Hodel’s Plan for Hetch Hetchy

As a number of critics--even some in the environmental community--have pointed out, Hodel’s notion of dismantling O’Shaughnessy Dam in order to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley to its original state in Yosemite National Park is fraught with practical and logistical problems. If the secretary is serious about wanting to add to Yosemite’s beauty and grandeur as well as implementing Muir’s original vision of the park, he would do well to seriously consider extending Yosemite’s eastern border to include Mono Lake and its tributary streams.

Not only would Muir’s original boundaries for the park be realized, but, with appropriate bold and farsighted legislation, the urgent protective measures necessary to preserve this magnificent resource could become law. This would prevent the ancient lake’s demise as predicted in the recently released findings of the federally funded National Research Council’s two-year study of the Mono Lake ecosystem and the effect of continued water diversions south to the city of Los Angeles.

Thus Hodel could figuratively kill two birds (expanding Yosemite’s natural resources and restoring a part of Muir’s original vision and protecting Mono Lake) with one stone and literally save the lives of millions of waterfowl and the entire majestically scenic ecosystem upon which they have depended for thousands of years.

DAVID TAKEMOTO-WEERTS

Davis