Yosemite restoration plan cuts lodging, parking

The Stoneman Bridge in Yosemite National Park, California, may be demolished as part of a $441 million plan to restore Yosemite National Park to a more natural state

November 15, 2000
Web posted at: 11:11 AM EST (1611 GMT)



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Sacred ground

Accommodations cut back

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YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, California (AP) -- Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt's announcement of a blueprint for Yosemite National Park was upstaged by a familiar presence: the grandeur of the park itself.

With Half Dome soaring in the distance, fresh snow on the ground and an ice slide crashing down Yosemite Falls, it was clear that nature -- not man -- rules supreme here.

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It was a fitting sight given that Babbitt's $441 million plan called for preserving Yosemite's natural beauty by tipping the delicate scales a little more in favor of nature instead of people.

The Yosemite Valley Plan aims to get rid of parking spaces in the heart of the park, eliminate motel rooms, and close part of a popular road that lets traffic circle the valley beneath El Capitan and other granite peaks that rise 3,000 feet (914 meters).

"I believe at the heart of this restoration is a recognition that it's our obligation to invite visitors away from their automobiles," Babbitt said Tuesday. "And in the process of doing that to restore the peace and quiet of this valley."

Sacred ground
The long-awaited plan, whose price tag ballooned nearly $100 million since the draft proposal was released in March, is the result of three decades of battles over the future of one of the jewels of the National Park system.


Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, center, announced the plan Tuesday. It aims to get rid of parking spaces in the heart of the park, eliminate motel rooms, and close part of a popular road through the park

While developers and others who saw the draft plan criticized it for restricting access to a public preserve, environmentalists said it doesn't go far enough to protect Yosemite.

One of about 30 demonstrators standing in the snow held a sign that said "John Muir Would Be Crying," referring to the 19th-century naturalist and Sierra Club founder who wrote and spoke eloquently about the need to preserve Yosemite.

"He considered this sacred ground," protester Chris Kantarjiev said. "The plan we've seen is about more development, more hotel rooms and more diesel buses."

Win or lose, friends and foes gathered on the edge of a meadow, united in a common love for the park but divided over the best way to manifest their affection.

The Sierra Club was concerned that closing a three-mile stretch of a road would end up killing trees along another road that will have to be widened to handle more traffic.


Some protesters of the plan say it doesn't go far enough to protect Yosemite

"By closing it they say it's restoration," said George Whitmore of the Sierra Club. "But restoration at what price? There'll be destruction on the south side."

Accommodations cut back
Yosemite Concession Services, which runs restaurants, hotels and other facilities, will see its stables, administrative offices and garage moved out of the valley in addition to losing profitable accommodations.

"This plan, as some groups have suggested, is not a gift for the concessioner," said Karen Hales, concession spokeswoman. "As a company we gained some and lost some."

Among the losers are concession employees -- about 500 of the 1,200 will be sent packing from one of the most desirable ZIP codes in the nation.

"The employees are going to have to take a back seat," said Ken Wood, an auditor who moved to the park to live for a summer seven years ago and never left. "They really missed the boat on this."

Overall accommodations, including rooms and campsites, will drop by 274, from 1,735 to 1,461. Campsites will be boosted from the current 475 to 500.

Babbitt acknowledged the often contentious journey over the past 30 years to arrive at the final plan that will take another 10 to 15 years to carry out. He thanked environmentalists for their contributions and conviction that ultimately led to a better plan.

"I've come to understand you're a cantankerous, eccentric, passionate, irrational, idealistic, quarrelsome, impossible crowd of people," Babbitt said. "Yosemite I think, more than any other unit of the National Park Service, has attracted a following of committed lovers in the tradition of John Muir."

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



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Damn Liberals!