Written by MK Penollar, Sierra Nevada AmeriCorps Partnership (SNAP) member at the Tahoe Area Sierra Club and Sierra Nevada Alliance, May 2024
The Tahoe Area Sierra Club has been trying to continue to build their memberships via the events and outings they hold, but due to the pandemic and members leaving, it’s been hard to keep an ongoing group. I decided to start a calendar to showcase what presentations, educational hikes, and volunteer events the group could have so that we can start scheduling these in advance to later advertise at the events we were having. This scheduling is also shown in the group’s social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, and Nextdoor to let the community in the Lake Tahoe basin know that the Sierra Club is still here.
Keeping their social media accounts active also led me to update how their website looks due to how much I use a link from our website for a post. This update was also needed for the group’s website due to some links not working correctly which I’ve been slowly exploring to see where this information needs to be redirecting towards or seeing if this information was needed to be on the website. When most of the information was still relevant, I found there needed to be new pages to redirect someone to the correct page instead of scrolling through one page to find what they wanted. An example of this is splitting up the previous events that were recorded from the outings and events page.
With updating the website and learning more about the issues that the group is currently focusing on, I’ve found that their environmental issues section needs to be edited heavily to include certain blog posts and separate pages for newer issues they’ve been tackling. One new issue in which I helped research was the plastic waste issue in the Lake Tahoe basin which the Executive Committee is starting to look into. The committee has compiled information on this issue and I’m looking into how a web page with this information could look to start informing those visiting our website that this is an issue our group is now looking into to tackle.
Funding for SNAP is supported by Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation’s Nature Fund and Martis Fund – a collaborative project of Martis Camp landowners, DMB/Highlands Group (the developers of Martis Camp), Mountain Area Preservation Foundation (MAP), and Sierra Watch. Sierra Nevada Alliance is a proud grantee of AmeriCorps and California Volunteers, Office of the Governor.
