Midwest Mountaineering has announced recipients of their Environmental Grants Program.  Midwest has long committed to donate 10% of  pre-tax profits to environmental causes that they support. This is the first year employees of Midwest Mountaineering have voted to decide on the funding.  Owner Rod Johnson said of the grants this year, “We support their efforts and enjoy the benefits of their programs and hope you will, too!  These are the people who make sure we keep our outdoor treasures for future generations.”

Recipients of Midwest Environmental Grants
• The Conservation Alliance – www.conservationalliance.com
• Eco-Education – www.ecoeducation.org
• Kinnickinnic River Land Trust – www.kinniriver.org
• Lonnie Dupre – www.lonniedupre.com
• Mississippi Whitewater Park – www.whitewaterpark.canoe-kayak.org
• North Country Trail Association – www.northcountrytrail.org
• U of MN Raptor Center – www.raptor.cvm.umn.edu
• Superior Hiking Trail Association – www.shta.org

Midwest is passionate about these causes and about promoting outdoor recreation in general.  Each year Midwest host’s two Adventure Expos (April & November) and many clinics, sales and trips to support outdoor enthusiasts in Minneapolis.  The most recent Spring Expo yielded 60 Exhibitors, over 60 Presentations, and a screening of the Banff Film Festival.  Beyond special events, Midwest has its own climbing cave, open daily and encourages climbers with special programs like  Bouldering Divas! 

At the Winter Adventure Expo in November, Midwest is proud to announce that they will have Dr. John Francis as a key speaker.  Dr. John Francis, is an environmentalist best known as for his actions famously lived without car transportation for over 17 years and started Planet Walk in 1982.  He was recently profiled in Backpacker Magazine, and spoke at The Conservation Alliance Breakfast this past winter.

For more about Midwest Mountaineering go to their website http://www.midwestmtn.com.

For more on owner Rod Johnson see his profile in Outdoor Business Magazine.

By LANCE BROCK and DAWSON WHEELER •  Originally Printed in Tennessean.com

That’s right: Mining on public lands is still governed by a law from 1872.

The idea back then was to encourage pioneering prospectors to find and develop gold, silver and copper. The government wanted to settle the vast frontier and foster local economies from Appalachia to California, so mining was given top priority for use of public land, which miners could buy land for as little as $2.50 an acre. And they didn’t pay a dime for the riches they removed. Not a bad deal … in 1872.

More than a century later, the frontier has been tamed and populated, and picks and shovels have been exchanged for chemical processing, large-scale blasting and house-sized earthmovers. Communities have grown up alongside public lands and now look to those lands for watershed protection, wildlife habitat and recreation. Today, rock-climbing, kayaking, hiking and mountain biking are widely popular, making important economic contributions to many communities and promoting an ethic of protection for treasured routes, waterways and trails.

Many of these committed outdoor enthusiasts have been appalled to find that the lands they revere are still treated with century-old disregard, and that priorities set in the days of Ulysses S. Grant still rule the use of millions of acres of national forests and other public lands.

As the people of Tennessee know well, mining, without modern safeguards, can have catastrophic impacts. Millions have been spent to restore Polk County’s Copper Basin mining district, which suffered devastating pollution from mining and sulfuric acid processing, until a solid partnership of state, federal and private efforts restored the area.

Sadly, the pre-restoration story of Copper Basin is repeated across much of our nation’s public lands. Mining under 19th-century policies has left a legacy of more than a half-million abandoned mines, and hard-rock mining has polluted 40 percent of Western watersheds. The estimated cleanup costs of this toxic legacy are more than $50 billion, and American taxpayers may be on the hook for a good portion of this total. Even if funds were readily available, cleanup would require decades. Enough is enough.

Last year, the U.S. House of Representatives passed meaningful reform with the Hard-rock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2007, which protects special places like wild and scenic rivers, roadless national forests and areas of critical environmental concern. This bill institutes a reasonable royalty for extracting hard-rock minerals from public lands, as is required for coal, oil and natural gas. These funds would pay for long-overdue mine cleanup. The bill would also authorize denial of mine permits if operations would cause “undue degradation” of public lands and waters, and it improves enforcement of environmental laws and citizen participation.

But for these reforms to become law, the U.S. Senate must also act — and it must do so soon. With the approaching summer breaks and fall election, time is running out. If the Senate doesn’t act the House’s hard work will be lost and our elected representatives will need to start over next year. New claims on public lands have jumped by 80 percent in recent years, so the Senate must get moving now, not only so existing pollution can be remedied but also to protect important recreation areas and prevent future contamination.

