by Spreck | Jul 18, 2026 | Uncategorized
Yosemite National Park’s Hetch Hetchy Valley is perhaps the best known example of a spectacular landscape that was initially protected but subsequently developed.
Threats to protected lands continue. On Monday, July 13, President Donald Trump signed Executive Orders reducing the size of The Escalante – Grand Staircase and Bears Ears National Monuments.
The damming of Hetch Hetchy was accomplished through legislative means – when Congress passed the Raker Act. (Shenanigans were at play – William Randolph Hearst and his San Francisco Examiner were later successfully sued for libeling engineer Taggart Aston for daring to advocate for an alternative water project.)
President Trump intends to reduce the national monuments with a mere stroke of the pen. It seems doubtful that his action is legal, but we won’t know for certain until the actions are adjudicated by the courts.
President Trump’s Executive orders, if upheld, would reduce the size of the monuments by more than 2,500,000 acres.
Lawsuits quickly followed Trump’s actions. The Bears Ears Commission (Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Zuni Tribe, and the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation), Earthjustice and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance oppose the order and President’s legal authority to issue it. The order is supported by the State of Utah and local county governments.
At both monuments, there is a basic conflict between preserving natural landscapes and developing lands for mining coal and uranium. (Claims of opening access for hunting & fishing appear to have limited or no merit.) A fundamental unresolved issue, lingering for more than a century, is what right, if any, a President has to reduce the size of a national monument.
The primary purpose of the (very short) Antiquities Act, passed in 1906, was to give President Theodore Roosevelt power to prevent the looting of indigenous artifacts at Mesa Verde in Colorado. Roosevelt used the act to designate 18 monuments in all. Some, including the Grand Canyon and Mount Olympus, were later designated as national parks by Congress.
President Clinton designated the Escalante – Grand Staircase in 1996. Bears Ears is more recent and is the site of a tug-of-war between administrations over the last decade
Mexican Hat, the famous rock formation, and nearby namesake hamlet lie just outside of Bears Ears.
- In 2015, the five sovereign nations formally united to form the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, and petitioned the federal government to protect 1.9 million acres of land from looting, vandalism, and resource extraction.
- 2016, President Barack Obama used the 1906 Antiquities Act to establish Bears Ears National Monument, initially protecting roughly 1.35 million acres and establishing a tribal commission to manage the land directly with federal agencies.
- In 2017, President Trump signed an executive order reducing the monuments to 201,876 acres and splitting it into two smaller units: Indian Creek and Shash Jáa.
- In 2021, President Joe Biden restored the boundaries to 1.36 million acres and reinstated the joint-management partnership between the federal government and tribal nations.
- In 2026, President Trump scaled back the boundaries a second time, shrinking the monument to 121,100 acres, intending to open the area to mining – primarily coal and uranium.
Restore Hetch Hetchy is keenly aware that it is harder to restore a landscape once developed than to prevent development in the first place. As we have seen with a variety of dam removals, however, riverine environments come back quickly – a prospect that is truly inspiring for us.
Undoing the effects of large scale mining in southern Utah’s spectacular canyons, however, may not be possible. That’s why it makes sense for a law like the Antiquities Act to allow a President to protect an area but not to develop it. If development is truly warranted, let it survive the deliberative legislative process.
The language of the Antiquities Act does not provide any mechanism for reducing the size of a national monument. President Woodrow Wilson did, however, substantially reduce the size of Mt. Olympus National Monument (now Olympic National Park) in 1915, citing “The Great War” as rationale – but that and the handful of other reductions in the 20th century were never challenged.
Trump’s legal argument rests on the phrase “the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected” in Section 2 of the Antiquities Act. His previous attempt to reduce the monuments, in 2017, however, were rebuked by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.
We hope the courts will continue to rule in favor of protecting public lands and further that Congress will respect and honor the wonderful landscapes of southern Utah and the local tribes who have lived there for millennia.
