between those who wish to retain the dam and reservoir, and those who wish to drain the reservoir and return Hetch Hetchy Valley to its former state. Not far from there, youll find more budget-minded lodging at Buck Meadows Lodge. Hodel Would Tear Down Dam in Hetch Hetchy - Los Angeles Times Winter storms fill Hetch Hetchy, renew debate about reservoir's future Pinchot was Americas Forester. He served as the first head of the United States Forest Service. Hetch Hetchy's restoration, after all, will benefit national . The first people, outside of Native Americans, to see the Hetch Hetchy Valley were Joseph, Nate and William Screechin 1850. This option favors building a dam in the Hetch Hetchy Valley to provide hundreds of thou- sands of San Francisco residents with water and electricitybasic necessities for health and well-being, as well as urban development and economic growth. Yosemite's Hetch Hetchy Water Wars - Yosemite National Park Trips He said, So we come now face to face with the perfectly clean question of what is the best use to which this water that flows out of the Sierras can be put. As surely as forests provided timber, so did they provide beauty, inspiration, and the renewal of over-citified spirits. From the turn-off, the road winds for 16.5 miles up the old Hetch Hetchy railroad grade (26.5 km) to the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, passing many lonely trails along the way. In the 21st century, Ken Brower, son of the renown environmentalist David Brower, wrote a fascinating account of the failed campaign to save Hetch Hetchy and the modern effort to Reverse an American Mistake, complete with speculation about how the rebirth of a wild valley might evolve. These clean and comfortable rooms also enjoy access to the pool, spa and other facilities at Yosemite Westgate Lodge. But Hetch Hetchy, one of nature's perfect . Dam the Hetch Hetchy! But tearing OShaughnessy Dam down now in order to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley would be a disaster. 2023 Yosemite Mariposa County Tourism Bureau, Yosemite Itineraries: What to Do in Yosemite. It also was an early battle of conservatives vs progressives. One route begins six miles beyond the entrance station. Her poetic descriptions of Hetch hetchy won her the attention of powerful members of Congress. Residents drink it in 26 cities and water districts from San. That trip is a 19.1-mile (22.9 km) out and back, or you can turn the hike into a loop that returns past Rancheria Falls (28.2 miles, 45.4 km). It is definitely worth to visit Hetch Hetchy area especially in 2021 when main Yosemite area requires booking permits in advance. Denouncing dam proponents as greedy, he wrote, These temple destroyers, devotees of ravaging commercialism, seem to have a perfect contempt for Nature, and instead of lifting their eyes to the God of the Mountains, life them to the Almighty Dollar. Just before reaching the Bay Area, it passes through the Irvington tunnel near the city of Fremont, and the aqueduct splits into four pipelines at 373253N 1215555W / 37.548104N 121.932041W / 37.548104; -121.932041. Hetch Hetchy Environmental Debates | National Archives Hetch Hetchy Valley, far from being a plain, common, rock-bound meadow, as many who have not seen it seem to suppose, is a grand landscape garden, one of Nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples. Some hydro-power dams withhold and then release water to generate power for peak demand periods, which is particularly disruptive to migrating fish. As of October 2022, Hetch Hetchy was at 77.5% of its capacity. [53], As completed, O'Shaughnessy Dam is 910 feet (280m) long, spanning the valley at its narrow outlet. The inadequacy of the citys existing water supply came into sharp focus. The SFPUC tests its quality more than 100,000 times a year to ensure that it exceeds all safe drinking water standards. Richard Ballinger was a conservative who was one of the main characters who was responsible for the progressive-conservative split in the GOP in 1912 (leading to the creation of the Bull Moose party), which is the factor that determined the GOP would be on the right side of the political spectrum (and therefore ensuring the Democrats would be on the left side of the spectrum). Most importantly, San Francisco would lose its source of high-quality mountain water, and would have to depend on lower-quality water from other reservoirs which would require costly filtration and re-engineering of the aqueduct system to meet its needs. DWR also found that the planning studies necessary to refine the costs and benefits of restoration would cost $65 million alone. Instead, the magnificence of a valley often described as Yosemite Valleys slightly smaller twin takes center stage. Us too! The Sites Reservoir a $4.4 billion project to add dams and store more water that'll be sent south is still years away from completion. Congress would decide the fate of the Hetchy