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Sierra Club Bulletin 



Secretary's Annual Report 



May 6, 1916, to May 5, 1917 



To the Members of the Sierra Club: 



The club can be justly proud of the work accomplished the last year. 

 Many of its members have entered the service of the Government in one 

 capacity or another as will be indicated in part, at least, by the roll of 

 honor published in another portion of the Bulletin. The club is so 

 large that we have not been able to ascertain all of the names that 

 should be placed on this list, and will appreciate assistance in making it 

 complete. It is a source of pride and satisfaction to learn from many 

 of the active members who became officers in the various training camps 

 established by the Government that a considerable portion of their suc- 

 cess in these training camps was attributed directly to the experience in 

 outdoor life and ability to handle personal equipment derived while on 

 Sierra Club trips. 



The club also did a splendid work in securing passage of another bill 

 in the last State Legislature appropriating an additional $10,000 to be 

 used toward the completion of the John Muir Trail. Great credit is due 

 Senator A. H. Breed for his tremendously effective assistance in this 

 behalf. At the suggestion of the club the Legislature also amended the 

 Golden Trout Law so that it is now possible to catch these trout com- 

 mencing the 1st of July instead of the ist of August, as was formerly 

 the case. This condition virtually debarred any opportunity for the club 

 members to catch golden trout on any of their outings, and was not 

 supported by any valid reason. 



The club also entered a vigorous protest against allowing cattle to 

 enter the national parks unless a compelling necessity were shown. Some 

 good citizens became quite hysterical on the subject, and without ade- 

 quate information were demanding that the parks be thrown open in- 

 discriminately to grazing. Instead of a shortage of feed as predicted, 

 there never was a better grazing year known in the Sierra than that of 

 last summer, and the urgent demand on this score was traced directly 

 to cattle interests that have been trying to get permits to enter the park 

 ever since parks were established. Under pressure, the Department of 

 the Interior did allow a limited number of cattle to enter the Yosemite 

 National Park north of the Tuolumne River and in the region about the 

 headwaters of the South Fork of the Merced. Even this is to be regret- 

 ted, for when these interests once get a hold on the park it will be dif- 

 ficult to dislodge them. The Sierra Club, under the guidance of John 

 Muir, fought for years to get the sheep and cattle out of the Yosemite 

 Park, and while the Sierra Club would not for a moment stand in the 

 way of a real and compelling necessity, it would be derelict in its duty 

 if it did not do all in its power to keep the parks from being ruined as 

 the result of a specious demand. 



We are indebted to Dr. E. P. Meinecke, of the U. S. Forest Service, 



