First, unimportant news. I am no longers in that hole of a place referred to as Washington DC. I might be back, but hopefully not. Hopefully I'll find my way back to San Francisco.
This gives me a good oportunity to commend Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger for his choice of the John Miur state quarter design. In my book, this gives Arnold a little bit of spare credibility that he can cash in on when he makes a poor decision later.
The world would be a worse place if John Muir had never found Yosemite. I'm an avid rock climber so Muir has had a tremendous impact on my life. A few years ago I spent the entire summer (shhh) in the Yosemite Valley clumbing and visiting the Mecca of modern rock climbing.
[editor's note, by jjayson] I come back here after being gone for almost two weeks, and all I find is a bunch of whining about "reign" versus "ring." Somebody remind me why I came back.
In 1892 John Muir cofounded the Sierra Club to protect the mountains and wilderness. The largest struggle he fought was to prevent the damning of the Tuolumne River and flooding of the Hetch Hetchy Valley. Muir likened the valley to the Yosemite Valley in its splendor. He said that if Yosemite didn't exist, Hetch Hetchy would have to be called Yosemite.
Muir convinced Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Taft of the need to protect Yosemite. However, when Woodrow Wilson became president, he appointed Franklin Lane as the Secretary of the Interior, the same Franklin Lane that was the San Francisco city attorney that submitted the original Hetch Hetchy dam proposal. Finally, in 1913 President Woodrow Wilson signed the Raker Act that permitted the city of San Francisco to build the O'Shaugnessy Dam, the "grave of Hetch Hetchy," and commit the largest act of vandalism of a national park. If any good came of it, it was that destruction of Hetch Hetchy caused a stronger push to prevent tampering with the national parks and uphold the 1864 act that called Yosemite "inalienable for all time."
In 1987 President Reagan's Secretary of the Interior Donald Hodel proposed deconstructing O'Shaugnessy Dam to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley. Of course the Sierra Club jumped to endorse the idea, continueing the struggle Muir started a century ago. Hodel's preliminary study asked a very important question: "In a world of diminishing natural resources, what is the highest use of the valley?" However the idea died after howls came from the Bay Area. Then mayor of San Francisco Diane Feinstein derided the idea, "All this is for an expanded campground? ... It's dumb, dumb, dumb."
Every few years the idea is raised again. Recently a bond was brought up to vote to maintain O'Shaugnessy Dam. It passed, and another opportunity was missed to restore Yosemite's sister valley.
"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, lift them to the Almighty Dollar. Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man." John Muir wrote in The Yosemite (1912)
Yosemite might just be the most beautiful place on Earth (and definitely the best national park -- anything east of Colorado doesn't really count anyways). From hanging on the side of El Capitan, it certain seems like you never want to leave. A few years ago I started fly fishing. I'd still rather be climbing, but pulling in a golden trout or catching a good rainbow to go toss on the fire and eat does have its moments. It would be terrible for the loss of any more of our national parks and forests.
The Sierra Club has a Hetchy Hetchy Restoration Task Force that is determined to find a win-win solution, and this is one of the reasons I find the Sierra Club far superior to the off-tilt Greenpeace (an organization that is even losing support from its cofounders). The Sierra Club may not waste time putting up banners outside of Macy's or on the Golden Gate Bridge, but it has real adults trying to find real solutions. Next time you meet a California congressperson, tell them to restore Hetch Hetchy. The water and electricity that comes from the flooded valley has a high price tag.