Sierra Club

[Aaron&Julie]

I have thought about becoming a member of the Sierra Club, there are some fine things they've done. But, those thoughts vanished when I heard they supported the MLPA.

I just received another mailer from them with offers to join. Below is the email I sent to every listed email contact in the "contact us" page of their website (www.sierraclub.org). This is just "food for thought" for anybody else that wants to cut off all communications with an organization that supported the MLPA.

On Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 10:59 PM, aaron brenner wrote:

Sierra Club,

Please remove my name from your mailing list. While not a member, though I’ve considered it at times, I no longer want to receive anything in the mail, or through the internet by your organization.
While I believe in many things your organization does, your support of the recently activated MLPA closures affecting California’s coastline is appalling.
The people behind and who supported this campaign of closures did so, blindly. No basis of scientific fact has been found to deem these closures necessary. Furthermore, the Department of Fish and Game has for decades been maintaining the control necessary to protect our ocean inhabitants from over-fishing, from banning all gill nets for commercial fishermen, to size and quantity limits, and complete seasonal closures on specific species for all fishermen. Currently they are considering reducing the quantity of sand and calico bass from 10 to 5, and increasing the minimum size from 12” to 14”, even closing down the fishing for them for 2 or 3 months. I am all for changes like that, to keep our populations healthy.
Every once in a while, the DFG may be slow in their implementation of restrictions, but seem to get it right in the long run.
These MLPA closures were totally unnecessary. There was no need to completely close down some of the best fishing locations along our coast. Any impact sport fishermen could have on coastal inhabitants could have been corrected with modifications to the DFG restrictions. This disgusts me.
I’m 50 years old, I’ve fished for 45 years, 40 of which is mostly confined to these coastal locations. I’ve seen the cyclical population of many species in our ocean waters, and all of them come back, especially with new restrictions. When deemed necessary, some species are now on a no-take basis, and I’m fine with that too.
I kayak fish along our coast. Now, a huge portion of the areas I liked to fish are closed. These had healthy populations of fish, and would continue to do so for many decades or even centuries to come. There is no commercial take in these areas, only kayakers, private boaters and some sport boats. Now, because of organizations like yours, that ignorantly supported these closures, I’m left with very few options of where to find good fishing. Kayak fishing is my favorite enjoyment in this life, screw you for helping take that joy away from me, and my loved one(s).
Furthermore, these MLPA closures that your organization helped happen through your support, don’t even fix the real problem that destroys our coastal inhabitants, sewage spills, storm drain-runoff and the pollution that ends up in these areas. When most of us kayakers find garbage floating out there in our fishing areas, we throw it on our deck, bring it onshore and dispose of it in the nearest garbage can. We do much more good than any harm we possibly could to our coastline.
So, please, I no longer want to hear from your organization. Good luck on your good fights.
The MLPA was not one of those. I barely touched on how angry I am about your support and those closures.

Sincerely,

Aaron Brenner
10707 Jamacha Blvd #206
Spring Valley, CA 91978

Their response:

Dear Aaron,

Thank you for contacting the Sierra Club.
We appreciate your comments and value your feedback. All California legislative action is handled by our Sacramento Sierra Club office. You can contact them with your concerns at:

Sierra Club California
801 K Street, Suite 2700
Sacramento, CA 95814
Telephone: (916) 557-1100
Fax: (916) 557-9669
annie.pham@sierraclub.org

I have requested that future mailings from the Sierra Club are stopped from being sent to you with the information that you have provided. Please be aware this could take up to 6 weeks to complete. If you are to receive any future mailings from us please mark the envelope as ‘Refused’ and return to us. This process will ensure prompt removal from our mailing list as well as giving us the ability to reuse many of the enclosed materials.

Your interest in the Sierra Club is greatly appreciated. Please let us know if you have any additional questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Carrie-Michelle Matteucci
Sierra Magazine
85 Second St, 2nd Fl
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 977-5653 (M-F, 9-5 PST)
http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/


I am not suggesting anyone follow my lead. Do as you please.
I'll be steamed at the MLPA for years to come, unless a miracle happens and it is overturned. This is just another way for me to vent.
Aaron

[dorado50]

Well done!now lets just hope someone hears it.....

[T-Rex]

I like it! Similar letters need to be sent to all the organizations and companies that supported the MLPA.