Sierra Club Meeting Featuring Canoeing Adventures

On Tuesday, Nov. 3 the San Gorgonio Chapter of the Sierra Club will have their monthly meeting at the San Bernardino County Museum, 2024 Orange Tree Lane, Redlands at 7:30 p.m. Join us as Brian Elliott presents a program of photographs titled: “Caribou, Birds, and Bears: Canoeing the Utukok and Kokolik Rivers of the Western North Slope of Alaska.” Sierra Club member Brian Elliott and three friends canoed two rivers that flow north on Alaska’s North Slope above the Arctic Circle. They canoed 10 days in 2014 on the Kokolik River. Elliott returned this past summer to canoe nine days on the Utukok River just east of the Kokolik River. He and his friends were then air shuttled back to the Kokolik where they canoed for 15 days all the way to the Kokolik River’s mouth at the small Inuit village of Point Lay, a subsistence village of 190 people at the Chukchi Sea’s coast. The rivers flow through some of the most remote wilderness in North America and are renowned for viewing of the western Arctic caribou herd migration. They saw thousands of caribou and large numbers of other wildlife during their journey. Each river is primarily located within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, an area of national interest by the Sierra Club and other environmental groups who are trying to preserve its great wilderness and wildlife. Elliott will share his photographs of his trip and advocate for the region's protection. All are welcome to attend the meeting. Parking and admission are free but donations are accepted for room rental. The San Bernardino County Museum is located 2024 Orange Tree Lane, Redlands, CA 92374. Exit California Street from I-10 Freeway in Redlands. The San Gorgonio Chapter of the Sierra Club covers the geographic area of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties.