Hodel’s Plan for Hetch Hetchy
The suggestion of Interior Secretary Donald Hodel to restore the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park (Part I, Aug. 7) is not as impractical as it may at first seem, but is in fact a very logical one. If the history of the flooding of the Hetch Hetchy is recounted, the reasons for which this was done, the thinking that prevailed at the time and the political maneuverings by which the Raker Act became enacted into law, there would be very little disagreement outside of the city of San Francisco that this was a mistake.
San Franciscans may feel the use of waters from the Hetch Hetchy is their “birthright,” but there is a more valuable birthright of every citizen of this country for the unimpaired preservation and use of the national parks. There are, and always have been, alternative sources of water for San Francisco, but only one Yosemite National Park.
The beauty of the Hetch Hetchy was not overstated by John Muir. It is one of the great natural features of the park and should be restored. It should not forever reflect the foolishness and mistakes of a bygone era.
LAWRENCE S. CRANE
Los Angeles
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