Hetchy Valley. John Muir knew that without public support, the Hetch Hetchy Valley would be lost. [2] The dam contains 675,000cuyd (516,000m3) of concrete. As a 13.4-mile (21.4 km) round-trip hike, Rancheria Falls gets fewer day-hikers than Wapama Falls but is a popular backpacking stop. Would there be any room in an acquisitive society for wildness, or for non material spiritual values?. It has not been demonstrated that Hetch Hetchy is the only available source, but only that it might be the cheapest. But what about when the lake dries? We can't help it either. [37][38] However, ranchers who had previously owned land in the new park continued their use of Hetch Hetchy Valley a "sheep-grazing free-for-all [that] threatened to denude the High Sierra meadows"[37] before disputes over state and private properties in respect to national park boundaries were finally settled in the early 1900s. He was a firm believer in utilitarian conservation. On a national stage, Hetch Hetchy became caught in the cross fire between the interests of private utilities ownership and those of municipal ownership. [64] Peter Byrne of SF Weekly has stated that "the plain language of the Raker Act itself and experts who are familiar with the act (and have no stake in city politics) all agree: The city of San Francisco is not in violation of the Raker Act. The Hetch Hetchy Road drops into the valley at the dam, but all points east of there are roadless, and accessible only to hikers and equestrians. In Yosemite National Park, the Hetch Hetchy reservoir relies on the annual snowmelt to stay full. [2] In continuance, water has a personality and the presence of it can change moods and help people feel better. And, as you might imagine, it produces some of the cleanest municipal water in the United States. For functional purposes, Hetch Hetchy was a promising solution to San Francisco's serious water shortages. The water winds between granite features like Kolana Rock and Hetch Hetchy Dome. [26], In the early 1850s, a mountain man by the name of Nathan Screech[27] became the first non-Native American to enter the valley. The maximum that the city has put away is 570,000 acre-feet of water. . Indeed, Hetch Hetchy today[when?] Hetch Hetchy Water and Power also wants to remove the giant bulkhead that seals up the tunnel with 40 nuts and bolts, Ritchie said. "[65] Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior in the late 1930s, said there was a violation of the Raker Act, but he and the city reached an agreement in 1945. We're not going to remove this dam, and the funding is unnecessary. Hetch Hetchy Valley Analysis - 1299 Words | Internet Public Library Worth a Dam? - Earth Island Journal Hetch Hetchy Quotes - Rausser College of Natural Resources The grassroots organization of environmental activism, established by John Muir and his supporters, became a model for future environmentalists. To begin the trail, cross the dam and pass through the tunnel. SF's Hetch Hetchy water system is almost full. Is that a good thing? "[61][62], The battle over Hetch Hetchy Valley continues today[when?] Guests at these suites receive breakfast on their patios. Historians of the American conservation movement regard Pinchot as the foremost exemplar of the utilitarian approach to conservation, according to which man has a right to use natural resources, but also an obligation to use them wisely and efficientlyor as the classic criterion put it, the greatest good for the greatest number over the long run. As applied to forests and espoused by Pinchot, this meant that the nations forest reserves ought not to be maintained as inviolate sanctuaries, but opened to enlightened management.. During summer, people of the Miwok and Paiute came to Hetch Hetchy from the Central Valley in the west and the Great Basin in the east. The reservoir supplies water for the city of San Francisco, so there is no recreational boating or swimming allowed. Hetch-22 | Ethics: Climate Change - Galen Hiltbrand Apply Today! [39], Interest in using the valley as a water source or reservoir dates back as far as the 1850s, when the Tuolumne Valley Water Company proposed developing water storage there for irrigation. Use good judgment and stay safe. A Trip to Hetch Hetchy and the O'Shaughnessy Dam As the Hetch Hetchy Valley was part of Yosemite National Park, Hitchcock preferred to protect the park's natural wonders. This strenuous 2.5-mile, round-trip hike to the Tuolumne River has 1,229 feet of elevation gain. In terms of quality, Hetch Hetchy water is so pristine that it is one of only a handful of water supplies in the country that doesnt need to be filtered, a process that is expensive and energy intensive. [75] The remaining deficit would likely have to be replaced by polluting fossil fuel generation. Spring snowmelt runs down the Tuolumne River and fills Hetch Hetchy, the largest reservoir in our water system. Hours: Year-round, but only accessible by car when the