Letter to the editor:

Selling Clair Tappaan?

Dear Yodeler Editor:

I've been going to Clair Tappaan Lodge every winter for twenty years, and I hope to continue sitting in front of its big stone fireplace after a wonderful day of skiing for the next twenty. But the future of the Lodge looks bleak. Not because the Clair Tappaan Lodge Committee isn't doing everything possible to save the Lodge - they are, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart for their heroic efforts. The problem as I see it is that the senior leadership of the Sierra Club is convinced that the dollars they can make today by selling the Lodge, and the 100 acres of Red Fir forest that surround it, are worth more than the cost of preserving the Clair Tappaan Lodge and its surrounding forest.

In 2004, the Board announced that because the annual operating deficits at the Lodge exceeded $100,000, they would begin the process of selling the Lodge unless volunteers raised $100,000 to save it.

The volunteers did a heroic job in 2005 they raised well over $100,000. Unfortunately, in spite of the money raised, the Sierra Club Executive Committee announced that because the Lodge had failed to make significant progress towards the break-even goal, they would continue to investigate selling the Lodge. This October, the Finance Governance Committee passed a resolution to start selling the Lodge land a parcel at a time, starting with the 23.25 acre Warming Hut parcel. Only an unspecified "part" of the money from this sale will be used to fund the Lodge the rest of it will go towards other Sierra Club programs.

I'm amazed that the volunteer committee has had the heart to keep fighting to save the Lodge after these discouraging developments. The current deficit could be less than $70,000 per year, less than 1/2% of the Sierra Club's program budget. If the Club can't spare $70,000 per year to keep the Lodge going, couldn't they at the very least close the Lodge and preserve its 100 acres of forest?

I wonder what John Muir would say about all this if he were alive today? The leadership of the club he founded to protect land in the Sierra from development is selling off a precious remaining 100 acres of Red Fir forest, habitat for martens, fishers, wolverines, pileated woodpeckers, and black bears, to the highest bidder.

Sincerely,

Charlotte Allen

Response from Dave Simon, director, Outdoor Activities.
Unfortunately, Clair Tappaan's deficit is money the Club can't spend on our conservation efforts, and a million dollars per decade, or even a large fraction of that, is not small change. The Club is still trying to find ways to keep the Lodge and help it to break even and the enormous efforts of the Lodge Committee are both recognized and appreciated. But if these efforts are not successful, and the Board of Directors decides to sell the Lodge, the Club will make every effort to sell it in a way that protects the land.