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Yosemite
Association
2005 Annual Report
| For YA's 2005 IRS 990 and California 199 forms, click here. |
| For YA's 2005 audited financial statement, click here. |
Summary
Board and Staff
Sales and Publications
Educational Programs
Membership
Volunteers
Contributions
Wilderness Operations
Statement of Financial Position
Statement of Activities, 2005
Park Events for 2005
Annual Report for 2004
Annual Report for 2003
Annual
Report for 2002
Annual Report for 2001
Annual Report for 2000
SUMMARY
Featuring exciting educational programs, improved systems and facilities, impressive accomplishments, and talented new staff, 2005 was a heartening year for the Yosemite Association. The period’s single most significant development was the completion of the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center lobby remodel, which included the total makeover of the association’s bookstore. The outlet now boasts state-of-the-art fixtures, lighting, and computer systems, along with a new location in the former National Park Service dispatch office.
The improved facility paid immediate dividends with a marked increase (17%) in gross sales for the year – a remarkable figure given the previous year’s strong sales. This growth boosted the Yosemite Association to its second highest gross income (before our Aid-to-NPS donations) in the past fifteen years.
Our membership, a supportive and dedicated bunch that’s over 10,000 strong, was integral to our success. Besides their dues, YA members donated nearly $100,000 in response to our annual fundraising mailer, and as volunteers contributed over 11,700 hours of labor to various restoration, educational, and other programs in Yosemite.
The Yosemite Cooperative Student Intern Program (sponsored jointly with the University of California at Merced and the NPS) expanded in 2005 to involve six college students. They received extensive training in a variety of Yosemite subjects and in the ways of the park service, while providing an important supplement to the park’s interpretive division.
YA’s publications program continued to create and issue successful educational products and materials. The “Yosemite Commemorative Edition” of the California State Quarter proved to be our most popular sales item for the year, and our park identity logo series was expanded with the addition of Yosemite Valley products. During the year, YA’s fine press book, A Trip to the Yosemite, was named one the “Best 50 Books of 2004” by the American Institute of Graphic Arts.
In the administrative area, YA is now better equipped to keep track of our sales, inventory, and financial data. In 2005 we purchased and implemented a new integrated software system called Navision that has made our accounting and sales functions much more efficient. While the transition to Navision was at times painful, the new system holds great promise for improving our overall operation.
Our educational programs took on new life under new director Pete Devine. Some 750 participants enjoyed a broad-ranging variety of Yosemite Outdoor Adventure programs, including our second annual birding festival, and a botany symposium featuring world-renowned conservationist Peter Raven. The Yosemite Art Center served over 2,000 park visitors during its six-month run, with talented volunteer artists offering free art lessons in Yosemite Valley.
On top of extensive programmatic and in-kind support of the NPS in Yosemite, YA was able to contribute nearly $160,000 in cash to important park educational initiatives during 2005. With the steadfast assistance of our members, friends, volunteers, vendors, and others, our association continues to make a difference in Yosemite.
We extend our thanks and appreciation to every single person who involved him- or herself in our activities in 2005. It is because of you that we are able to accomplish what we do in Yosemite.
Steven P. Medley
President
BOARD AND STAFF
As always, the Yosemite Association benefited from the leadership, direction, and support of its volunteer board of trustees in 2005. The multi-talented group donated countless hours in aid of the organization, while contributing money, services, and in-kind commodities. The board consisted of Christy Holloway, Chair, Suzanne Corkins, Vice Chair, Barbara Boucke, Treasurer, Keith Alley, Brad Anderholm, Tom Bowman, Jeani Ferrari, Phil Frank, Gerald Haslam, Kimi Hill, Malcolm Margolin, Ellie Nishkian, Lennie Roberts, Tom Shephard, and Phyllis Weber.