Hetch Hetchy Road is open. Hetch Hetchy Reservoir (Yosemite National Park) - Tripadvisor The O'Shaughnessy Dam is 430-foot (131 m) high made of concrete and it is named after engineer Michael O'Shaughnessy, who oversaw the entire construction. This can be very disorienting to fish and disrupt their migrations as they depend on steady streams and flows to guide them. [66] In 2015, Restore Hetch Hetchy filed a complaint arguing that the construction of the dam had violated a provision in the constitution of California about water use, but the lawsuit was rejected by an appeals court and later the California State Supreme Court. San Francisco assumed from the outset that there would not be significant opposition to using the Hetch Hetchy Valley, even if it was in a national park, for the high and noble purpose of providing water to one of the nations great and growing metropolises, so their efforts in Washington, DC, were conducted discreetly. For example, plan to stop at the Lucky Buck Cafe on your way to or from a day of exploring Yosemite. Muir predicted that this lake would create an unsightly "bathtub ring" around its perimeter, caused by the water's destruction of lichen growth on the canyon walls,[44] which would inevitably be visible at low lake levels. The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir also serves to provide energy in the form of hydroelectricity, with a capacity of over 200 megawatts a year. What should be the fate of prairies, wetlands, or coastal marshes? The San Francisco Bulletin printed a Dec. 1, 1913, story calling the bills opponents a crowd ofnature lovers and fakers, who are waging a sentimental campaign to preserve the Hetch Hetchy Valley as a public playground, a purpose for which it has never been used.. Hetch Hetchy, unlike other water storage facilities in California, is relatively buffered from near-term climate change because of its high elevation. No picture of the giant sequoia trees in Yosemite National Park manages to fully capture their immense size and majesty. The trail includes spectacular views of Tueeulala and Wapama Falls. There is a third concept, too, though it was little understood at the time. It is the source of water for the city of San Francisco. Once again, the political pendulum had swung. John Muir, the first president of the Sierra Club, condemned plans to build the dam, saying, "Dam Hetch Hetchy! Even if we could obtain the several billion dollars necessary to carry out this endeavor (neither private nor public sources have yet been identified) some of the tasks involved may not even be possible. The proposed study would also have been required to identify potential replacements for the water storage capacity and hydroelectric power production.[87][88]. The walls of both are of gray granite, rise abruptly out of the flowery grass and groves are sculptured in the same style, and in both every rock is a glacial monument., (Source: Journal of Sierra Nevada History & Biography, Hetch-Hetchy, Natural History Before The Dam, Joe Medeiros), In defense of Hetch Hetchy, Muir crafted some of his most famous prose. And in a larger sense, the waters of California served as the converting agents. A bigger population will increase demand, meanwhile climate change could significantly reduce supply through drought and hydrological cycle changes. As well dam for water-tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been . Hetch Hetchy doesn't require permit, you need just regular National park pass. Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite Valley are so similar because they were created by the same sequences of geological activity. This limits their ability to access spawning habitat, seek out food resources, and escape predation. The glacial Hetch Hetchy Valley lies in the northwestern part of Yosemite National Park and is drained by the Tuolumne River. Seventeen species of bats inhabit the Hetch Hetchy area, including the largest North American bat, the western mastiff. Monroe was a Chicago poet who joined Muir and others on their 1908 and 1909 outings to the valley. No BS! Hetch Hetchy: Pros and Cons of Restoration - Yosemite Tales Third, dams alter natural habitats and change the ways in which rivers function. The Hetch Hetchy Road drops into the valley at the dam, but all points east of there are roadless, and accessible only to hikers and equestrians. The privately owned Spring Valley Water Company had required its customers to pay exorbitant rates for years. Show More. [54] The entire system produces about 1.7 billion kilowatt hours per year, enough to meet 20% of San Francisco's electricity needs. [9] Formerly, a "small but noisy"[10] waterfall and natural pool existed on the Tuolumne River marked the upper entrance to Hetch Hetchy Valley,[11] informally known as Tuolumne Fall (not to be confused with a similarly named waterfall several miles upriver near Tuolumne Meadows). Each switchback reveals scenic overlooks