Beloved Outdoor Tradition Is Under Fire at Yosemite : Recreation: Most comply, some grumble as Park Service limits campfires in an effort to reduce pollution.

Struggling to protect Yosemite National Park’s natural beauty from the throngs who come to enjoy it, the National Park Service began a clampdown Saturday on campfires to reduce air pollution in famed Yosemite Valley.

The limitations on the time-honored tradition are the latest in a string of measures the Park Service is considering or has put into effect to restrict use for the sake of preserving Yosemite’s renowned natural features.

Under a regulation that will last through October, thousands of Yosemite Valley campers will be permitted to have fires only between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m., when all campfires must be extinguished. Those who light a fire to take the chill out of a crisp morning or go to sleep in front of glowing embers risk a citation. If pollution does not decline significantly in the next few months, the Park Service may ban campfires.

Despite grumbling and some initial noncompliance, many campers said Saturday that they will be willing to forgo roasted hot dogs in the afternoons and morning coffee around a fire as long as they can continue to gaze at the open flames at night.

“We think it’s wonderful,” said camper David Brookhart, 43, a Southern California businessman. “The smoke burns your eyes. By 9 o’clock last night, it was as bad or worse around here than L.A. smog.”

But the prospect of an outright ban appalled most campers.

“That would be unacceptable,” said George Scritchfield, 43, a Bay Area stockbroker who was camping in the valley. “That’s part of the experience. It’s being outdoors with the smell of the wood, watching the fire. . . . Why, we couldn’t fit four big steaks on our stove. You need a fire to cook over.”

Some campers apparently ignored the new rule or were unaware of the restriction, which applies to the crowded valley but not elsewhere in the park. Air monitoring equipment showed that there were enough morning campfires to raise particulate levels above state health standards. Repeat offenders will be issued citations.

If the restrictions fail to thin a gray pall from campfires that obscures the valley’s cliffs on summer mornings, park officials will try other measures before resorting to a ban.

Campers may be asked to use pressed logs made of almond shells, which park officials are examining for their potential to reduce smoke.

“Almond shells?” asked Fred Cheesebrough, 45, a Placerville construction supervisor camping with his family. “Can they make them smell like pine?”

The assault on the beloved tradition comes amid much soul-searching by the park staff. Though required by law to provide for the enjoyment of visitors, the Park Service is supposed to make preservation its primary mission.

With park visitation steadily climbing, the juggling act is not coming easily.

“We need to educate people that many of the issues that are of environmental and health concern at home also affect the national parks,” Yosemite Supt. Michael Finley said.

Curbing air pollution from campfires is only one of Finley’s goals.

To reduce congestion in popular Yosemite Valley, the Park Service recently announced a plan to remove 20.5% of the valley’s highly sought accommodations and tear down several buildings.

Park officials also are working with rock climbers to reduce damage to the soaring granite cliffs. Climbers with battery-operated drills scar the rocks with metal safety bolts and scrape off mosses and lichens to gain more secure handholds.

The Park Service has also roped off meadows and parts of the Merced River’s banks to give recently planted native grasses and trees a chance to flourish. Before the restoration, paid for by private contributions, the sites were trampled bare. This year the Park Service closed a campground at Tanaya Lake to restore its surrounding vegetation.

Under Finley, who took over in 1989, park lakes are no longer stocked with hatchery fish, and fishermen must release the trout they catch from the Merced.

The idea is to preserve only the native fish and enable their populations to recover so passersby can once again glimpse the gleam of a fat trout sliding under the clear waters of the Merced.

Finley also has stopped the clearing of fallen trees from the river, a practice begun years ago to ease the way for the thousands of rafters who clog the Merced each summer. But the trees provide an important habitat for aquatic insects eaten by fish, and in the Park Service’s view nature should come first.

The superintendent is studying the effect rafting has on the Merced’s banks to decide whether new rules are needed. Some preservationists want a ban on rafting because riders litter and climb on the shore and trample vegetation.

But a rafting ban would almost certainly be as unpopular as the elimination of campfires.

“On no,” groaned camper Grace Nelson, 40, an investment adviser from the San Fernando Valley. “No river rafts? That’s what we come here for.”

The camping experience in Yosemite Valley is far from serene. Several campers Saturday compared it to staying in a parking lot, with tents and campers crammed together, few trees for privacy, choking smoke from about 1,000 fires and the din of traffic from roads. Campers can stand in line for more than an hour waiting to take a shower.

But in spite of their complaints, the campers appeared to be enjoying themselves.

“We did have a good time,” said Brookhart, breaking camp to head for higher and less populated elevations. Why?

“Because we’re not in L.A.”

Judging from Saturday’s reactions, the 11 p.m. campfire curfew will be the hardest to accept. Some campers said they stay up later than that and need the fires for warmth.

If the campfires go completely, it will not be the first Yosemite tradition sacrificed in the name of preservation.

In 1968, park officials ended the much-loved “fire falls,” in which burning embers were dumped off Glacier Point to provide a spectacular fireworks display. Finley said he still gets requests to bring them back.

In the 1930s and 1940s, park rangers regularly fed garbage to bears as visitors watched. Now, feeding the bears is against the rules, for the animals’ health and public safety.

Camping was a haphazard event then. A tent could be pitched almost anywhere and vehicles were driven across meadows. Now it is regulated.

As recently as 1988, park officials prohibited valley campers from gathering and chopping firewood, much of which was still green. That move was intended to reduce smoke from the wet fuel and to preserve the natural setting. Joan Reiss, regional director of the Wilderness Society, hopes that the campfires will be the next tradition to succumb, and not only in Yosemite Valley. She said she was camping at higher elevations recently and felt as though she were “falling asleep in a smoke-filled room.”

Reiss suspects that much of the air pollution in the valley is caused by vehicles, which she would like to see eliminated. Finley, however, said monitoring shows that campfires are the main culprit, with traffic emissions only a small contributor.

Finley said he hopes the restrictions will be enough and that a ban will not be needed.

“We are working hard to be fair with the public,” he said. “But if all our other strategies don’t work, then we would have to say that this valued tradition has to go.”