Everyone at the association was saddened at the passing of long-time board member Ellie Nishkian in July. She had served the organization since 1987, and was one of the founding trustees of the Yosemite Fund. Named a “Life Trustee” of the Yosemite Association last year, Mrs. Nishkian was an advocate of the Yosemite Museum and made a point of supporting fine art and Native American basketry in the park, both financially and politically.
In the annual board election, Barbara Boucke, Tom Bowman, Gerald Haslam, Christy Holloway, Lennie Roberts, and Gina Tan were all elected to new three-year terms. In another board change, Phil Frank submitted his resignation (which was reluctantly accepted by the board), and Jeani Ferrari (an ex officio trustee from the Yosemite Fund) was appointed to complete his term ending in 2006.
The Yosemite Association’s success during the year would not have been possible without the impressive cooperation, collaboration, and support of the National Park Service. Representatives to the board included Mike Tollefson (park superintendent), Kevin Cann (deputy superintendent), Chris Stein (chief of interpretation), and Mary Kline (interpretive branch chief), though countless other NPS employees worked hand in hand with association staff and volunteers to reach a remarkable level of accomplishment. We send our thanks and appreciation to all those dedicated people.
In staff changes, we bid adieu and best wishes to veteran Yosemite Valley Visitor Center Store manager Jeanne Andrew, who served us assiduously for thirteen years. She and her husband Bob have moved to Vancouver, Washington, and we wish them a happy retirement. During the year we also filled several long-standing vacancies with talented and motivated new staff members. They included Michelle Hansen, Sales Operations Manager, Laura Beardsley, Membership Coordinator, Megan Pardini, Administrative Coordinator, and Holly Kuehn, Shipping/Receiving Assistant. The Yosemite Association team is now nearly complete, and it’s never been stronger.
SALES
AND PUBLICATIONS
With the completion of the remodel of the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center lobby and bookstore, the location strengthened its position as YA’s most valuable player in the retail department. Not only is the new bookstore an attractive retail location with quality fixtures and effective lighting, but it is also an example of the standard of excellence that the NPS and YA can achieve working in partnership to present information and educational products to park visitors. The remodel translated into increased sales at the Valley Visitor Center for 2005, as we exceeded our revenue budget by 24%.
Despite the Valley Visitor Center’s star status, other retail locations struggled, due in part to the prolonged closure of Tioga Pass through the spring into the summer. With record snowfall, Yosemite’s high country remained inaccessible until the July 4 th holiday weekend. Record snowfall, however, brought record snow melt, and the waterfalls of Yosemite Valley were spectacular well into August and stimulated spectacular retail sales.
Total retail sales of $1,048,407 exceeded 2004 by $119,664 – an increase of 19% over budget. Our new point-of-sale system allowed us to learn that products that the association developed on its own accounted for 33% of all sales revenue generated. What’s more, nearly 75% of our top twenty-five sales items are Yosemite Association products.
Among the Yosemite Association’s new publications and products in 2005 was the “Yosemite Commemorative Edition” of the 2005 California State Quarter. Two uncirculated quarters (one from each mint) were included in a special package that highlighted the importance of John Muir and Yosemite (both depicted on the quarter) in California’s history. It proved to be the big hit of 2005, helping us generate $19,000 of website store and mail order sales for the month of March, and becoming our number one retail item for 2005.
We also developed a new Yosemite Historic Postcard Book that featured twenty vintage postcards from the collection of the Yosemite Museum. A second logo (this one for Yosemite Valley) was developed as part of YA’s park identity program. Products bearing the logo included t-shirts, ball caps, decals, patches, and enamel pins. We expect to add four or five more logos to the series over the next year or two.
In a nice recognition of our work, the American Institute of Graphic Arts named the association’s most recent fine press book, A Trip to the Yosemite, one the “Best 50 Books of the Year” for 2004.
Outdoor Adventures
With our eighty-five Outdoor Adventure courses we helped 743 people deepen their connections to Yosemite in 2005. Participation was down slightly from last year’s 900 figure, but we enjoyed more annual enrollments than we’ve had in most of the past ten years. The heavy remnant snows of the preceding winter affected several courses for the worse, limiting access to some field sites.