of the reservoir and Kolana Rock. The entire valley is now flooded under an average 300ft (91m) of water behind the dam, although it occasionally reemerges in droughts, as it did in 1955, 1977, and 1991. [12] During the last glacial period, the Tioga Glacier[13] formed from extensive icefields in the upper Tuolumne River watershed; between 110,000 and 10,000 years ago Hetch Hetchy Valley was sculpted into its present shape by repeated advance and retreat of the ice, which also removed extensive talus deposits that may have accumulated in the valley since the Sherwin period. Healthy fish populations - by releasing sufficient instream flows for spawning and rearing downstream - sometimes to mitigate for the loss of spawning habitat caused by their construction, and Hydroelectric power generated from the Hetch Hetchy project is largely sold to Bay Area customers through a private power company, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). Gray pine, incense-cedar, and California black oak grow in abundance. Divide the class into four small groups. Park entry (as needed). (Read SPURs analysis of this plan.) Hetch Hetchy - Wikipedia It has two trailhead options. At the time, neither side understood the long-range consequences of human actions to manage the environment. They would light upon a man's blue shirt and turn it brown, and were voracious as mosquitoes would be. Animals were principally driven along Joseph Screech's trail from Big Oak Flat to Hetch Hetchy. Mirror Lakes famous spring-time reflections capture the eye and mind. The O'Shaughnessy Dam is near Yosemite's western boundary, but the long, narrow, fingerlike reservoir stretches eastward for about 8 miles (13km). [5] Chief Tenaya of the Yosemite Valley's Ahwaneechee tribe claimed that Hetch Hetchy was Miwok for "Valley of the Two Trees", referring to a pair of yellow pines that once stood at the head of Hetch Hetchy. [8] Rancheria Falls is located farther southeast, on Rancheria Creek. In: Educational Resources, History, National Parks, Your email address will not be published. As we learned from Rachel Carsons Silent Spring, humankind can damage the environment while attempting to control it. Hetch Hetchy water serves residents in four Bay Area counties, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Southern Alameda. It would be almost impossible to build a new dam there today. OShaughnessy Dam and the waterworks that connect it to the Bay Area are a marvel of engineering. Before damming, the high granite formations produced a valley with an average depth of 1,800ft (550m) and a maximum depth of over 3,000ft (910m); the length of the valley was 3mi (4.8km) with a width ranging from .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}18 to 12 mile (660 to 2,640ft; 200 to 800m). [45], The controversy over Hetch Hetchy was in the context of other political scandals and controversies, especially prevalent in the Taft administration. If you love that insider feeling of discovering an often-overlooked gem, plan a stop at Buck Meadows on your way to or from Hetch Hetchy. Utilizing its superior resources, the city produced a detailed report which made a compelling case that, far from damaging the beauty of Yosemite, the dam would actually enhance it. This time, in favor of those who wanted to build the dam. The . She says the water first leaves Hetch Hetchy through the O'Shaughnessy Dam. Wapama and Rancheria Falls Looking up at Wapama Falls from the footbridge on the hiking trail. List what negative externalities are associated with the construction This is why environmental impact statements, which were not required prior to 1969, are so important today. [40] By the 1880s, San Francisco was looking to Hetch Hetchy water as a fix for its outdated and unreliable water system. This was likely because of Hetch Hetchy's narrow outlet, which in years of heavy snowmelt created a bottleneck in the Tuolumne River and the subsequent flooding of the valley floor. August 14 Hetch Hetchy Began Producing Power (1925) - Today in The landscape painter Bierstadt, who brought his German Romantic training to the valley in 1862, gave the world an even larger portrait, and one in extravagant color, that photographers could not match on any scale. Controversy continues to swirl around the Hetch Hetchy Dam even now. But how did the dam get to be here? Second, the sanctity of the national parks which they believed should not be violated. "Dam Hetch Hetchy!": John Muir Contests the Hetch-Hetchy Dam [31] Its meadows provided abundant feed for "thousands of head of sheep and cattle that entered lean and lank in the spring, but left rolling fat and hardly able to negotiate the precipitous and difficult defiles out of the mountains in the fall. As in Yosemite, the sublime rocks of its walls seem to glow with life . There are thousands of dams in the United States. The Hetch Hetchy watershed, an area located in Yosemite National Park, is the major source