Yosemite Facelift Overwhelming Success

The Yosemite Climbing Association Newsletter is out and it looks like the Yosemite Facelift was an overwhelming success again this year.

Yosemite Climbing Association: “The 2007 Facelift was very successful. The final count was 2,945 volunteers that contributed 18,335 man hours. The cleaning was contagious as people jumped in to help participants fill their bags. The Park Service valued the work at $344,148.00. 132 miles of roadway were cleaned. Items including toilet paper, cigarette butts, and micro-trash were removed from the woods at all turnouts throughout the park. 80 plus miles of trails were cleaned and the Merced River Corridor was cleaned from Happy Isles to the NPS Warehouse in El Portal. All lodging, campgrounds, and housing areas in the Valley and Tuolumne were cleaned. Certain abandoned infrastructures were removed which was the majority of the weight. In all over 42,330 pounds were collected and everything that could be recycled was. About 32,000 pounds of the weight was from special projects we took on, helping rid the park of old infrastructure that NPS does not have funding to remove.

Close to 400 people attended the reception following the cleanup and enjoyed the free food and beverages provided by Delaware North Parks & Resorts at Yosemite. Thanks to over 70 sponsors who donated an array of prizes, participants were rewarded with a daily raffle and a final raffle during the reception.”

A crew from ABC News was also in the park for the Facelift. The piece is to air on the ABC World News with Charles Gibson under the “Keys to Success” segment.

Great job everyone who participated and a big thanks to Ken Yager and the folks at the YCA for their hard work pulling this off!

Photo courtesy of the Yosemite Climbing Association.