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Greetings:
Who is this email from? Why are you getting it?
This email is coming to you from the Sharsmith Peak Committee, which is an outgrowth of the original Name4Carl Committee. The purpose of this committee is to further promote the naming of Sharsmith Peak for Dr. Carl Sharsmith. You may have opted in earlier to be part of this naming effort or you may have been identified as a person who might like to be part of it. Advise by reply to this email if you do not want to receive emails from this committee about naming Sharsmith Peak. Your email address will not be used except in connection with this Sharsmith Peak naming proposal and except for committee members will not be published on the committee’s websites unless you so request.
Where is Sharsmith Peak?
As you may know, Sharsmith Peak is on the eastern border of Yosemite National Park (and the Yosemite Wilderness) at the crest of the Sierra Nevada, with the Harvey Monroe Hall Natural Area (not a legislated wilderness) of Inyo National Forest on its east. The name is currently in informal use and our committee proposes to have the peak named formally so it will show on federal maps.
Who was Dr. Sharsmith?
Again, as you probably know, Dr. Sharsmith (1903-1994) was a ranger-naturalist with 64 summer seasons of interpreting nature and researching plants, mainly at Tuolumne Meadows of Yosemite National Park but also in meadows throughout the Sierra Nevada. He also established the Carl W. Sharsmith Herbarium at San Jose State University. For his dedication, professionalism, and effect he became an icon for the National Park Service interpretive field as well as an international expert in his scientific field. For background on Dr. Sharsmith, visit www.name4carl.org.
What is the history of naming Sharsmith Peak?
The website www.name4carl.org documents the history of this naming proposal (since at least 1976), which began decades before the Name4Carl Committee began in 2006 to organize the effort to formally name Sharsmith Peak. The website explains the policies of the federal naming board, the Board on Geographic Names of the U.S. Geological Survey, as well as those of the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service and discusses how the formal naming of Sharsmith Peak relates to those policies. The website provided a way for viewers to express support of the formal naming to the Board (a summary of the supporters is attached) and then the Name4Carl Committee submitted a proposal to the Board in early 2007; an earlier proposal had been submitted by George Durkee in 2006. In 2011, the Board denied these proposals as follows: “This decision was made citing the negative recommendations of the California Advisory Committee on Geographic Names, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Forest Service, and in the belief that the proposal did not warrant an exception to the Board's Wilderness Policy.”
How can Sharsmith Peak be formally named?
The Sharsmith Peak Committee believes the Board on Geographic Names and the agencies advising it have missed an important opportunity to motivate an ethic for nature appreciation and understanding that Dr. Sharsmith symbolizes and the committee therefore now seeks a legislative means to establish the name, for it is the U.S. Congress that ultimately determines the policies of the Board. (Illustrating this is the recent Act of Congress designating Mt. Andrea Lawrence some 15 miles to the south of Sharsmith Peak and within legislated wildernesses on all sides.) For background on the current naming program, visit www.sharsmithpeak.org. A summary of the present program is also in the attached letter from our committee to Senator Mark Udall of the Senate Subcommittee on National Parks. A similar letter has also been sent to Representative Rob Bishop of the corresponding House Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation. Thus our Sharsmith Peak Committee is now contacting legislators to legislatively establish the name Sharsmith Peak and is now seeking Congressional leaders who will introduce a bill in the present 113th Congress. Len McKenzie of our committee is leading this effort and will be calling on other Californians to assist.
Will you be part of this effort?
The Sharsmith Peak Committee hopes so. Because of our American constituent democracy, for you to effectively support this naming proposal it is vital that you directly contact your state’s U.S. senators and representatives from your home district and also those from your state who are on the Senate and House subcommittees on national parks. Individuals living in California have an especial opportunity to be effective inasmuch as the locale of Sharsmith Peak is in that state. (The office of U. S. Senator Mark Udall of Colorado, Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on National Parks, advises that action by Californians is essential to this effort.) This is not to say that contacts of U.S. legislators from other states is not also important, especially if those legislators are on national park subcommittees. To determine who to contact, use index of districts of congresspersons with their addresses and members of house and senate subcommittees on national parks. In preparing your contacts, you may use the websites www.name4carl.org and www.sharsmithpeak.org as well as the attached letters to Senator Mark Udall and Representative Rob Bishop. Others are also making contacts at this time, so for maximum impact it is important to make your contacts now. While the Sharsmith Peak/Name4 Carl Committee would like to know of your contacts with your legislators, it is important that you communicate directly with the legislators who represent you rather than through our committee. If you need help in making your contacts, please ask at email@sharsmithpeak.org. For our committee to stay abreast of activities and provide coordination, it would be helpful if you emailed your results to email@sharsmithpeak.org for posting on www.sharsmithpeak.org. News articles that you see about this naming proposal can also be posted by the committee in the same way. Too, there is a section on the website for reporting communications and actions by legislators and agencies as they become involved. View the website to keep informed, as e-mailings such as this one will be infrequent.
Spread the word!
Do you know of others who would support this naming proposal? If so, please forward this email with its attachments to them so they can contact their U.S. legislators. They may also contact the committee for information and guidance at email@sharsmithpeak.org. A list of supporters and/or tentative supporters is at www.sharsmithpeak.org/sharsupo.htm.
Give it a go!
The Sharsmith Peak Committee is expanding its membership. You are invited to petition for membership. You may also come forward with any special connections or insights in working with legislator(s) to sponsor a bill to formally establish the name Sharsmith Peak—or whatever you can offer.
For Dr. Sharsmith and Sharsmith Peak,
Sharsmith Peak Committee: Bill Jones (CO) (lead member), Len McKenzie (lead member for CA), Jack Morehead (CA), Dr. John Lemons (CA/AK), Lee Stetson (CA), Jim Sano (CA), Ron Mackie (CA), Anne & Dr. Roger Hendrickson (CA), Debra Plant (CA), Bill Wendt (CA), Dick Ewart (CA), Bob Barbee (MT), Lyndel Meikle (MT), Bryan Harry (HI), Wayne Merry (BC), Dr. Owen Hoffman (TN), David Hubbard (OR).
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