ECONOTES : California Gets Tunnel Vision

Yosemite National Park’s famous “Tunnel View”--the most photographed natural scene in California--is taking to the road.

Under a new state law, the Department of Motor Vehicles will create a special license plate with a four-color design of Yosemite Valley. The plate will be available to California drivers for $50 plus their standard car registration fee.

“This is a realistic way for people to get involved in protecting the park,” says Los Angeles marketing consultant Matt Mazer, one of the volunteer organizers of the license-plate campaign. “Yosemite gets 3.5 million visitors a year and the federal government hasn’t increased its budget for maintenance activities since 1980. The park depends on private support.”

Proceeds will be divided equally between the Yosemite Fund (which supports preservation and restoration of the park) and the California Environmental License Plate Fund. The project is modeled after successful environmental plates in Florida and Maryland. The Yosemite Fund has already received 2,000 applications for the new plate. “We have to collect 5,000 applications before the DMV will begin processing,” says chairman Keith Schiller. “We expect the new plates to be ready by late summer.”

Applications are available at the Yosemite Fund: (415) 434-1782.