By the way, if you haven’t explored southern Utah, do it. The sandstone canyons, mountains and rivers are truly phenomenal.
Cathedral Valley in Capitol Reef National Park – one of the plethora of treasures in southern Utah
by Spreck | Jul 4, 2026 | Uncategorized
It’s hard not to think about public lands and our national parks as we celebrate our nation’s sesquicentennial. They are an essential and special part of who we are. The words of author Wallace Stegner come to mind:
“National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.”
Stegner is right. We, the people, cherish all 63 of our national parks, from sea to shining sea.
Yosemite’s towering granite cliffs and thundering waterfalls. Paddling a canoe past flamingos in the Everglades. Sandstone collected over the eons, carved to perfection by a mighty Colorado River into the Grand Canyon. Yellowstone, teeming with Buffalo, Elk, and Moose amid geysers spewing steam from underground volcanos. Lush forests and perennial wildflowers in the Great Smoky Mountains atop Appalachia’s crest.
As we know it today, our National Park System emerged from the ashes of a nationwide debate over whether to preserve Yosemite National Park’s Hetch Hetchy Valley or allow San Francisco to dam and flood the valley as part of an improved water system.
By the early 20th century, Congress had created a handful of national parks. They were run separately with no common vision. There was no such thing as a Ranger; parks were often patrolled by the U.S. Army. Early advocates proposed the creation of a single agency to manage and protect our national parks. Pro-development forces, including forester Gifford Pinchot, opposed the idea, fearing harm would befall the timber industry.
Conflict over Hetch Hetchy, and by extension all of America’s national parks, came to a head in 1913. After being rebuffed by Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, San Francisco saw an opportunity with the newly elected Woodrow Wilson
The City was determined. The City pushed hard in Congress, and labeled opponents “nature lovers and fakers … who wage a sentimental campaign”. A local newspaper ridiculed naturalist John Muir by dressing him in women’s clothes, trying in vain to sweep away the Hetch Hetchy “flood”.
The “nature lovers” pushed back, generating more than 200 editorials in newspapers across the land which opposed the destruction Yosemite National Park for “parochial” interests. Debate captivated the U.S. Senate for 6 days in early December. San Francisco prevailed in the end, and built the O’Shaughnessy Dam. Our national consciousness, however, had been raised forever.
Less than three years later, a remorseful Congress passed the “Organic” Act, creating the National Park Service and ensuring that our parks would be managed as a national system. Subsequent proposals to build dams in Yellowstone in the 1930s and the Grand Canyon in the 1950s were defeated. No significant development has been allowed in any of our national parks over the last 100 years.
America’s model of preserving spectacular landscapes has been copied around the world, and now includes places like Tanzania’s Serengeti, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands. Since 1916, National Park Service Rangers have protected our own parks for us, for our children, and for generations to come.
Moreover, Muir’s activism gave birth to the modern environmental movement. Today, we recycle. We conserve water. We support public transportation. We regulate forestry and commercial fishing to keep industries sustainable. And we are investing heavily in alternative energy sources as we try to keep global temperatures from rising. We do these things hoping that the world our grandchildren inherit will look like the one we know now – or perhaps even a bit better.
Even as the conservation movement has become so many different things, our national parks are more popular than ever. Visit them and you will not only find your own countrymen, but citizens from countries around the world, many of which did not have the foresight to preserve some of their own very special places.
Hetch Hetchy’s legacy in American history is undeniable. Author Robert Righter got it right in the subtitle of his 2006 book, The Battle over Hetch Hetchy: America’s Most Controversial Dam and the Birth of Modern Environmentalism.
From day one, Restore Hetch Hetchy has always understood that returning Hetch Hetchy Valley to its natural splendor requires a plan that continues to meet the water and power needs of all communities which rely on the Tuolumne. Restore Hetch Hetchy and others have completed extensive analyses of what changes to the water system would be necessary. We are confident that not one drop of water supply need be lost.
