After record crowds and some very long lines in 2023, the National Park Service is implementing a reservations system again in 2024.
Visitation to Hetch Hetchy, like all of Yosemite, is increasing – especially in late spring when the waterfalls are booming.
These requirements, however, include some nuance – see summary below or the NPS website for more detail.
Many people will be able to plan their trips to Yosemite by making a reservation or by avoiding weekends and the peak summer season. Visitors with reservations to camp or stay in lodging will be permitted to enter the park as well.
It will not be possible, however, to wake up on a gorgeous Saturday and decide on the spur of the moment to go to Yosemite Valley.
The reservations system does not apply to the Hetch Hetchy entrance, where visitor use in 2023 reached the highest level in more than 30 years. Restore Hetch Hetchy welcomes visitors and is actively encouraging the National Park Service to improve the experience of those who come to Hetch Hetchy by allowing camping, creating additional trails and allowing nonpolluting boating. We are grateful that the NPS has extended the hours when the Hetch Hetchy area is open but still believe those hours should be extended further.
Since parking at Hetch Hetchy is limited, we believe public transportation should be available as it is for Yosemite’s other four entrances.
We don’t want Hetch Hetchy to be overrun, of course. But we do believe it is necessary for more people to experience Hetch Hetchy’s extraordinary landscape as we build support for relocating the reservoir and returning the valley to its natural splendor.
After years of discussion and debate, dam removal on the Eel River appears to be moving forward.
Scott Dam, Lake Pillsbury and the upper Main Eel River.Photo: CalTrout
The dams in question are the Scott Dam, which forms Lake Pillsbury, and the Cape Horn Dam downstream, where diversions from the Eel River to Sonoma County have taken place for decades. Some diversions will still be allowed, but they’ll have to take place in winter when there is natural flow in the Eel River as summertime releases from Lake Pillsbury will not be possible.
Some wintertime diversions may be diverted to Lake Mendocino or used to recharge groundwater, but the Sonoma County Water Agency and farmers in the Potter Valley will need to take other measures to make up for a reduction in use of the Eel’s flow. Impressively, the Sonoma County Water Agency appears wholly cooperative and prepared to embrace the challenge.
The Eel River and its many forks flow northward through Mendocino and Humboldt Counties.
Scott and Cape Van Horn, the only dams on the river, no longer produce hydropower but do provide water supply to Potter Valley farmers and the Sonoma County Water Agency.
The purpose of removing the Eel’s dams is the same as removing dams further north on the Klamath River – to help revive salmon and steelhead populations. While the Eel’s removals principally affect water supply, the Klamath’s removals affect hydropower production.
Restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park will affect both water supply and hydropower. As we laid out in Yosemite’s Opportunity: Options For Replacing Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, San Francisco can assure itself no loss of water supply (or even increase it), by investing in groundwater recharge, wastewater recycling or enlarging Calaveras Reservoir.
We have estimated that San Francisco will lose about 350 gigawatt-hours a year when Hetch Hetchy is restored – or about one half of the hydropower lost when the Klamath Dams are removed. (For readers who don’t think about gigawatt hours on a daily basis, if everybody in the United States used a toaster over for one hour, the total power consumption would be about 350 gigawatt-hours.)
It is refreshing to see the general consensus that the environmental benefits of dam removals on both the Klamath and Eel outweigh the costs of replacing water and power supplies. We think the same is true at Hetch Hetchy. To date, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission shows no inclination that it will cooperate with restoration of Hetch Hetchy as the Sonoma County Water Agency has on the Eel.
We look forward to the day when San Francisco, willingly or not, embraces the water and power alternatives that will make it possible to restore Hetch Hetchy to its natural splendor.
In recognition of Giving Tuesday, contributions made to Restore Hetch Hetchy this week will be doubled – up to a total of $15,000.
Tax-deductible contributions can be made onlineor by U.S. mail (Restore Hetch Hetchy, 3286 Adeline St. Suite 7, Berkeley, California 94703).
The vision of Restore Hetch Hetchy is to return 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. (Photo: Matt Stoecker)
2024 will be an exciting year. We are looking forward to our continued work with the National Park Service to improve access at Hetch Hetchy and with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and other water agencies to develop alternative supplies.
We will also be continuing our outreach to recreation groups, so they will understand what is possible and support our campaign. Returning Hetch Hetchy to its natural splendor will provide an alternative to the often overcrowded Yosemite Valley and inspire a whole new generation of nature lovers.
Restore Hetch Hetchy is encouraged by other dam removal efforts in California. In 2024, 4 dams on the Klamath will finally be fully removed. Also, removal of the Scott and Cape Horn dams on the Eel river appears imminent – more on this soon. (A reminder that Restore Hetch Hetchy is not anti-dam. Most dams serve useful purposes and are necessary. But some are harmful and whatever benefits they provide can and should be replaced by other means.)
Restore Hetch Hetchy is grateful to all who share our vision. We wish you a happy holiday season and a good new year.
Restore Hetch Hetchy’s Fall 2023 newsletter has been distributed by mail and is available online as well. If you’d like a hard copy and have not received one, send an email to admin@hetchhetchy.org.
The fall newsletter includes the latest on our petition to the National Park Service and Department of Interior. We are pleased with progress to date, but have yet to hear any official response to our assertions that current policies at Hetch Hetchy violate federal law. We plan to meet with the NPS soon and will be certain to ask how/when they plan to respond.
When we met with National Park Service Director Chuck Sams in June, we told him Yosemite could and should be improved by expanding visitor access at Hetch Hetchy.
The Raker Act allowed Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to be constructed but only authorized buildings “properly incident” to water and power operations. San Francisco’s use of cabins at Hetch Hetchy is clearly recreational.
The newsletter also:
Summarizes our recent discussion with San Francisco and other water agencies regarding the substantial potential for groundwater banking in the Central Valley;
Reviews Kim Stanley Robinson’s inspiring talk at our annual dinner; and
Includes our thoughts on balancing visitor use and resource protection at Hetch Hetchy.
Again, if you’d like a hard copy of the newsletter but have not received one, let us know. Our printed newsletters come out 2-3 times per year.
2023 was an unprecedented year for groundwater recharge in California. Farmers, irrigations districts, government agencies, environmentalists and others cooperated as never before and improved statewide water supplies at low cost.
Improved cooperation between San Francisco and agricultural interests is also the key to restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley at low cost.
2023 was a very wet year, of course, which always helps to restore supplies stored both above and below ground.
But improvements in recharge in 2023 were also the result of deliberate management actions – as well as California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, passed in 2014.
These improvements were highlighted by the presenters at last week’s Flood MAR (managed aquifer recharge) conference. The conference featured inspiring stories of farmers throughout the Central Valley flooding their fields with excess flows to recharge groundwater for their own, as well as their neighbors’, benefit.
Flood MAR is doing great work. The level of cooperation between water agencies, farmers, state government et al. is impressive.
Such recharge may seem like an obvious thing to do, and it’s ok to be frustrated that it has taken so long. But it is not as simple as one might think:
Most farmers are small businesspeople. When they spread water on their fields, and especially in orchards, they worry about long term damage to their crops. Trees can die if their roots are flooded for too long;
Sandy soils are much more conducive to recharge than other types of ground;
Groundwater moves beneath the surface so much of the benefit goes to others; and
Permitting can be onerous – some applications require 250 pages and the work of lawyers (who do not work for free).
Last May, Governor Newsom issued an Executive Order lifting the regulatory burden for many. In some cases, it is obvious that regulations get in the way. But it is also important for the health of our rivers and wetlands that reasonable limits be applied to how much and when water can be diverted. So it is less simple than we might like to get it right.
