Why Restore Hetch Hetchy supports boating on Hetch Hetchy Reservoir

by danielcmckenzie | Jun 21, 2019 | Uncategorized

The mission, and purpose, of Restore Hetch Hetchy has long been to return the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park to its natural splendor. That will never change.

As part of the campaign for restoration, we have decided to advocate that certain human- or electric-powered boats be allowed on Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. To this end, on June 21, 2019, we wrote to Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt and Mayor of San Francisco London Breed (see letter, cosigned by California Trout). We plan to follow up.

There are two principal reasons.

First, boating on Hetch Hetchy Reservoir would provide access and recreation benefits not currently available to park visitors. Some visitors would tour the entire Hetch Hetchy canyon by boat. Others might disembark to fish, climb, hike or picnic. Just as visitors to Yosemite Valley venture out of the valley proper to Vernal Falls, Mirror Lake, etc. visitors to Hetch Hetchy would be able to visit Rancheria Falls and the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne – even while the reservoir is in place. These are exciting opportunities.

Note also that boating on Hetch Hetchy Reservoir would also be an attractive option for those unable to hike Yosemite’s trails, including military veterans disabled while serving our country.

Second, visitors to Hetch Hetchy will have the opportunity to learn the whole story – that its damming was the greatest destruction ever allowed in any of our national parks, and that San Francisco can make water supply improvements so that Hetch Hetchy Valley can be restored. Some visitors might develop an affinity for keeping the reservoir, but we believe the overwhelming majority will want to see the valley beneath come to life.

When the City lobbied Congress for permission to build the dam, it committed to share Hetch Hetchy with the American people. San Francisco promised that the area would be used “for park purposes and for water supply purposes”, that there would be “no reason to exclude campers and picnickers” and that it would be “absurd” to claim otherwise.

There’s no question that exploring the Hetch Hetchy canyon by boat is a far cry from “standing waist deep in wildflowers on a sunny day in June” – as John Muir described his own experience in Hetch Hetchy Valley. It’s an experience that visitors to Yosemite will much appreciate, however, and furthermore it will draw greater attention to San Francisco’s special deal and the opportunity to return the valley to its natural splendor.

San Francisco has long received its benefits from the Raker Act. The public, however, has been shortchanged. It’s time to welcome park visitors back to Hetch Hetchy.

Until Hetch Hetchy Valley is restored, access to the Hetch Hetchy canyon should include boating on the reservoir.

Associated Press Klamath Dam Removal Article Misleads

by danielcmckenzie | Apr 6, 2019 | Uncategorized

Klamath dam removal is not about water supply.

The headline, “Plan to Demolish 4 Hydroelectric Dams on Klamath River Stirs Debate Over Coveted West Water“, published this past week by the Associated Press is misleading. The dams on the Klamath produce hydropower, but they lie downstream of the agricultural diversions in the Klamath Basin and their removal will not affect those diversions.

Probably it is not the reporter’s fault. Editors write the headlines, and too often they select one to grab a reader’s attention, even if it is unwarranted (if it bleeds, it leads, as they say).

Fundamentally, the conflict on the Klamath is about hydropower. The four Klamath dams produce about 690 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year. The restoration of Hetch Hetchy will result in a loss of about 350 gigawatt-hours per year – half the Klamath value.

The problems caused by the Klamath Dams are twofold. Like all dams, they impede upstream migration of the salmon. But these dams also also serve as incubators in the summer, when hot weather, combined with agricultural runoff from the upstream basin, produces toxic algal blooms. The river’s water quality should be much improved once the dams are gone.

If you’ve never been to the area, it is well worth a trip north to explore the Klamath River, as well as the Trinity, Salmon and other tributaries.

Our challenge at Restore Hetch Hetchy is different. We do need to protect San Francisco’s access to Tuolumne water supplies. We need to ensure that not a drop is lost when the water is taken downstream of Hetch Hetchy.

Even in our case, however, the water supply concern is frequently overstated. So often, the media describe Hetch Hetchy as the source of San Francisco’s water. It is not the source. It is a storage tank – holding about 1/4 of San Francisco’s supply. And it does not belong in Yosemite National Park.