On the positive side, the second annual Yosemite Birding Festival drew eighty-six participants for field trips and indoor sessions in early June. Outstanding leaders gave marvelous presentations on art, raptors, tricky identifications, and birding for beginners. We had thirty-eight people come to the Wawona Hotel in the fall for our Yosemite Botanical Symposium. Peter Raven, Steve Botti, and a host of park botany specialists shared their expertise indoors and out. We filled two Michael Ross wildflower courses, one photography class, one winter course, the Yosemite Valley waterfalls tour and Lucy Parker’s Indian basketry course. The most popular group of courses included some strenuous hikes up Half Dome, Mt. Dana, Mt. Hoffmann, and Mt. Lyell.
Cooperative Student Intern Program
Six interns from the Central Valley spent twelve weeks in the park, overseen by the NPS Interpretive Division. After training in Wawona, the interns assumed various visitor contact roles for the busy summer. Two were stationed at remote Lake Eleanor, one in the Valley Wilderness Center, and the remaining three carried out interpretive work in the Mariposa Grove and gave evening programs in the Wawona Campground.
Though UC Merced had not yet opened, our interns were all college students who could transfer into the new Central Valley UC campus. It is our hope that these interns will function as ambassadors in building the connection between the park and the world’s richest valley, and that they’ll encourage a wide variety of cultural and ethnic groups to enjoy and care for Yosemite. This program relied on donations from the Morgan Family Foundation, First Republic Bank, the Fairweather Foundation, and YA members and friends.
Yosemite Art Center
Free art classes were enjoyed by 2,017 people during the 25 weeks of the art center operation. This joint venture involves Delaware North, the NPS, and YA, with a different visiting art instructor each week of the season. Six days a week, from April through September, visitors and locals have the benefit of free instruction in a variety of media. DNC ran the retail element of the center, providing art supplies to visitors, and also provided housing for the visiting artists. YA coordinated the schedule of artists.
MEMBERSHIP
Our total membership remains robust at 10,031. We had a good year for signing up new members, adding 2,905 enrollees through the recruiting efforts of diligent bookstore sales staff, dedicated volunteers, direct mail, and other programs. Our members continued to support our programs and services enthusiastically by volunteering their time, attending Outdoor Adventures, purchasing our books and products, and making generous financial contributions in support of our mission.
The annual Spring Forum was attended by 350 members who enjoyed a wide variety of interpretive walks and auditorium programs despite the cold, rainy weather. Talks ranged from bighorn sheep, to the 1976 “ Dope Lake” plane crash that inspired Nevada Barr’s Yosemite-based mystery, to a moving tribute to the late Shirley Sargent. Our children’s track of programs was once again well attended, and a few hardy souls enjoyed the camaraderie of fellow YA members in the shared campground space we reserved for the weekend.
Our thirtieth Annual Members’ Meeting was held at Tuolumne Meadows in early September. More than 300 attendees enjoyed author John W. Simpson’s thought-provoking talk about the past and future of Hetch Hetchy, and delighted in the personal observations of California quarter designer Garrett Burke. Members also took part in the many interpretive walks, programs, and fundraisers offered throughout the weekend, and everyone had a role in acknowledging YA president Steve Medley’s twentieth anniversary as its leader. Weather is always an important component of the park experience; those who stayed at Tuolumne Lodge after the meeting were exposed to an overnight low temperature of 17 degrees, not to mention a spectacular ice sculpture created by a sprinkler that was accidentally left running overnight in front of the lodge dining tent.
Seventy-three member volunteers participated in the twenty-first year of the month-long volunteer program. From May through September, YA volunteers gave 9,637 hours of service providing information and promoting park stewardship in a dozen locations throughout Yosemite Valley, Tuolumne Meadows, and Wawona. All told, our month-long volunteers introduced thousands of visitors to YA and were directly responsible for recruiting 270 new members.