Indeed the Flood MAR conference included an impressive array of people dedicated to sustainable water management in California. Karla Nemeth, Director of the California Department of Water Resources, inspired the crowd on the first day and told of Governor Newsom’s commitment to capturing floodwaters. Several farmers told stories of how they flooded their fields last winter and spring and what complications arose. Engineering firms explained how their data analysis helped identify the best opportunities for recharge. And environmental groups, including Sustainable Conservation and the Environmental Defense Fund, played important roles in both the adoption of policies and implementation of specific projects.
Professor Graham Fogg of UC Davis was among those encouraged by the progress of farmers and irrigation districts working together to improve recharge, but noted that what was done in 2023 represented only a small portion of what is possible. Only about one in four years is wet enough to do these projects, and he hoped that many more fields would be flooded in the next wet year.
The level of cooperation in reminiscent of what Secretary of Interior Donald P Hodel found when he asked the Bureau of Reclamation to analyze opportunity to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley in 1987. The Bureau told him that more water would be available if San Francisco were able to cooperate with the irrigation districts on the Tuolumne River,
Restore Hetch Hetchy continues to work cooperatively (and relentlessly) with San Francisco to invest in groundwater storage in the Central Valley. For more information, see Yosemite’s Opportunity: Options For Replacing Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.
Bakersfield may not be as scenic as Hetch Hetchy, but it’s home to 400,000 people. The City has just received news that a superior court has ruled that the Kern River must be allowed to to flow through town. The court ruling is the result of a lawsuit filed by environmental groups, including Bring Back the Kern, Center for Biological Diversity, Kern River Parkway Foundation, Water Audit California, the Sierra Club and Kern Audubon Society.
HOORAY!
Like the Tuolumne River and Hetch Hetchy, diverting the Kern River further downstream need not result in lower diversions to cities and farms, but leaving the water instream longer will provide environmental and recreational benefits.
Unlike its west flowing siblings in California’s Sierra Nevada, the Kern River takes a decidedly southbound route, splitting the range in two.
The Kern is the subject of a pair of country ballads written and performed by Merle Haggard – Kern River and Kern River Blues (the last song he wrote).
It’s not usual to find a river at an elevation of 7000 feet, yet there it is, cutting a clean slice sandwiched between Mt Whitney (14,505 feet) to the east and 13,807 foot Mt. Kaweah (13,807 feet) to the west. The upper canyon is a sight to see, whether from above or within. (Photo: Sierrasouth.com)
As it descends, the Kern turns into a mecca for whitewater enthusiasts. The upper “Forks” stretch is best left for experts and thrill seekers who must hike in (usually hiring burros to carry their rafts), while the lower Kern, downstream from Lake Isabella offers a still wet but tamer experience. (Photo: Sierrasouth.com)
When the Kern reaches the flatlands of the Central Valley, its flow is tapped by canals and diversions to some of the California’s famously productive cropland. Kern County is California’s top producer of grapes (take that, Napa) and also is a leader in oranges, pistachios and almonds. Not surprising, the Kern River is wholly dried up before it reaches Bakersfield, the county seat. Working in the fields is extremely demanding, even when shade provides protection from the summer sun.
Kern County Superior Court Judge Greg Pulskamp has now ruled that the river must be allowed to flow through Bakersfield with enough water to keep fish in good condition. Some of the farmers with water rights to the Kern will need to reduce their diversions upstream. The water will still be available downstream as the Kern, as well as the Kings and other rivers in the Tulare Basin, don’t flow out to sea. Any river flow not diverted will replenish groundwater and still be available for agriculture.
There’s an obvious similarity to our Hetch Hetchy situation. Take the water, but take it downstream. Let the river provide environmental and human benefits, whether in Hetch Hetchy Valley or within the city limits of Bakersfield, before it is gobbled up for consumption.
The market for Bakersfield’s sardonic “A riverbed runs through it” T shirt may dry up when the river flows.
