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Yosemite
Plan Tries to Turn Back the Clock Blueprint brings an
end to 30-year battle by Glen Martin Surrounded by Sierra peaks mantled by a fresh snowfall, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt yesterday announced the final management plan for Yosemite National Park, capping an often acrimonious debate that has lasted 30 years. The plan Babbitt disclosed promises to reshape Yosemite Valley dramatically in the coming years, greatly reducing the development "footprint" in the stunning Sierra Shangri-la. Some of the most profound changes in the park will be felt by visitors used to driving in for a quick look at some of the world's most spectacular mountain scenery. In the new scheme, tourists will no longer be able to park at the base of Yosemite Falls, and many people will be obligated to take shuttle buses for a close look at Half Dome or El Capitan. The final version of the plan contained few surprises, and most of the details were the same as in a previous draft released earlier this year. But it did include some minor changes made to address objections from environmental groups. For example, the new version calls for reducing the number of overnight guest rooms in the valley from the current 1,260 to 961. In the early draft, the goal was to reduce lodging to 981 rooms. Yesterday's announcement followed scores of public meetings, tens of thousands of formal comments from interested parties and splenetic bickering between opposing sides. Babbitt acknowledged as much in his comments, noting that efforts to develop a plan for the park began in the early 1970s. "You are cantankerous, irascible, quarrelsome and passionate people," he said, "and that's because of your attraction to this place. I can't escape John Muir when I'm up here. Everyone is quoting him like he has just gone out for a beer and will be right back." The plan will move most parking outside the valley, increase public transportation, reduce employee housing and lodging and emphasize preservation of the Merced River corridor. It will take 10 to 15 years for all the changes to be made. Several conservation groups enthusiastically endorsed the plan, but some environmentalists condemned it, claiming it favored the development of expensive hotel rooms over campsites and didn't go far enough in excluding cars from the valley. About 30 protesters were on hand for Babbitt's announcement, although they were cordoned off from the event by National Park Service rangers. Babbitt said he was sometimes frustrated by the momentous task of trying to achieve a consensus about Yosemite's future. "There have been times in this process when I have not had warm feelings for some of the environmental organizations," Babbitt said, ''but they have had important things to say, and we have made changes in response." Jay Watson, the western regional director for the Wilderness Society, said the 1997 flood that destroyed much of the park's infrastructure presented park planners with a tremendous opportunity. Earlier efforts to restore the park, including one major plan released in 1980, never got past the bickering stage. Watson said the flood helped all sides focus on the need to move past gridlock. "It gave us an historic opportunity to transform into reality what had long been an elusive vision for Yosemite," Watson said, "and I asked at that time if the National Park Service was up to the task. . . . With the release of this report, the answer is a resounding 'yes.' " The Sierra Club also praised the plan. Although it does not address all of the group's concerns, club officials said it contains significant improvements over a draft released last year. "The Park Service listened to public outcry and responded," said Carl Pope, the Sierra Club's executive director. "The new plan protects fragile areas of Yosemite Valley, while reducing unnecessary development and traffic." The final document and its various appendixes fill a medium-sized cardboard box. Major points include plans to: -- Move most of the valley's 1,662 parking spaces to outlying sites at Badger Pass and El Portal, with an additional site at either Hazel Green or Foresta. A lot containing about 550 spaces would be built at a redesigned visitor's center in the valley, which would also serve as a hub for public transportation. -- Remove most employee housing from the valley. -- Reduce the valley's available lodgings from 1,260 units to 961. -- Increase the number of shuttle buses serving the valley, ultimately shifting from diesel buses to cleaner vehicles using propane or electric hybrid technology. -- Remove an environmentally damaging dam on the Merced River. -- Increase campsites from 475 to 500. The pre-flood figure for campsites was 800. -- Restore several former campgrounds to natural conditions. -- Reduce the scope of Yosemite Village's concession services. Yosemite Park Superintendent David Milhalic, a Babbitt appointee widely credited with ramrodding the final plan through the bottleneck of public debate, said the document is not perfect, but that it could well serve as a template for managing the entirety of the Sierra Nevada. "I just hope we don't let 'perfect' become the enemy of 'better,' " he said. "This is a different, better plan than the (earlier) draft plan. We hope to apply it beyond the valley to all 750,000 acres of the park -- and (eventually) to the greater context of the Sierra as a whole." Opponents to the plan said it doesn't do enough to stem development in the park. Greg Adair, a spokesman for Friends of Yosemite, said the plan favors upscale lodging over camping, noting that the final figure for campsites is 40 percent fewer than the number of sites that existed before the 1997 flood. "The secretary is not telling the public the truth," said Adair, who participated in yesterday's protest. "Our analysis reveals rampant land consumption. This plan will not restore Yosemite. Instead, it calls for massive expansion in infrastructure, would consume more land and would further develop the park." Babbitt seemed satisfied by the prospect that the battle over Yosemite may be coming to an end. He said he considered many of the details less significant than the essential thrust of the plan, which he said was designed to restore the valley's historic -- or rather, prehistoric -- ecosystems. "A lot of philosophers are worrying about (the fine points)," Babbitt said. "I'm not. If we can move the process back to a semblance of what it once was, I will go away happy."
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