Keeping Promises Update and Summary

Jun 28, 2024

Keeping Promises Update and Summary

Note: This blog post is a bit thick with detail, chronicling a record of Restore Hetch Hetchy’s written communications with the National Park Service since release of our Keeping Promises report. Peruse at your leisure, but it will take some time to digest the many attachments if you are interested.

When San Francisco pleaded with Congress for unprecedented authorization to dam and flood Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park, it promised and Congress expected that the area would welcome park visitors. Camping, boating and fishing would be available. There was no hint that the entrance to our national park would close daily, or that Hetch Hetchy would be the one area of Yosemite not served by public transportation.

Three years ago, Restore Hetch Hetchy published Keeping Promises: Providing Public Access to Hetch Hetchy Valley, Yosemite National Park, documenting these unmet expectations. Keeping Promises advocates for 5 key elements – camping, trails, boating, elimination of gate closures and public transportation, but other improvements are warranted as well.

As a result of these unkept promises, the Hetch Hetchy area receives barely one percent of Yosemite’s visitors, while a reservation system limits access to the rest of the park during much of the year.

Moreover, park visitors who are discouraged from going to Hetch Hetchy never see its granite monoliths and roaring waterfalls or learn its full story, and are thus less likely to support relocation of the reservoir and restoration of the valley to its natural splendor.

So, since publishing Keeping Promises, Restore Hetch Hetchy has met regularly with the National Park Service at Yosemite to advocate for improved access and additional recreational activities. These meetings have been friendly, cooperative and somewhat productive, but we have realized that more needs to be done to improve the visitor experience – even with the dam and reservoir in place.

Below is a chronological summary of our written correspondence with the National Park Service that has been interspersed with our meetings. We have asked for many improvements – some of which are good public policy and others required by law.

We are waiting for a promised written response to our assertion that certain current policies, including the prohibitions on boating and fishing and the daily gate closures are outside the law, violate the Raker Act and other laws. We are hoping very much that the National Park Service will willingly and enthusiastically make needed changes.

Below is a chronological record of (most of) our written correspondence over the past year.

  1. Group letter to Superintendent Muldoon re access etc. at Hetch Hetchy updated 2023-5-30 – A letter to the Yosemite Superintendent with names of 800 supporters who signed our petition.
  2. Restore Hetch Hetchy letter to YNP and SFPUC re 2023 MOA renewal 2023-06-19 – The MOA (Memorandum of Understanding) between San Francisco and the National park Service is renewed every four years, and reflects San Francisco’s obligation to pay for security and watershed protection at Hetch Hetchy. Restore Hetch Hetchy asserts that elements of the document go beyond what the Raker Act allows.
  3. Petition to Improve Public Access to the Hetch Hetchy Area of Yosemite National Park 2023-09-25 – Last September we filed a petition, in the form of a letter to Superintendent of Yosemite Cicely Muldoon, Director of the National Park Service Chuck Sams, Secretary of Interior Deborah Haaland and Interior Solicitor Robert Anderson. The Petition includes the elements of Keeping Promises as well as others such as handicap access and interpretation.
  4. Superintendent Muldoon letter to Restore Hetch Hetchy 2023-10-3 – The Superintendent’s response to our May letter.
  5. Restore Hetch Hetchy letter to NPS re proposed MOA with SFPUC 2024-1-24 – After meeting with the National Park Service in January, our concerns over renewal of its MOA with San Francisco were heightened. We also wrote to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, and have spoken publicly at Commission hearings on the issues, receiving hostile feedback from both staff and Commission members.
  6. 2024-02-27 RHH – MOA Response from NPS – The National Park Service replied to our January letter, explaining that it made some changes to the document based on our comments, but that it was proceeding with and expected to sign a new MOA as drafted. Restore Hetch Hetchy maintains that certain elements of the document, including any reference to San Francisco’s filtration exemption, are unwarranted and possibly illegal.
  7. Restore Hetch Hetchy letter to Yosemite NP re nonmotorized vessels 2024-4-8 – We thought it important to re-emphasize that we believe the prohibition on non-motorized vessels at Hetch Hetchy is illegal.
  8. Group letter to YNP re fishing at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir 2024-5-4 signed – Fishing groups and others agree that the NPS’ prohibition on access below the high water line, effectively prohibiting fishing, makes no sense and is not supported by law.
  9. Restore Hetch Hetchy letter to Yosemite NP re interpretation at Hetch Hetchy 2024-5-17 – We explain the many ways that information provided to visitors at Hetch Hetchy is insufficient and/or inaccurate. We assert the NPS has no business distributing San Francisco’s “brochure” – a piece of propaganda that includes unwarranted, misleading and inaccurate statements.
  10. Restore Hetch Hetchy letter to NPS regarding visitor restrictions at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir 2024-5-20 – While we appreciate working with the NPS, we are impatient with progress to date. This most recent letter makes our view of certain NPS legal obligations abundantly clear, stating in part “There is therefore no legal basis for restricting human-powered boating or fishing at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir based on water quality considerations. Nor do the Raker Act’s water quality restrictions provide authority for the National Park Service to limit access through the Hetch Hetchy entrance to Yosemite National Park.”

We are very much looking forward to the promised written response from the National Park Service, especially to our most recent letter, to continued constructive engagement to improve access at Hetch Hetchy, and to the ultimate restoration of the valley.