Yosemite Valley, California (Mike Painter)
June 30, 2014
Dear CalUWild friends-
150 years ago today, Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant, giving the State of California jurisdiction over Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias for protection. The action is credited with giving birth to the idea of the national parks (even though Yellowstone was the first, officially). See Item 5 for more information on events commemorating the Grant, which eventually led to the Wilderness Act 100 years later.
That makes 2014 the 50th Anniversary of the 1964 Wilderness Act (as we’ve been reporting for a long time). CalUWild co-founder Vicky Hoover recently compiled a list of facts regarding California and wilderness:
• More areas in the original 1964 Act than any other state (13 out of 54)
• More wilderness areas now than any other state (149 out of 758)
• The greatest percentage of our lands designated as federal wilderness in the Lower 48 States (15%), almost as high a percentage as Alaska (16%)
• One of very few states with its own state wilderness system (12 areas)
• This month, the California State Legislature passed a resolution honoring the event, which you can read online here.
• Five California counties have passed resolutions or proclamations: Lake, Sonoma, Kern, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco City and County
• California cities have done so, too: Vallejo, Berkeley, San Francisco, Bakersfield, Los Angeles
Impressive, no?
The first shipment of Tom Killion’s 50th Anniversary posters, specially commissioned for California, has arrived, and they look wonderful. Thanks to everyone who ordered them. There are still some available. The posters measure 18″ x 24″ and make great gifts. The price is $10 each, plus postage and shipping ($5 for 1 or 2, $5.50 for 3). So if you’re interested, send a check for the proper amount, along with your name and address, to
CalUWild
P.O. Box 210474
San Francisco, CA 94121-0474
Questions? Click here to send an email. All proceeds benefit CalUWild.
Thanks for your interest and support!
Mike
IN UTAH
1. BLM Declines to Press Charges
In Illegal Recapture Canyon ORV Ride
2. Pictures for the Greater Canyonlands Campaign
(ACTION ITEM)
IN CALIFORNIA
3. Rep. Judy Chu Introduces
San Gabriel National Recreation Area Act
(ACTION ITEM)
4. Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks
Release Draft Wilderness Stewardship Plan
Public Meetings Scheduled
Comment Deadline: August 25
(ACTION ITEM)
5. 150th Anniversary of the Yosemite Grant
a. U.S. Senate Passes Resolution Honoring the 1864 Grant
b. California Historical Society Exhibition
Yosemite: A Storied Landscape
Through January 25, 2015
c. Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University
Carleton Watkins: The Stanford Albums
Through August 17
6. U.S. Supreme Court Issues Procedural
Ruling Against Drakes Bay Oyster Farm
IN THE PRESS & ELSEWHERE
7. Links to Articles and Other Items of Interest
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IN UTAH
1. Utah BLM Declines to Press Charges
In Illegal Recapture Canyon ORV Ride
The Utah BLM announced that it will not press charges against participants in the May 10 illegal ORV ride up Recapture Canyon, outside of Blanding, Utah. Instead, it has been gathering and evaluating evidence to give to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Salt Lake City, leaving the decision on any legal action up to them.
This comes as a disappointment to many, because they see the BLM as backing down again, in much the same way it was perceived in the Cliven Bundy ranching standoff in Nevada the month before. In previous ORV trespass cases, the U.S. Attorney has declined to press charges.
In the meantime, the Salt Lake Tribune published an op-ed piece supporting the punishment of the illegal riders. You can read it here.
We’ll have to wait and see what happens next.
2. Pictures for the Greater Canyonlands Campaign
(ACTION ITEM)
We’ve reported over the last couple of years about the campaign to protect Greater Canyonlands, the area around Canyonlands National Park. If you haven’t taken a picture of yourself or your friends holding up a yellow sign asking Pres. Obama to protect Greater Canyonlands, now’s the time!
Be part of an effort to demonstrate to the administration that there is widespread support across the country for a national monument in the basin where the Green and Colorado rivers come together. It’s an area rich in scenery, wildlife, and archaeological sites.
With the 50th Anniversary of the establishment of Canyonlands National Park this September, it’s a great opportunity to make your voice heard.
And it’s simple: Download a sign and print it on yellow paper or on white paper. Sign it with your name (if you like), city, and state. Take a picture of yourself holding the sign and email it to Rachel [at] suwa [dot] org.
