Yosemite Blog

Category: Environment

  • Tear ’em Down

    There’s been a lot of people getting pretty worked up in the last few weeks about some cabins damaged during a rockfall at Curry Village. The jist of it is the NPS is trying to decide what to do with the cabins. Well here’s the inside scoop. They’re crap. Some of the damaged cabins at…

  • SF Halts Water Flow from Hetch Hetchy

    O’Shaughnessy Dam releases water from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Photo by Inklein. San Francisco is high and dry as the SFPUC cut water delivery from Hetch Hetchy for at least a month. The shutdown is part of a planned outage to allow for maintenance on the aging water delivery system and is expected to last until…

  • November Ballot Initiative Could Let Bay Area Water Users Voice View on Hetch Hetchy

    A Restore Hetch Hetchy booth outside a Whole Foods store in Noe Valley helps to make Bay Area citizens aware of Hetch Hetchy and gather signatures to get a new initiative on the November Ballot. Photo by Steve Rhodes. San Francisco residents could get the chance to vote on draining Hetch Hetchy Reservoir if a…

  • New Tunnel to Replace Aging Hetch Hetchy Pipes Carrying Water to San Francisco

    Part of the Hetch Hetchy water system delivers water to the Moccasin Creek power generation facility near Groveland. Photo by Flickred!. A $350 million tunnel is being drilled beneath San Francisco Bay as part of an ambitious plan to update the aging Hetch Hetchy water system. The tunnel will create a 21-mile stretch of new…

  • Global Warming Could Be Helping Yosemite’s Aspens

    Aspens along the Highway 395 corridor just east of Yosemite’s Tioga Pass entrance. Photo by Loyd Schutte. Researchers have come up with some interesting findings regarding Carbon Dioxide, the green gas believed to be largely responsible for global warming, it’s making the aspen trees grow like mad! The study conducted by researchers from the University…

  • Smoke Clogging Yosemite Valley – Air Unhealthy

    Smoke from the Big Meadow fire is clogging the Valley again and is considered unhealthy for sensitive groups. It’s not so bad lower down but there’s a thick layer hanging about. If you have any kind of breathing problems you might want to think twice about heading into the Valley. Visibility is severely impeded as…

  • Demolishing Hetch Hetchy Could Save California’s Salmon Population – or Not

    The Tuolumne River below Hetch Hetchy Dam. Photo by Jared Kelly. There’s a very interesting piece by columnist Bill McEwen in the Fresno Bee about the decline in salmon coming up California’s rivers and salmon might be the dams undoing. The Tuolumne, a tributary of the San Joaquin, is “the keystone” to bringing back California’s…

  • Blasting Away in Yosemite

    Water released from O’Shaughnessy Dam at Hetch Hetchy Valley the northern side of the Tuolumne River Canyon. Photo by Thomas Kriese. You ever wondered why this hasn’t just blown away that whole side of the canyon? I mean, this looks like it’s got some pretty good pressure to be blasting across the canyon. Maybe it…

  • Yosemite’s Lost Valley Part 2 (video)

    Here’s the rest of the video on Hetch Hetchy Valley.

  • Yosemite’s Lost Valley Part 1 (video)

    I think this video offers a great introduction to the plight of Hetch Hetchy Valley.