Today, demand is down and the City’s other reservoirs obviate the need to store water in Hetch Hetchy Valley. Moreover, San Francisco has eschewed investments in groundwater banking, recycling and local reservoirs that other California water agencies have successfully pursued in recent decades. The City simply remains opposed to restoration.
Restore Hetch Hetchy has long sought to work cooperatively with San Francisco – to no avail. We are asking therefore Congress to engage the City – to initiate substantive discussion of the opportunity for restoration. After all, Congress permitted Hetch Hetchy Valley to be flooded before we really understood the importance of our national parks and when water supply options were fewer. Times have changed. There is a plethora of options for replacing the dam and reservoir in Hetch Hetchy Valley.
Imagine another Yosemite Valley – perhaps one with fewer roads and shops. Families picnicking along the river as they watch a valley return to life. Restoration inspiring communities across America and around the world. We do not need to live with mistakes of the past.
What better way to celebrate our nation’s natural heritage than to undo the destruction done to Yosemite and to return Hetch Hetchy Valley to the American people?
Happy 4th of July to all. If you have not had the opportunity to sign our petition, please do so. Showing support is important.
Spreck Rosekrans, Executive Director
by Spreck | Jun 4, 2026 | Uncategorized
Our Spring Newsletter has been delivered to mailboxes and is posted online. If you have not received a hard copy but would like one – send an email to admin@hetchhetchy.org. Read about the follow up with elected officials to our Cherry Report, our early May trip to Hetch Hetchy, and our work with the National Park Service to improve access at Hetch Hetchy.
A bit more about fishing at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. We’d heard rumors that access at Hetch Hetchy for fishing would likely be allowed before we wrote the newsletter, but we did not know when it might happen (the government can take a while to make changes). As we have noted, fishing itself was never explicitly prohibited – rather going below the high water mark of the reservoir was prohibited. So it was not possible to fish in any practical sense for most of the year.
The San Francisco Chronicle published a provocatively titled article about these new rules for fishing in Yosemite: Yosemite National Park’s permissive new fishing policies spark controversy. The article is really two stories. The first story is about the possibility that year round access will lead to overfishing. The second story, which includes some nice quotes from our friend David Gregory of Yosemite Outfitters, involves allowing access to Hetch Hetchy Reservoir for the first time.
We hope park visitors can now climb over the rocks to reservoir’s edge and catch some nice trout. The real fishing, however, will not take place in the reservoir but rather in the Tuolumne River when the reservoir is relocated and the valley is restored.
Also, if you support restoring Hetch Hetchy to its natural splendor, please do not forget to sign our petition. We plan to share a long list of signatures with our elected officials!
by Spreck | May 30, 2026 | Uncategorized
Last week, the National Park Service announced changes in fishing regulations throughout Yosemite, notably including opening Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to anglers. Hurrah!
Photo: Phil Akers, MyOutdoorBuddy.com
Superintendent Ray McPadden explained “Visitors can now enjoy fishing throughout the year, including in areas like Hetch Hetchy, with regulations that are easier to understand and more consistent with state guidelines.”
Fishing the reservoir is clearly something Congress expected when it passed the Raker Act, authorizing its construction a century ago. The change is most welcome, coming almost exactly two years after we joined with 24 organizations and businesses to urge the Park Service to allow fishing at Hetch Hetchy. It is always great to work with partners:
Aspen Outdoor Management Services ◊ California Sportfishing Protection Alliance Echo Cooperative ◊ Evergreen Lodge, Rush Creek Lodge & Firefall Ranch ◊ Fly Fisherman Magazine ◊ Friends of the River ◊ Merced Fly Fishers ◊ Nesporado Fly Fishing ◊ Northern California Council, Fly Fishers International Pasadena Casting Club ◊ Restore Hetch Hetchy ◊ Santa Barbara Fly Fishers ◊ Santa Cruz Fly Fishing Club ◊ Sierra Nevada Alliance ◊ Sonora Fly Company ◊ Stanislaus Fly Fishers ◊ Tight Line Therapy ◊ Trout Unlimited ◊ Trout Unlimited Central Sierra Chapter ◊ Tuolumne River Trust ◊ Yosemite Fly Fishing ◊ Yosemite Fly Fishing Guides ◊ Yosemite Adventure Guides ◊ Yosemite Outfitters
The official change in regulations is described in the Superintendent’s Compendium.
This previous Compendium language was deleted: Public access is prohibited below the high water mark of Hetch Hetchy reservoir, an elevation of 3796 feet (see the High Water Mark map in the appendix). This includes a prohibition on bathing, swimming within 1 mile of any tributary directly flowing into the reservoir. This restriction is necessary to maintain the high quality of water found in the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir as a clean municipal drinking water source free from microbial pathogens and other contaminants.
This language was added to the new Compendium:
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- Fishing from the top of O’Shaughnessy Dam is prohibited.
- Visitors engaged in fishing at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir must limit bodily contact with water. Wading, swimming, or other bodily contact with the water (other than using one’s hands to retrieve or release fish) is prohibited.
Many anglers will still prefer stream fishing to reservoir fishing. Others will be drawn to this new opportunity, wondering what fish and what size of fish might be lurking in the water.
If you fish the reservoir, let us know – and send pictures. And please, while fishing Hetch Hetchy and elsewhere, be good stewards: obey the law and do not leave anything behind.
At Restore Hetch Hetchy, we are pleased as punch that fishing is allowed – now all 38 of California’s reservoirs which hold more than 200,000 acre-feet of water allow fishing.
We are far from done advocating for improved access at Hetch Hetchy (as we also advocate for the reservoir’s relocation and the valley’s restoration). Hetch Hetchy is still the only of these large reservoirs that does not allow boating – the reason is not water quality as the Compendium states but management concerns and perhaps San Francisco’s opposition. There is also still the issue of allowing camping at Hetch Hetchy as well as improving trails.
But let’s take a moment to savor progress to date and thank the National Park Service for listening!
by Spreck | May 23, 2026 | Uncategorized
Photo: Roger Williams, Restore Hetch Hetchy Board Chair. Click here for high resolution version.
We asked Probolsky Research to add a Hetch Hetchy question to a statewide poll conducted in early May – the very same question we asked in 2019. We like the results!
Restoration supporters outnumber opponents by almost 4 to 1!
Our challenge is to convert this broad public support into support among our elected officials. We will be sure to share these results.
The question was preceded by a brief explanation, and asked as shown below:
Question: California’s Yosemite National Park once included two glacier-carved valleys – Yosemite Valley along the Merced River and Hetch Hetchy Valley along the Tuolumne River. In 1913, Congress allowed San Francisco to dam Hetch Hetchy Valley and turn it into a reservoir for the City.
Should Yosemite National Park’s Hetch Hetchy Valley be restored, if it can be accomplished without impacting San Francisco’s water supply?
We asked the question with a bit of trepidation. How might people respond? Are they still positive about the visionary opportunity for restoration? Or are people in sour moods, perhaps after following a series of generally negative gubernatorial debates which have dwelt on serious challenges that California faces. Would respondents still favor the positive vision of returning Hetch Hetchy Valley to its natural splendor?
Our fears were assuaged. Every demographic measured by the Probolsky folks support restoration, with relatively little variation.
The results are very similar to what respondents said in 2019. More than 60% of California’s population continue to favor restoration. The most obvious overall difference is that fewer people are opposed to restoration, and instead say they are unsure. Another interesting difference is that the 2026 results did not indicate a dip in support in the Bay Area as had been the case in 2019
Probolsky’s reports are posted online for both 2026 and 2019.
For breakdowns by gender, age, education level, political party, ethnicity and area, see charts below.
