I want to make sure you know about the upcoming premiere of the Spanish-language version of Ken Burns’ documentary, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” The Sierra Club is proud to be working in partnership with V-me, the nation’s fastest-growing Spanish-language TV network, to promote the upcoming Spanish-language airings of “Parques Nacionales.”

Between November 4 and January 20, the documentary series will air in one-hour segments for twelve consecutive Wednesdays on V-me. For local times and channel info visit vmetv.com/estaciones

Visit http://www.sierraclub.org/parques to see a trailer of the film and find helpful resources – tips for first-time national park visitors, highlighted Sierra Club Outings trips to national parks, and information about some our country’s most beloved parks – all in Spanish.

Bilingual spokespeople from the Sierra Club are available for interviews. Would you like to schedule an interview or receive more information?

Gracias,
Sarah

Sierra Club Media Assistant
85 Second Street, Second Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
media.assistant@sierraclub.org

Brian Quines

If you watched Ken Burns’ new documentary that aired on PBS last week, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” then you may remember one of the stars of the film, Shelton Johnson. He is one of the only African-American park rangers at Yosemite and now he can add author to his list of accomplishments. Sierra Club Books has published his first novel, “Gloryland,” a historical fiction book about a young African-American man in the Reconstructed South who joined the cavalry and became a buffalo soldier in Yosemite. Told from the first-person perspective of the protagonist, Elijah Yancy, the story recounts his journey to find freedom through his connection with nature in Yosemite. More information about the author and the book can be found here: http://www.sierraclub.org/parks/gloryland/

The novel is just fresh off the presses, so if you would be interested in setting up an interview with Johnson, then we can arrange a time for you to do so. He would be available to discuss the need for more diversity in national parks, the history of the buffalo soldiers, and what it’s like to be one of the only African-American park rangers in Yosemite.

Would you be interested in blogging about “Gloryland” or Johnson?

Best,

Sarah

Sierra Club Media Assistant
85 Second Street, Second Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
media.assistant@sierraclub.org

There is an upcoming PBS series that launches this week from award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.”

We thought that “Northern California Hiking Trails” readers would be interested to know that in honor of the series (and to spread the word about the importance of protecting our national parks for future generations), we are giving away a trip to Yosemite and San Francisco as part of our 100,000 Champions for National Parks campaign. Our goal is to get to 100,000 names by October 4th – All you have to do is sign our statement of support for parks at http://www.sierraclub.org/parks. Tell us your favorite national park and your name will be added to the scrolling list of “Champions for Parks” on our homepage.

Your readers might also be interested in the other info we have up on http://www.sierraclub.org/parks – tips for how to visit the national parks, an interactive map featuring info about 12 of our most iconic national parks, the best trails to enjoy in each of the parks, interviews with Ken Burns, video excerpt from the series, and more.

Is this the kind of thing you would be interested in covering?

http://www.sierraclub.org/parks

Best,
Sarah

Sierra Club Media Assistant
85 Second Street, Second Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
media.assistant@sierraclub.org

I wanted to give you the heads up since this seemed up your alley for Northern California Hiking Trails Blog. We are gearing up to launch a new website called Sierra Club Trails. It’s (as far as we know) the first-ever comprehensive hiking wiki…A website where anyone can post their favorite hikes and anyone else can edit the descriptions so that the trails are constantly up-to-date. The site is up and running in a beta test now, and we’re planning to launch it this Thursday, July 9th – so I wanted to make sure you were in the loop.

http://www.sierraclubtrails.org

What makes this site unique is that it’s a wiki – i.e. anyone can update or edit the trails that are posted. So if I post a trail in, say, Yosemite, and you’ve been there recently and saw that part of the trail is really muddy, or the bugs are bad this time of year, or if camping spots are getting really popular and should be reserved in advance, you can update that.

In addition to hiking and paddling trails, the site also features tips for hikers, a birding blog, photo contests, and Nature Notes, a series of audio features based on interviews with naturalists and Sierra Club Outings leaders. Sierra Club Trails is also an online community where users can create profiles and meet other hikers and nature-lovers, as well as join discussion forums with topics like the best trail mix recipe or whether guns should be allowed in national parks. Community members can form groups around a particular outdoor interest or place.

Does this sound like something you’d be interested in covering for your blog?

The link is http://www.sierraclubtrails.org – and the logo is on Flicrk here – http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2604/3701119013_84723f28d9.jpg

Thanks!

Natalie Gaber
Sierra Club
85 Second Street, Second Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 977-5526
media.assistant@sierraclub.org

cheers,
james

I just sent you an e-mail. Please do send the questionnaire; I’m happy to fill it out.