Thanks !!
IN CALIFORNIA
3. Rep. Judy Chu Introduces
San Gabriel National Recreation Area Act
(ACTION ITEM)
We reported last July that Rep. Judy Chu (D-27), a member of CalUWild’s Advisory Board, was planning to introduce a bill establishing a San Gabriel National Recreation Area. Earlier this month she did just that with H.R. 4858 in the House. Reps. Adam Schiff (D-28) and Tony Cárdenas (D-29) signed on as original cosponsors.
The California Wilderness Coalition said this about the bill:
The Angeles National Forest is not only an important destination for millions of Southern Californians, but it also accounts for 70% of the open space in Los Angeles County, provides 35% our drinking water, and contributes clean air to a polluted region. This bill is an important step in protecting our water and outdoor recreational opportunities. The spectacular San Gabriel Mountains are the site of snow-capped alpine peaks, chaparral hills, waterfalls and beautiful flowing rivers. It provides a refuge for many animals, including the Nelson’s Bighorn sheep, California condor, Santa Ana sucker, California spotted owl, mountain yellow-legged frog, and San Gabriel Mountain salamander. The diverse ecosystems and flora in the mountain range also defends against climate change by retaining carbon gases within its forests, instead of emitting them into the atmosphere. This area also attracts more than 3.5 million visitors annually and generates more than $60 million a year in local visitor spending.
Rep. Chu’s San Gabriel National Recreation Area Act will protect 615,000 acres in the Angeles and San Bernardino National Forest, some foothill areas, the west Puente Hills, and lower stretches of the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo Rivers that dip down into local communities. The effort follows more than a decade of federal studies, public meetings and comments, and outreach to local communities, and has immense support from a diverse group of stakeholders.
The protection this legislation will provide will be instrumental in ensuring that these scenic wild spaces, rivers, and parks are preserved for future generations.
Please contact Rep. Chu’s office and thank her for introducing the bill.
1520 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
DC phone: 202-225-5464
Pasadena phone: 626-304-0110
Claremont phone: 909-625-5394
Online comment form here
4. Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks
Release Draft Wilderness Stewardship Plan
Public Meetings Scheduled
Comment Deadline: August 25
(ACTION ITEM)
On Friday, Sequoia-King Canyon National Parks (2 parks, administered as one unit) announced the release of their Draft Wilderness Stewardship Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
We haven’t had time to review it at all, but want to let you know that the Park Service will be hosting three public meetings in July to receive comments and answer questions about the plan. They are:
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
6-9 p.m.
Richard Trudeau Training Center
11500 Skyline Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94605
Thursday, July 24, 2014
6-9 p.m.
Eastern Sierra Tri-County Fairgrounds
Tallman Pavilion
Bishop, CA 93514
Monday, July 28, 2014
6-9 p.m.
Visalia Marriott Hotel
300 South Court Street
Visalia, CA 93291
The Park Service Planning website for the project is here, from where you can download and view the voluminous plan. You can also submit comments by clicking on the button on this page.
Email comments will not be accepted. Comments may also be submitted by U/S/ Mail or fax:
Superintendent
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
Attn: WSP/DEIS
47050 Generals Highway
Three Rivers, CA 93271
Fax: 559-565-4202
DEADLINE for comments: August 25, 2014
5. 150th Anniversary of the Yosemite Grant
As mentioned in the introduction, Pres. Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant, transferring Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove to California for establishment of a protected park 150 years ago. Historian Alfred Runte published an essay yesterday in National Parks Traveler describing the events following the Grant. The controversy resulted in a Supreme Court case that established the principle that the federal government could set aside land for preservation, legitimizing the creation of Yellowstone National Park and setting the parks movement on its way.
The sesquicentennial of the Yosemite Grant is being marked in various ways, three of which are mentioned here.
5a. U.S. Senate Passes Resolution Honoring the 1864 Grant
The National Park Service sent out this press release last week:
Yosemite Grant Act Gave Birth to the National Park Idea and Inspired the Creation of Hundreds of National Parks in the United States and Worldwide
Washington, D.C.-U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein (both D-CA) today praised the passage of their resolution honoring the 150th anniversary of the Yosemite Grant Act, legislation signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1864 that permanently protected the Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove.
