hut site and/or design to reach Dick, you need to email him directly at [email protected]):
Hut Enthusiasts:
The donor account for the Sierra Club’s new Ward Hut has been set up and funded. The next step is going to be called the Feasibility Study.
IF YOU WANT TO RESPOND TO THIS MESSAGE, DO NOT USE THE REPLY BUTTON. START A NEW MESSAGE ADDRESSED TO [email protected]
A. Hut Location
We’re looking for one or more locations to build the hut based on the following criteria, in more-or-less the listed order of importance --
The ideal site will:
(1) be in an area that would have been familiar to Paul Ward —that is, within approximately 25 miles of Truckee;
(2) be outside statutory Wilderness areas or areas likely to be candidates for future Wilderness;
(3) not adversely affect natural elements such as threatened flora and fauna;
(4) be safe and have ingress/egress routes that will also be safe during construction, maintenance, and use;
(5) be chosen to facilitate construction and maintenance (plausible road access but no swamps, hard rock formations, etc.) but not on a heavily traveled route;
(6) be on land that is either public (e.g., USFS) or in stable private ownership for the foreseeable future;
(7) have good non-motorized recreation potential with minimal snowmobile conflict;
(8) be within a day’s over-snow travel from a public trailhead (with suitable parking) and have good prospects for being used;
(9) have water and firewood nearby;
(10) be convenient for management from the Club’s Clair Tappaan Lodge (in Norden)
(11) be within a day’s over-snow travel from another, similar hut.
If you think an important criterion has been omitted from the list, let me know. If you think you know of a site that meets most of the goals, send me a description (responding to each of the points above) within the next couple months; photos and/or a simple map would be welcome attachments.
We’ll sift through the nominations, pick a few that look the most promising, and do some site visits this summer. Then the Club, the donors, and the land owners/managers will sit down to pick one. After that there could be 2-3 years of environmental studies and permitting; so be patient. And both the donors and the Club have veto rights if the Feasibility Study doesn’t produce a satisfactory result.
IF YOU WANT TO RESPOND TO THIS MESSAGE, DO NOT USE THE REPLY BUTTON. START A NEW MESSAGE ADDRESSED TO [email protected]
B. Hut Design
The default design is a copy of the new, as-built Bradley Hut in Pole Creek. Building a Bradley replica may be the most cost-effective design. But there are alternatives. If you have suggestions, let me know — either for a new design, for an improved Bradley, or for something else. We will be checking out at least one pre-fabricated cabin design. The Club and the donors will review the choices and pick one, based on its features and the likely cost (and subject to the veto possibilities mentioned above).
IF YOU WANT TO RESPOND TO THIS MESSAGE, DO NOT USE THE REPLY BUTTON. START A NEW MESSAGE ADDRESSED TO [email protected]
IF YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS FOR BOTH SITE AND DESIGN, PLEASE SEND SEPARATE MESSAGES, WHICH WILL HELP ME IN SORTING.
Thanks,
Dick Simpson
Sierra Club Volunteer Hut Coordinator
[email protected]
Hut Enthusiasts:
The donor account for the Sierra Club’s new Ward Hut has been set up and funded. The next step is going to be called the Feasibility Study.
IF YOU WANT TO RESPOND TO THIS MESSAGE, DO NOT USE THE REPLY BUTTON. START A NEW MESSAGE ADDRESSED TO [email protected]
A. Hut Location
We’re looking for one or more locations to build the hut based on the following criteria, in more-or-less the listed order of importance --
The ideal site will:
(1) be in an area that would have been familiar to Paul Ward —that is, within approximately 25 miles of Truckee;
(2) be outside statutory Wilderness areas or areas likely to be candidates for future Wilderness;
(3) not adversely affect natural elements such as threatened flora and fauna;
(4) be safe and have ingress/egress routes that will also be safe during construction, maintenance, and use;
(5) be chosen to facilitate construction and maintenance (plausible road access but no swamps, hard rock formations, etc.) but not on a heavily traveled route;
(6) be on land that is either public (e.g., USFS) or in stable private ownership for the foreseeable future;
(7) have good non-motorized recreation potential with minimal snowmobile conflict;
(8) be within a day’s over-snow travel from a public trailhead (with suitable parking) and have good prospects for being used;
(9) have water and firewood nearby;
(10) be convenient for management from the Club’s Clair Tappaan Lodge (in Norden)
(11) be within a day’s over-snow travel from another, similar hut.
If you think an important criterion has been omitted from the list, let me know. If you think you know of a site that meets most of the goals, send me a description (responding to each of the points above) within the next couple months; photos and/or a simple map would be welcome attachments.
We’ll sift through the nominations, pick a few that look the most promising, and do some site visits this summer. Then the Club, the donors, and the land owners/managers will sit down to pick one. After that there could be 2-3 years of environmental studies and permitting; so be patient. And both the donors and the Club have veto rights if the Feasibility Study doesn’t produce a satisfactory result.
IF YOU WANT TO RESPOND TO THIS MESSAGE, DO NOT USE THE REPLY BUTTON. START A NEW MESSAGE ADDRESSED TO [email protected]
B. Hut Design
The default design is a copy of the new, as-built Bradley Hut in Pole Creek. Building a Bradley replica may be the most cost-effective design. But there are alternatives. If you have suggestions, let me know — either for a new design, for an improved Bradley, or for something else. We will be checking out at least one pre-fabricated cabin design. The Club and the donors will review the choices and pick one, based on its features and the likely cost (and subject to the veto possibilities mentioned above).
IF YOU WANT TO RESPOND TO THIS MESSAGE, DO NOT USE THE REPLY BUTTON. START A NEW MESSAGE ADDRESSED TO [email protected]
IF YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS FOR BOTH SITE AND DESIGN, PLEASE SEND SEPARATE MESSAGES, WHICH WILL HELP ME IN SORTING.
Thanks,
Dick Simpson
Sierra Club Volunteer Hut Coordinator
[email protected]
- between Alpine and Blackwood Canyon. This would fulfill the original mission of spacing the hut's a day's hike apart. But the OSV access there may nix that.
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