Thanks to all who support restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park.
A few reminders about the our historic campaign:
- The damming of Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy is the only time in our nation’s history that we allowed a city to develop a national park. Less than three years after Congress passed the Raker Act allowing Hetch Hetchy to be dammed, it passed the National Park Service Act, helping to ensure that such destruction would never again be allowed.
- Damming Hetch Hetchy turned the Sierra Club from an outing club into a political organization, and set the stage for the broader environmental movement in place today.
- Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is one of nine storage tanks operated by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. Studies by the U.S. Government, UC Davis, the Environmental Defense Fund, Restore Hetch Hetchy and others have all shown the water supply function of the reservoir can be replaced.
- Environmentally destructive dams are being removed across the country and in California on the Klamath, Eel and other rivers.
- Experts predict that one day a San Francisco politician will wake up and say “This is the right thing to do … this is going to will be one of the world’s most amazing restoration projects.”
- The National Park Service reports that the valley would come back rather quickly once the reservoir is emptied.
- Restoring Hetch Hetchy gives us the chance to get it right – to create a visitor friendly experience without the congestion and traffic that too often diminishes the visitor experience in Yosemite Valley. A restored Hetch Hetchy will be a majestic glacier-carved valley with towering cliffs and waterfalls, an untamed place where river and wildlife run free, a new kind of national park.
The removal of Copco 2 (inset) and other Klamath dams will help restore the river’s health and salmon populations.
It’s with your support that we are able to create change. If you’d like to make a contribution to Restore Hetch Hetchy, you can do so online or by mail to the address below:
Restore Hetch Hetchy
3286 Adeline Street
Suite #7
Berkeley, CA 94703
Tax identification number: # 77-0551533