Fifty-three volunteers participated in five week-long work trips contributing 2,080 hours of vital restoration work to front and backcountry sites in the park. 2005 marked the eighteenth year that YA, the Yosemite Institute, NPS, and DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite have worked together to restore areas of Yosemite. In addition, eight YA members helped DNC perform much needed restoration work at May Lake, Sunrise, Vogelsang, and Glen Aulin High Sierra Camps with over 160 hours of service.
Members responded generously to our annual fundraising campaign by donating over $95,000 in support of our volunteer programs, as well as the many other educational programs and services we provide in Yosemite. We conducted several successful events to recognize our Sustaining and higher level members, along with others who have donated $250 or more to YA in the last year. These special gatherings included a sneak peak at the Valley Visitor Center renovation while it was still underway, a spectacular sunset at Parsons Lodge, and a sumptuous October dinner on the Ahwahnee Meadow to honor the association’s $1,000 donors. We are very grateful to The Ansel Adams Gallery, which hosted our pre-Spring Forum reception, and DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite, which hosted our October donor dinner.
YA was pleased to receive nearly $27,000 in support of the Yosemite Cooperative Student Intern Program in 2005. These gifts went a long way toward matching last year’s $35,000 challenge grant from the Morgan Family Foundation, and helped the association expand the intern program size by increasing its funding base to cover the costs of intern stipends, scholarships, supplies, and restoration of several houses in the Wawona area to lodge the interns.
In cooperation with the National Park Service, the Yosemite Association continued to manage an array of services in the area of wilderness operations, including the wilderness permit reservation system, the bear canister rental program, and the Ostrander Ski Hut.
Although the late opening of the Tioga Road impacted wilderness use early in the spring season, the contributions of the association remained impressive. In 2005, association staff issued 20,721 wilderness reservations, rented 8,868 bear canisters, and processed 1,141 Ostrander Ski Hut reservations. Along with the services provided, the association also donated $11,587 to support important projects for the Yosemite Bear Council.
STATEMENT
OF FINANCIAL POSITION
For year ending December 31, 2005
| ASSETS | 2005 |
2006 |
| Cash and cash equivalents | $773,393 |
$754,660
|
| Accounts receivable | 38,914 |
88,777
|
| Inventory | 887,040 |
701,082
|
| Equipment | 170,679 |
161,880
|
| Other assets | 22,243 |
23,999
|
| TOTAL ASSETS | $1,892,269 |
$1,730,398
|
| LIABILITIES | ||
| Trade accounts payable | $62,061 |
$38,381
|
| Other liabilities | 161,142 |
223,182
|
| Custodial funds | 89,165 |
66,816
|
| TOTAL LIABILITIES | $312,368 |
$328,379
|
NET ASSETS |
||
| Unrestricted | $985,870 |
$878,313 |
|
Board designated reserve |
385,000 |
335,000 |
| Board designated Aid-to-NPS | 25,158 |
36,744 |
| Temporarily restricted net assets | 183,873 |
151,962 |
| TOTAL NET ASSETS | 1,579,901 |
1,468,835 |
| TOTAL LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS | $1,892,269 |
$1,730,398 |
| REVENUES, GAINS, AND OTHER SUPPORT: | |||
Unrestricted |
Temporarily |
Totals |
|
| Sales & Publications | $1,048,489 |
$1,048,489 |
|
| Memberships | 567,375 |
567,375 |
|
| Educational Programs | 114,627 |
114,627 |
|
| Wilderness Programs | 170,717 |
170,717 |
|
| Contributions | 151,884 |
87,711 |
239,595 |
| Investment income | 12,500 |
12,500 |
|
| Other income | 6,655 |
||
| Net Assets released from restrictions: | |||
| Restrictions satisfied by payments | 55,800 |
(55,800) |
|
| TOTAL REVENUES, GAINS, AND OTHER SUPPORT | $2,121,392 |
$31,911 |
$2,153,303 |
| EXPENSES | |||
