Editor,
I lived in Yosemite Valley from 1958 until 1971. When my family first moved there, the Valley was a robust, visitor friendly destination with a great number of visitors from Memorial Day until Labor Day.
After the summer months, not so much, except for ski season. The original concessionaires, Yosemite Park and Curry Company, ran a well oiled machine which served the park well. High Sierra Camps in the summer, skiing and ice skating in the winter. Facilities were well maintained by a rather sizable staff and a large contingent of seasonal employees, mostly college youngsters.
Likewise, the park service served the public well by maintaining campgrounds, roads and trails, water and sewer, as well as interpretive programs, such ranger presentations at campgrounds.
In short, Yosemite, was one of the crown jewels of the National Park Service. So much so that it became over-crowded in the summer, and a year-round destination with the advent of the bus-em-in system.
Thus the infamous Yosemite Valley traffic dilemma began in the early 70s.
The NPS came up with a plan to try and alleviate this horrible problem after decades of non action: the reservation system. Guess what? It worked!
It was in place for only the summer months. Oh, it needed improvement, but the framework for easing horrible jams was in place.
Low and behold, Congressman McClintock declares that the reservation system was an abject failure and ruined the visitor experience. I could disassemble his well written diatribe paragraph by paragraph, but instead, let me allude to one paragraph in which he cites the Yosemite Grant Act of 1864, quoting that the property would be used for “public use, resorts and recreation.”
This is not the mission of the National Park Service, which your administration is attempting to disassemble and replace with private interests. Further, the current concessionaire is a disaster.
High Sierra Camps closed and just look at the Wawona Hotel! It may never open again. Aramark’s contract was canceled at Crater Lake National Park a couple of years ago and the same should be done in Yosemite.
A couple of years ago, my son and I left my house in Ahwahnee at 6:30 a.m. on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend to visit the Big Trees and Chilnualna Fall in Wawona.
We left around noon and the line for visitors ran for almost 10 miles to Batterson Ranger station; that my friends, is not Hassle Free Yosemite.
Regressing back to overcrowding and eliminating vital services will not enhance the enjoyment of one of the nation’s most treasured natural resources. Voting Tom McClintock and his cronies out of office has a better chance of doing that.
Tom Allcock
Ahwahnee
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