Petty Politics in Yosemite

At one point late last year, when Rep. George P. Radanovich was pushing his bill to have LeConte Memorial Lodge moved out of Yosemite Valley, he told a reporter, “I think John Muir would be rolling over in his grave if he knew this thing had been built in the valley.”

Presumably the Republican from Mariposa has learned by now that pioneer conservationist Muir not only approved but was the Sierra Club president when the club-owned lodge was built in 1903 and had been a prime mover in having it erected.

The lodge is not a likely flashpoint for political controversy. It was built by the Sierra Club a century ago as a memorial to University of California geologist John LeConte, Muir’s close friend and a founding club director who died near the building site in 1901. The modest Tudor-style structure, about the size of a one-bedroom house, is tucked among trees on the south side of the valley and used as an information and education center run by the Sierra Club under contract with the National Park Service. It is a place of quiet and contemplation, now registered as a national historic landmark.

Apparently in an effort to get back at the Sierra Club in a dispute over Yosemite development, Radanovich is seeking to have the lodge moved. As chairman of the House’s national parks subcommittee, he has considerable clout. He has been warring with the Sierra Club over a long-studied plan to reduce the number of campsites and parking lots in Yosemite Valley to restore some of its lost naturalness. Radanovich wants more of these facilities to serve visitors, who incidentally stock up on groceries at stores in his district on their way to the park.

A Radanovich bill to move the lodge has been stalled since squeaking out of the Resources Committee by a vote of 22 to 21 last fall. Now, the congressman is trying to attach his LeConte lodge amendment to an omnibus spending bill. Radanovich says it is all right to keep the lodge in the park but not in the valley. Its location there gives the Sierra Club “special access” that the club would deny to would-be valley visitors who can’t find campsites, he says.

In fact, there never are enough campsites to meet demand during busy tourist periods. But the lodge has nothing to do with that, and it is difficult to see how a tiny education center of recognized architectural value harms visitors or the park. Radanovich has no business making the lodge a pawn in his battle with the Sierra Club. Other California members of the House, whom Radanovich needs as allies on more weighty matters, should persuade him to let go.