An ongoing dispute between park officials and environmentalists has once again led to the blocking of renovation efforts within the park. This time the judge suggested the management plan that had been publicly reviewed, edited, and voted on for months was not “legally sound” and sent the Park Service back to the drawing board to produce a new plan and timeline.
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: A federal district judge has ordered a halt to a broad slate of renovation projects in Yosemite Valley, stepping anew into a battle over the human imprint on one of America’s most heavily visited cathedrals of nature.In a 25-page written ruling, Judge Anthony Ishii in Fresno ordered a halt to nine construction projects — including roadwork, hotel renovations and new RV sites — that are part of a long-planned $423 million upgrade of long-neglected visitor facilities.
Park officials say the projects are being held hostage by litigation brought by “fringe” environmental groups.
“These are projects the public has told us they want,” said Scott Gediman, a park spokesman.
Greg Adair of Friends of Yosemite Valley said the legal fight is necessary to turn back the clock on environmental degradation while thwarting a shift to upscale hotel rooms, reduction of family camping and prices that could push average Americans away.
“We hope for a park that has meaningful environmental protection and equitable social access,” he said. “What we’ve seen instead is this pandering to commercialism, this rush to do construction and this short-changing of environmental laws.”
A second victory
Ishii’s decision, issued Friday, marked the second time in recent years that environmental groups have won court victories to halt the park’s ambitious construction schedule.
The judge also ordered the Park Service to try for a third time to produce a legally sound management plan for the Merced River, which cleaves the popular, mile-wide valley.
Ishii criticized the park for rushing its most recent evaluation, suggesting such a planning effort should take at least two years. The judge set a hearing Jan. 9 to determine a timeline.
Comments
2 responses to “Judge Halts Yosemite Construction Yet Again”
Descendents of Yosemite area Native Americans write Letters to the Editor concerning the halt of the Merced River Project and the excavation of Indian sites;
From the Sacramento Bee
Protecting Yosemite
Re “Judge halts raft of Yosemite upgrade projects/Park officials scolded and told to work on river management,” Nov. 7: As a Paiute who is a direct descendent of the Indians of Yosemite, I am pleased to read that environmental groups protected the Merced River. There is more to this story.
Yosemite National Park uses a nonprofit Indian group to OK many of its excavation plans. The group, called the Southern Sierra Miwoks, has a leadership made up of former and current employees of Yosemite Park itself, which is a conflict of interest. They endorse many projects the park wants. This conflict of interest is against the Department of the Interior personnel policy, which Yosemite National Park is not following.
Many Paiute descendents of Yosemite Native Americans complained about the park digging up our ancestors’ graves, and the park paraded this non-profit and another Miwok group in front of the government. The only problem is that many buried at the site were known Paiutes and not Miwoks.
Recently, Yosemite National Park was successful in covering one of Chief Tenaya’s villages with a large restroom. That is why we Yosemite Indians, who care, are glad that these environmental groups stopped another travesty from happening.
– Jean Smith, Sacramento
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From the Fresno Bee
Indians overlooked
11/20/06 06:59:47
[National Park Service spokesman] Scott Gediman (story Nov. 7) is sad that a few people have stymied recent efforts by the Park Service to go through with their plans. He also stated: “There very well could be problems without some of this work.”
One major problem not stated in the article was the fact that there are possible human remains at one proposed construction site. The people buried there were family members and there was no adequate concessions made to the lineal descendants as to their treatment and proper repatriation. Nor were the descendants contacted about any disturbance until the plaintiffs in the case did so.
In his injunction, Judge Anthony Ishii ruled that the Park Service’s efforts to revitalize the area of the human remains “involves neither routine maintenance nor health and safety issues likely to affect the public.” With so little to lose, the Park Service should have obliged the descendants of the Native Americans interned there on the grounds of polite decency. The only Native American peoples counseled in this matter were not representative of the masses of native peoples who call Yosemite their ancestral home.
Erick Regalado, Fresno
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