Yosemite Valley Plan: ‘Follow the Money’

The Times correctly states that the National Park Service needs to get on with the job of returning Yosemite to a national park rather than an amusement park (editorial, Dec. 1). However, the Yosemite Valley Plan is a blueprint for the most massive commercialization in the history of Yosemite, including other areas within the park.

The Park Service proposal for the future of Yosemite contains a bloated budget of $413 million slated for building commercial bus facilities, widening roads, expanding parking lots and creating substantial new infrastructure. Under the guise of restoration, the plan is clearly aimed at maximizing the commercial return of Yosemite.

In order to sell their plan to the public, Park Service officials loudly trumpet their concern for protecting the environment. But look at the fine print from National Park Service documents to see what lies beneath. In their own words, this plan is “projected to have a long-term major beneficial net financial impact on the concessionaire’s gross revenues.” In other words, follow the money.

Kirk Helland

Yosemite, Calif.

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I agree with your editorial about the new plans being set up to return Yosemite Valley to an earlier, more pristine time. I went to Yosemite Valley this year over Memorial Day weekend for the first time in 10 years and was once again amazed by the waterfalls and the beauty. Unfortunately, our hiking trip down into the valley was marred when, at the end of an eight-mile hike, our public transportation bus got caught in an hourlong traffic jam caused primarily by day-use visitors who drove their cars into the valley to see the sights.

I will not return to Yosemite Valley until the Park Service insists that day-use visitors are not allowed to drive into the valley without a reservation or are required to use buses to enter the park, as has already been set up in Devil’s Postpile near Mammoth Lakes. Until then, I will pass.

There are so many equally beautiful places that I can see without worrying about having an L.A.-style traffic jam waiting for me at the end of the trail.

George Kahn

Culver City