Tag: National Park Service

The National Park Service and Yosemite

The first National Park, Yellowstone, was created in 1872. By 1916, there had been 11 other National Parks already created when the National Park Service, itself, was created on August 25 of that year. It seems the National Park Service came late to the party. What’s up with that?


Restore Hetch Hetchy Valley. Then what?

hetch-hetchy-spillway

After visiting Yosemite last month, I got to wondering about the Hetch Hetchy restoration prospects. Suppose for a moment that ruffled feathers of San Francisco and other Tuolumne River recipients are plucked and the “okay” to divert the water elsewhere is made. Then what?


Hetch Hetchy – Unsung Hero of the National Park Service…

Hetch Hetchy Reservoir July, 2014. At the highest level I’ve ever seen.

We already discussed that Hetch Hetchy reservoir was created to service the needs of San Francisco and outlining areas. Also shown was that it was not without good cause. But how did that happen? How could a municipality gain water rights, let alone damming, a river in a National Park? It may seem to be too late to do anything about it now, but is it?