“In 1864, in the middle of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln had the foresight to set aside land in the Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove that would become one of America’s most iconic national parks,” Senators Boxer and Feinstein said. “This resolution honors that simple act 150 years ago, which protected Yosemite’s natural treasures for future generations to enjoy and helped launch the National Parks movement.”
On June 30, 1864, President Lincoln signed legislation enacted by Congress that established Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove as the first protected wild land for all time. A half century later, in 1890, the land around these two tracts was designated as Yosemite National Park. In 1906, at the urging of conservationist John Muir, President Roosevelt and state authorities combined Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove with Yosemite National Park.
As the first land grant to protect wild lands, the Yosemite Grant inspired the creation of more than 400 National Park units in the United States and hundreds more worldwide, including sister park relationships in foreign countries.
Yosemite National Park is home to spectacular waterfalls, deep valleys, grand meadows, ancient sequoias and vast swaths of wilderness. Yosemite receives more than 4 million visitors each year and has 1,504 campsites, two federally designated Wild and Scenic Rivers and more than 800 miles of trails. The national park has a landmass of 1,169 square miles, which is comparable to the size of Rhode Island, and has designated wilderness that covers more than 94 percent of the park.
In 2013, Senators Feinstein and Boxer and Congressman Jim Costa introduced the Yosemite National Park Boundary Expansion Act to modify and expand the park’s boundaries by 1,600 acres to help protect these vital areas from potential development.
5b. California Historical Society Exhibition
Yosemite: A Storied Landscape
Through January 25, 2015
The California Historical Society is hosting an exhibition, which it describes as follows:
In Yosemite, a cultural landscape of profound natural beauty, we find stories that are utterly surprising, funny, poignant, revealing, and sometimes tragic. On the 150th anniversary of the Yosemite Grant-in which President Lincoln dedicated the Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove “for public use, resort, and recreation… inalienable for all time”-the California Historical Society presents Yosemite: A Storied Landscape. This exhibition, enhanced eBook, and public event program brings these tales to people of all ages, uncovering a human history of Yosemite that is as complex and diverse as our state itself. Through artifacts, imagery, words, and multimedia features, these stories restore freshness, energy, and intimacy to an American icon bathed in myth.
The California Historical Society is located at 678 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. For more information, visit their website or call 415-357-1848.
5c. Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University
Carleton Watkins: The Stanford Albums
Through August 17
Stanford’s Cantor Center is hosting an exhibition of photos by Carleton Watkins, one of the earliest photographers of the West, which it describes as follows:
This exhibition of 83 breathtaking photographic prints by Carleton Watkins-America’s most influential 19th-century landscape photographer-celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Yosemite Grant of 1864. The prints, never before part of an exhibition, capture the beauty of the Northern Pacific Coast’s majestic wilderness sites as well as the dramatic transformation of isolated territories due to exploration, settlement, logging, and mining.
6. U.S. Supreme Court Issues Procedural
Ruling Against Drakes Bay Oyster Farm
This just in: The U.S. Supreme Court this morning declined to hear the Drakes Bay Oyster Company’s appeal regarding its request to remain open while its lawsuit against the Interior Department proceeds. The District Court had refused the company’s request for an injunction against it being forced to close, saying the business was unlikely to prevail in its case. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, and the company appealed to the Supreme Court, which turned it down without comment.
The ruling allows Drakes Bay Oysters to proceed with its lower court case, but doesn’t offer any guarantee that the company will be allowed to remain open. It’s not yet clear how either party will proceed.
IN THE PRESS & ELSEWHERE
7. Links to Articles and Other Items of Interest
If a link is broken or otherwise inaccessible, please send me an email.
A few national parks-related articles:
Outside Magazine: National Parks Are About to Get Way More Fun
and an excellent response from National Parks Traveler
An essay in National Parks Traveler on the responsibilities of a wildlife photographer
Video clips:
Another in the Park Service’s video series on wilderness: Wilderness Sand: Death Valley. Edward Abbey’s writing guides us from the desert metropolis to the desert wilderness.
Episode 3 in the Forest Service’s Restore series, looking at the Veterans Green Corps
The last word this month goes to The Onion.
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