of water for all of San Francisco's water needs. As well dam for water-tanks the peoples cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man . Said San Francisco resident William Denman in 1918, "The first time I went into the Hetch Hetchy the mosquitoes were intolerable. The Hetch Hetchy Valley is a part of Yosemite National Park. The trail to Wapama Falls is one of the most popular trails in the Hetch Hetchy area for a good reason. Monroe went on to lobby members of Congress as the battle moved to Washington D.C. She was a tireless advocate who believed that people needed to be educated in order to do what was best for everyone involved. Without Hetch Hetchy as its primary reservoir, San Francisco will be forced to pump and filter its water for the first time in a century, and lose out on the 726 million kilowatt-hours produced by . In November 2012, San Francisco voters soundly rejected Proposition F,[86] which would have required the city to conduct an $8 million study on how the flooded valley could be drained and restored to its former state. The dam was then 227 feet (69m) high; its present height of 312 feet (95m) was achieved only later, in 1938. The Great Alaskan Land Fraud and the Pinchot-Ballinger Controversy caused both Richard A. Ballinger and Gifford Pinchot to resign and be fired respectively. Furthermore, they provided a place for the wild plants and creatures to live out their own lives, according to their purposes. Expect delicious meals and hearty portions to fuel your adventure or beat that post-hiking hunger. The water from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is used to supply system customers as well as to generate hydroelectric power; the reservoir is also operated to provide instream flows to benefit fisheries and other wildlife. Teams completed the OShaughnessy Dam in 1923 and the reservoir filled for the first time in May of that year. San Francisco Mayor James Phelan led the fight to build a dam at Hetch Hetchy. You could then scuba ElCapitan down to the valley floor. Hetch Hetchy Valley, dammed and flooded in the 1920s despite bitter opposition from Sierra Club founder John Muir, provides drinking water for an estimated 2 million people in the San Francisco . Have all students read the debate overview and page one of the HR 7207, the "Raker Bill". The chief replied, There is no valley. [61] In 2018, the Department of the Interior of the Trump administration began to consider a proposal to allow limited boating on the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir for the first time, supported by the advocacy group Restore Hetch Hetchy which argued that "San Francisco received [Hetch Hetchy's] benefits long ago, but the American people have not. These are called Bay Division Pipelines (BDPL) 1, 2, 3, and 4, with nominal pipeline diameters of 60, 66, 78, and 96 inches (1.5, 1.7, 2.0 and 2.4m, respectively). Why We Need Hetch Hetchy More Than Ever | SPUR Visitors might still need chains to get down Evergreen Road this time of year, but a trip to Hetch Hetchy reveals an example of the potent storms, and a reservoir of controversy for 100 years. This trail is 13 miles round-trip with 3,700 feet elevation gain. You may take easy hike to Wapama falls ( around 6 miles) or even more challenging hike to Rancheria falls ( around 14 miles). To get the electricity they would need, they first built a smaller dam at Lake Eleanor. [5] The valley was slowly becoming known for its natural beauty, but it was never a popular tourist destination because of extremely poor access and the location of the famous Yosemite Valley just twenty miles to the south. Some of these studies determined that the idea of draining the reservoir was technically feasible but incredibly costly. 406 California Historical Landmark)", "John Muir's Yosemite: The father of the conservation movement found his calling on a visit to the California wilderness", "Timeline of the Ongoing Battle Over Hetch Hetchy", "The Hetch Hetchy Letters: If a Group of Intellectuals Argues in a Forest, and then that Forest is Submerged Under Water, Does Their Argument Matter? The chief began packing up and, when Nate asked him why, he replied, The valley is yours now., Far below them, the river cascaded into a peaceful valley floor, a heavenly setting similar to that of the main Yosemite Valley. But the ultra-liberal President Woodrow Wilson signed off in 1913 on the multi-decade construction of a series of dams within Yosemite National Park that flooded Hetch Hetchy Valley to create a massive reservoir, hydroelectric plants, and a 167-mile aqueduct for the sole benefit of the City of San Francisco. . For John Muir, it was about preserving a natural wonder which could be enjoyed by generations to come. The new 68-mile (109 km) railroad wound its way up the narrow canyon of the Tuolumne River past sharp curves and up steep 4% grades. Amid a worsening drought, water supplies at one important reservoir are