Tennessee Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker both know the value of recreation, so we look to them for leadership and initiative. Alexander has led presidential commissions on recreation and Corker, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has supported outdoor recreation since his days as Chattanooga mayor. They are both positioned to help usher mining reform through the Senate. Their efforts could protect both our public lands and American taxpayers.

Lance Brock is co-owner of Climb Nashville and has served on the Access Fund and Southeastern Climbers Coalition boards. Dawson Wheeler is co-owner of Rock/Creek Outfitters in Chattanooga and serves on several boards, including the retail advisory board for National Geographic Explorer and Grassroots Outdoor Alliance.

 

RALEIGH, NC – Customers of Great Outdoor Provision Co. got more than a great deal on outdoor gear this month – they helped preserve open space within North Carolina.
Customers voted for natural areas to save as a new recreation destination.  The contest was a part of Great Outdoor Provision Co.’s celebration of Land Trust Day, an annual celebration in which local businesses and the state’s land trusts work together to save natural areas in the community. Patagonia, the manufacturer of outdoor clothing and equipment, provided underwriting for the contest with a $3,000 grant to help protect the chosen site which was the Piedmont Regional Greenway. To read about details of this project, visit: http://greatoutdoorprovision.com/culture/wesupport/patagonia-land-grant/

In addition to sponsoring the contest, Great Outdoor Provision Co. donates 10 percent of sales on Land Trust Day from each of its nine stores to land trusts that serve the stores’ regions.  Volunteers from the local land trusts were on hand to share information with customers.  The North Face, Royal Robbins and ExOfficio provided gifts for those who joined the land trust that day. Including the grant, Great Outdoor Provision Co. donated $13,000 to local land trusts this year.

“We wanted to use this year’s Land Trust Day to highlight the rapid rate at which North Carolina is losing – and will continue to lose – its beautiful open spaces to development.” said Tom Valone, Great Outdoor Provision Co. president.  “The contest was a way for us to make our customers aware of the work land trusts are doing to save the places we all love.”

Land Trust Day was founded by Great Outdoor Provision Co. in 1992 as a way to celebrate National Trails Day, which is always the first Saturday of June.  To read more about Land Trust Day, visit: http://greatoutdoorprovision.com/culture/wesupport/land-trust-day/

“We see Land Trust Day as a way for businesses to participate in a self-imposed ‘earth tax’,” said Valone.  “Many people do not realize the important work land trusts are doing in their communities.  We hope by supporting land trusts we are calling attention to their good work and contributing to it.”

RALEIGH, NC – Customers of Great Outdoor Provision Co. got more than a great deal on outdoor gear this month – they helped preserve open space within North Carolina.

Customers voted for natural areas to save as a new recreation destination.  The contest was a part of Great Outdoor Provision Co.’s celebration of Land Trust Day, an annual celebration in which local businesses and the state’s land trusts work together to save natural areas in the community. Patagonia, the manufacturer of outdoor clothing and equipment, provided underwriting for the contest with a $3,000 grant to help protect the chosen site which was the Piedmont Regional Greenway. To read about details of this project, visit: http://greatoutdoorprovision.com/culture/wesupport/patagonia-land-grant/

In addition to sponsoring the contest, Great Outdoor Provision Co. donates 10 percent of sales on Land Trust Day from each of its nine stores to land trusts that serve the stores’ regions.  Volunteers from the local land trusts were on hand to share information with customers.   Royal Robbins and ExOfficio provided gifts for those who joined the land trust that day. Including the grant, Great Outdoor Provision Co. donated $13,000 to local land trusts this year.

“We wanted to use this year’s Land Trust Day to highlight the rapid rate at which North Carolina is losing – and will continue to lose – its beautiful open spaces to development.” said Tom Valone, Great Outdoor Provision Co. president.  “The contest was a way for us to make our customers aware of the work land trusts are doing to save the places we all love.”

Land Trust Day was founded by Great Outdoor Provision Co. in 1992 as a way to celebrate National Trails Day, which is always the first Saturday of June.  To read more about Land Trust Day, visit: http://greatoutdoorprovision.com/culture/wesupport/land-trust-day/

“We see Land Trust Day as a way for businesses to participate in a self-imposed ‘earth tax’,” said Valone.  “Many people do not realize the important work land trusts are doing in their communities.  We hope by supporting land trusts we are calling attention to their good work and contributing to it.”