Peter T. Hoss has penned an editorial for the Monterey Herald about the idiotic Draft Merced River Plan. In it, he lays out issues with the plan which I wholeheartedly agree with.
From the editorial:
An ad hoc group of retired people from all aspects of Yosemite life, small in number but vast in experience, has protested the current Draft Merced River Plan and the accompanying environmental impact report, which led to my testimony before a congressional subcommittee on July 9.
This plan, which would dramatically reduce recreational use of parts of Yosemite National Park, is not a political issue. Followers of all political persuasions cherish visiting Yosemite.
The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, applied to the Merced River, was never intended by its draftsman, now-retired Congressman Tony Coelho, to apply to the 81 miles of the river within Yosemite. That portion made the final draft because of an administrative oversight when the House and Senate versions of the legislation were combined.
On this day in 1864 President Lincoln signed a bill drafted by both houses of the 38th Congress of the United States officially creating the Yosemite Grant. While Yellowstone ultimately became the first National Park, this was the first instance of park land being set aside for preservation and public use by the federal government. The grant was the result of citizens like Galen Clark and Senator John Conness advocating heavily for protection of the area. John Muir later led a successful movement to establish a larger national park encompassing not just the Yosemite Valley, but surrounding mountains and forests as well.
With their usual regard for conservation and the environment, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (DWP)continues to display their professional ineptitude and scandalous behavior. All efforts to protect and restore Mono Lake have been undermined by the DWP since they made a unilateral power-grab of lake monitoring operations and started diverting $10,000,000 in water per year. Everything the DWP is doing is directly in violation of the rules set in 1998 by the State Water Board.
Al Golub Joins Faculty of Professional Photographers at YExplore and Will Lead Yosemite Photography Classes for Park Visitors
If you are interested in land management in California, I encourage you to visit (and join!)