| Program Services | |||
|
Sales & Publications |
$751,164 |
$751,164 |
|
| Membership | 342,460 |
342,460 |
|
|
Educational Programs |
156,605 |
156,605 |
|
|
Wilderness Operations |
103,456 |
103,456 |
|
| Volunteers | 71,457 |
71,457 |
|
|
Supporting Services |
|||
|
Donations |
70,478 |
70,478 |
|
| Administration | 320,757 |
320,757 |
|
| Cash Aid to the NPS | 159,045 |
159,045 |
|
| TOTAL EXPENSES | $1,975,422 |
$1,975,422 |
|
| CHANGE IN NET ASSETS | 145,971 |
31,911 |
177,882 |
| NET ASSETS, AT BEGINNING OF YEAR | 1,250,057 |
151,962 |
1,402,019 |
| NET ASSETS, AT END OF YEAR | $1,396,028 |
$183,873 |
$1,579,901 |
PARK EVENTS IN 2005
January
3 - Longtime Yosemite NPS employees Jim Snyder (historian), Dave Forgang (Museum Curator), and Norma Craig (museum staff) retired.
31 - California State Quarter (featuring John Muir and Half Dome) unveiled in Sacramento by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver. This was the 31st quarter in the 50 state series.
February
17 - Werner Braun, a dedicated volunteer for Yosemite Search and Rescue since 1970, was awarded the President’s Call to Service Award and the Department of the Interior’s Conservation Service Award in recognition of his selfless dedication to rescuing generations of climbers and hikers.
April
8 - Opening of the new YA Bookstore in the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center.
18 - Dedication of Lower Yosemite Fall Project, attended by NPS Director Fran Mainella, former Yosemite park superintendents, and many dignitaries
25 - Dedication of new Hybrid Shuttle Bus Fleet in Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. The new buses are designed produce up to 90% fewer emissions than those with traditional diesel engines.
May
16 - Yosemite Valley closed due to high water and huge runoff from waterfalls. The valley reopened May 17.
June
21 - Decision announced that the High Sierra Camps would not be opened for the summer due to unusually heavy snow pack and temperatures that continued to hover near freezing.
24 - Tioga Road opened for the summer; this was the fourth latest opening date since 1980.
30 - Ranger Shelton Johnson was presented the Cultural Heritage Award by the Center for Law in the Public Interest for his work on the Buffalo Soldier program.
July
16 - Founding Yosemite Art Center artist and teacher Ben Kudo passed away.
23 - YA Life Trustee Ellie Nishkian passed away.
26 - Record of Decision signed for the Revised Merced River Plan.
30 - A hiker died after being swept over Vernal Fall.
August
17 - Twelve new lightning-caused fires were detected after this day’s intense thunderstorms passed through the park.
18 - San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newson visited Hetch Hetchy with NPS staff; signed new cooperative agreement between the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and the NPS.
23-24 - Two park visitors died in water-related incidents: one slipped and fell into the Merced River above Nevada Fall; the other slipped and fell over the top of Upper Yosemite Fall.
September
14 - Rock climber Bela Feher fell to his death while ascending the face of Half Dome near the “Slab Route.”
24 - NPS Special Agent Daniel Madrid collapsed on the Mist Trail and died while hiking to the scene to investigate a previous park fatality.
October
12 - The director of national parks of Sweden and staff visited Yosemite to learn about park management.
25 - A 20-ton rockfall occurred near Curry Village. Most of the rock fell on the existing talus slope behind the new employee dormitories construction site; no injuries or damage were reported.
November
1 - A group of conservation professionals from China visited Yosemite as part of an ongoing exchange program sponsored by the Department of Interior and the State Forestry Administration of the People's Republic of China.
November 28 - The director of national parks of Thailand and staff visited Yosemite to learn about park management.