Comments on the Plan

Comments on the Plan are kinda hard to find!...brb...

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RIGHT NOW, the National Park Service, which has heretofore cherished Yosemite, seems intent on converting this temple into a profit center, with pricey hotels, scant camping, few modest accommodations, wider roads to field bigger diesel buses, ecological roadside mayhem, atmospheric damage and requiring people who want to celebrate Yosemite Valley to park outside the park in various still unspoiled places that are soon to be paved. This is all to exploit what you can do when you have $200 million or $300 million dollars to spend instead of the discipline former National Park Service Director Newton Drury enjoyed when he said, "We have no money, therefore we can do no harm."


Published on Monday, November 20, 2000 in the San Francisco Chronicle
David Brower on the Yosemite Valley Plan
by David Brower

http://www.commondreams.org/views/112000-105.htm

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Ever since Mineral King...when the development there was halted...there's been a kinda tussle over things in the Sierra!...brb...

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Forest Service bows to Bush Administration and backslides on Emigrant Wilderness dams
The Stanislaus Forest, under political pressure from the Bush Administration, has recently decided to re-open the issue of whether or not to allow human-made checkdams in the Emigrant Wilderness to deteriorate and to eventually disappear, or to artificially maintain them.
What is at stake is not only the integrity of the native aquatic ecosystem impacted by these checkdams but also whether development projects should be allowed and tolerated inside designated wilderness. By allowing these structures to be "reconstructed" the Forest Service is saying that wilderness will be managed by special interest groups, not according to the intent of the Wilderness Act.

http://www.calwild.org/action/alert_022603.php

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That's about Emigrant Meadow, which I hiked through in '73, and saw incongruously a small bus crossing in the distance on a dirt road!.....brb

wiki's Mineral King take...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney's_Mineral_King_Ski_Resort#cite_note-MK-webcam-1

wiki's Emigrant Meadow...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emigrant_Wilderness

Sierra Club take on Valley Plan...

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Park Service Plans to Urbanize Yosemite
by Joyce M. Eden and Greg Adair
The coming six to eight months will shape the future of Yosemite National Park for the next century. Preservationists have now worked for one hundred years to push back the tide of human development in the Park, and particularly in Yosemite Valley. With these very goals in mind, Yosemite's General Management Plan (GMP) was drafted, with extensive public input, as a plan to decrease Yosemite's human development and increase ecological restoration.

http://lomaprieta.sierraclub.org/lp9906_Yosemite.html

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The National Park Service installed 10 interpretive wayside exhibits in key areas in the Valley. Areas selected were those that could be affected by actions included in the Draft Yosemite Valley Plan/SEIS, including Camp 4 (Sunnyside Campground), Lower Yosemite Falls, the concession stable, and Curry Village. The signs informed visitors of the potential changes that could occur at each location, and guided visitors to areas where they could receive more information.

http://www.nps.gov/archive/yose/planning/yvp/seis/vol_Ib_p2/chap5_1.html

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NPS site...brb...try to see if it is up to date!!...well...it doesn't jump out..but it looks to be old...

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As many of you know, Plaintiffs Friends of Yosemite Valley prevailed in our lawsuit* against the 2005 Plan for the Merced River in Yosemite. The case has moved into its last phase. The Court will now order the National Park Service (NPS) to prepare a new plan for the Merced. This will be the third time a court has ordered Yosemite to prepare a legally adequate plan for the Merced. The Court will also now rule on our request for injunctive relief. That means that the Court will now order what may happen on the ground in Yosemite. Here is the schedule for the case before the US Federal Court, Eastern District, before the Honorable Anthony Iishi. Please mark your calendars with this important hearing date:

http://www.yosemitecampers.com/discus/messages/4400/3937.html?1179699889

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That's a Friends of Yosemite thread...found with search: Judge Ishi Yosemite Valley Plan...

Judge has an interesting name!..brb...

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“I believe in capitalizing on the strengths of our leadership,” Mainella said. “Mike’s ability to implement the Giant Forest restoration, a project that took years of planning, was nothing short of miraculous. He is the man for the job of implementing the funded portion of the Yosemite Valley Plan.”

Mike Tollefson Named Yosemite National Park Superintendent

http://home.nps.gov/applications/release/Detail.cfm?ID=311

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Giant Forest...been there too...dwelling...brb..

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Years of planning, design, and construction are now converging into the realization of Colonel White’s vision. All commercial activity has been removed from Giant Forest. Overnight accommodations have been relocated outside the grove to Wuksachi Village. Demolition of 282 buildings in Giant Forest is complete, and ecological restoration of 231 acres is underway. The conversion of Giant Forest to a day use area is nearly complete.

http://www.nps.gov/archive/seki/snrm/gf/gf_index.htm

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At that page it shows the little cabins that have been removed... a sidebyside before and after!...I worked repairing those little cabins...it was a wonder to change yellow light bulbs at night...the cabins the big trees...listening to the voices and seeing the activities of the campers..."How does one get a job here?"...I've had some of the best jobs ever anywhere....

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On these pages you will witness the dramatic transformation (see map) of the Giant Forest from city to forest.

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Yosemite officials want to see only pedestrians, bicyclists and photogenic wildlife intersecting near the thundering Sierra icon in the future.
But, before that happens, everyone will have to put up with construction dust over the next three years as the park service pours $140 million into perhaps the biggest remake of Yosemite Valley since the 1960s. Up to 300 workers will build everything from sewers to motel rooms.
The sunsets and the granite domes will remain, and the valley will be open to visitors throughout the construction process. But in a few years, you might not recognize the place.
"We're starting to shape what Yosemite Valley will look like many years from now," says Yosemite Superintendent Michael Tollefson.

http://www.yosemite.org/newsroom/clips2003/september/092103.htm

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That's the Yosemite Association...which I pay dues to...that and Sierra Club and PCT...oh...the latter is over due!...

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The Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA) extends its congratulations to Tejon Ranch and the environmental community for collaborating on a monumental conservation plan.

http://www.pcta.org/general/news/tejon_ranch.asp

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And the far-reaching redevelopment of Yosemite Lodge, including a new Indian Cultural Center and some new rooms, is expected to kick off next year. By 2006, Northside Drive will be shifted south of Yosemite Lodge, and the busy intersection near Yosemite Falls will become part of a pedestrian promenade or trail.

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from same YA page...they needn't have sounded so bubbly!...and it's kind of a 'party line'...I'd say...

brb...

searched the blogs...and found a blog page...

http://hikehalfdome.com/blog.html?cq=1&p=705

that has a link...

that doesn't work!...it's supposed to be the court documents...but that's a well centered blog!...

enough for tonight...I'll hunt up..down!...some more commentary tomorrow!

DavidDavid