Yosemite National Park is in McClintock’s District
Congressman Tom McClintock has re-introduced the Yosemite National Park Equal Access and Fairness Act, a bill that would allow non-motorized boating, swimming and camping at Hetch Hetchy as well as increase San Francisco’s “rent” for use of the national park.
McClintock’s bill presents an exciting opportunity. Restore Hetch Hetchy is prepared to help build bipartisan support for increased access to the glacier-carved Hetch Hetchy canyon. The bill would provide substantial benefits in the near term as well as inspire visitors to support relocation of the reservoir and restoration of the extraordinary valley.
The bill would also increase San Francisco’s “rent” immediately from $30,000 per year to $2,000,000 per year. A subsequent increase could be much greater as the proposal directs the Department of Interior to consider an increase in rent by the value of foregone recreation had the valley never been flooded.
Many of the recommendations from Restore Hetch Hetchy’s 2021 report – Keeping Promises: Providing Public Access to Hetch Hetchy Valley, Yosemite National Park – are embodied in the bill.
(In addition to $30,000 in rent, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission currently pays Yosemite National Park about $8,000,000 per year in watershed protection and security costs out of its $1,300,000,000 operating budget.)
It’s rewarding to see that research by Restore Hetch Hetchy and others has paid off. The legislation reflects findings of at least three recent reports:
- Keeping Promises: Providing Public Access to Hetch Hetchy Valley, Yosemite National Park, Restore Hetch Hetchy, 2021
- The Dam Rent Is Too Low, Property and Environmental Research Center, 2020
- Valuing Hetch Hetchy: Economic Benefits of Restoration in Yosemite National Park, ECONorthwest (commissioned by Restore Hetch Hetchy), 2019
Restore Hetch Hetchy hopes to see a robust discussion of the merits of the proposed legislation and that we will be able to play a helpful and meaningful role in the months ahead.
Restore Hetch Hetchy is not naïve. We understand that this proposed legislation will be embroiled in a larger political debate. We will, as we always have, stay focused on the merits. Hetch Hetchy, Yosemite, and all our national parks, are too important to do otherwise.
The proposed legislation will not deter us from working cooperatively with the National Park Service, so we are still collecting signatures on our letter to Superintendent Muldoon with an updated list of signatories (without addresses and emails), and we expect to meet again with Muldoon and staff in a few months. In addition, we plan to in coming months to file a petition for increased access with the Department of Interior.
If you have not signed the letter to Superintendent Muldoon, please do so now by clicking on the letter below.
Our vision – returning to the people Yosemite Valley’s lost twin, Hetch Hetchy – 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 – remains the same. Increasing access and recreation is an important and necessary step toward restoration.