|
|
|
|
|
| |
|||
The plan, which was signed in November 2000 by former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, is aimed at reducing human impact on the breathtaking 7-mile long valley. It has been criticized by some environmentalists as a development scheme masquerading as restoration.
The first $105 million phase includes rebuilding employee housing and parts of Yosemite Lodge damaged in the 1997 flood that wiped out campgrounds and spurred action on the plan after three decades of debate on the park's future.
A parking lot where diesel buses idle at the base of towering Yosemite Falls will be converted into a picnic area. An Indian culture center will be built.
Shuttle buses will be purchased and bus stops will be improved. The plan ultimately will remove much of the parking in the valley, but those improvements will take much longer and are not included in the phase scheduled to be completed in the next two and a half years.
Campsites will be added in four locations, including Camp 4, which is popular with rock climbers who travel from around the world to scale the park's granite walls.
One new element of the plan is a $2 million campground study at the request of Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, to replace campsites destroyed when the Merced River crested its banks five years ago.
Jay Watson of The Wilderness Society said he's concerned that efforts to increase camping could jeopardize plans to return the former campsites to meadows along the river.
"I just
don't want to see the single largest restoration project sacrificed,"
Watson said. "What's the sense of spending money to rebuild a facility
that's eventually going to get flooded out again?"
|
|
|
|