I wanted to catch you before yall hit the road to spend Thanksgiving with your Aunt Betty. You need to be aware that the NPS is going to a 9th District court hearing to appeal a lower court ruling on case 07-15124 Friends of Yosemite Valley vs. Kempthorne. To get you up to date, the “Friends” is a group of environmentalists who have blocked reconstruction projects dating back to the 1997 Flood. “Kempthorne” is Dirk Kempthorne, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior – parent of the National Park Service. NPS trying to reason with the court that the injunction that is keeping the park from rebuilding from the damage of the 1997 flood could drag on another 3 years. Even though Congress approved over $200M for this purpose. Yes, 10 years ago. The big issue is that the Merced River Plan did not satisfactorily resolve the “use” issue. The park does not want to set firm (and arbitrary) maximum numbers of visitors that can be in the Merced River corridor (i.e. the park) – they prefer to manage it as situations arise. Supporting the NPS are the following non-profits that are not a direct part of the case: The Yosemite Fund, The Access Fund, The American Alpine Club, California Trout, Friends of the River, National Parks Conservation Assn, The Wilderness Society and a man named Jay Watson. The “plaintiffs” are the Friends of Yosemite and Mariposans for the Environment and Responsible Government. The court date has been set for November 28 at 9:30 am in the Courthouse in Pasadena, CA at 125 South Grand Avenue. If you live in SoCal, please try to attend and let us know what transpired.
*Carpe Diem Experience–Rick Deutsch-www.HikeHalfDome.com*