Issue #15 of Trails Magazine includes “Yosemite Valley’s Secret Twin”, a wonderful eight page article about Hetch Hetchy covering our efforts both to restore the valley and to improve access and recreation.
Trails Magazine is old school. Their articles are not posted online. But describing Trails as a “magazine” does not do it justice. Every issue is more like a book for your coffee table, beautifully presented with in-depth articles and exquisite imagery to savor and to impress readers. It’s a truly impressive publication and we are thrilled to be included in this most recent issue.
Author Nora Neus, an extraordinary Emmy-nominated producer, writer, and freelance journalist, did extensive research for Yosemite Valley’s Secret Twin over several months.
The article includes interviews with former Yosemite Superintendent Dave Mihalic, Restore Hetch Hetchy Executive Director Spreck Rosekrans and Board Members Lucho Rivera and Mecia Serafino, as well as worthy adversary Adrian Covert of the Bay Area Council.
To read the full article, you’ll need a subscription. Below are a few highlights.
Restoration
Discussing water supply, Neus gives a nod to our Cherry Solution report, echoing our finding that connecting the nearby Cherry Creek Reservoir to San Francisco’s conveyance system would more than serve the region’s growing population. She also notes the results of last spring’s independent statewide poll: Public opinion is on their side. A poll conducted by Probolsky Research in May found that 61% of California voters support restoring Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy Valley, with the important caveat, “if there’s no impact to San Francisco’s water supply.”
We have had extensive discussion of the Cherry Solution with many Congressional offices, albeit none with San Francisco. We stand by the report’s findings and welcome independent review of it and other proposed water and power system improvements.
Neus takes obvious pleasure in quoting Executive Director Spreck Rosekrans, a former high school teacher, “I used to teach calculus to high school students and now I teach arithmetic to politicians.“
Recreation
The article begins by imagining how Rosekrans would like to explore Rancheria Falls by first kayaking across the reservoir. Golden light would slant off the majestic Hetch Hetchy Dome as mist rises off the water. He’d dip his paddle into the still, cool water and pull himself to the far side, where he’d hike about an hour up to Rancheria Falls. The waterfall is otherwise only accessible via an arduous 14-mile hike that he just doesn’t have in him anymore.
Neus explains the restrictions that are all too familiar to many of us: That means no kayaking, no rafting, no swimming, no wading or even touching the water, and certainly no power boating. In California, 37 of the 38 reservoirs over 200,000 acre feet in volume allow recreation. Hetch Hetchy is the only exception. She does note that there is hope for continued improvements: Just this spring, park Superintendent Ray McPadden changed the rules to allow fishing in the reservoir, a major step toward allowing other types of recreation in the area. But after 118 years, will the no-recreation rule change? And if so, could the change pave the way to remove the dam entirely?
Kayaking is permitted at Tenaya Lake in Yosemite, so why not at Hetch Hetchy? (The Raker Act expressly precludes special consideration for any boating restriction at Hetch Hetchy.)
Politics
Neus interviews former Yosemite National Park Superintendent David Mihalic, who has long been disappointed that there are not more voices calling for restoration – he’s still frustrated by the modern environ-mentalist movement’s avoidance of this issue, in part in deference to local Bay Area politicians who are otherwise supporters of environmental causes.
Dave is not wrong, but we have had success getting support from many groups in recent months – stay tuned.“It’s a perversion of the whole national park idea,” he said of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. “I’ve understood why the so-called environmental groups … they just kind of glance over it and start whistling and turn away if the word Hetch Hetchy comes up.”
The article also includes a response from Adrian Covert, who manages water policy for the Bay Area Council. Spending that kind of money dismantling and replacing a perfectly well-operating water system at a time when affordability on utilities is taking people to the breaking point is just not a wise use of public money.
Amusingly, Neus describes the Bay Area Council as a “non-profit”. Perhaps it is in a narrow legal sense. But the Bay Area Council’s clientele incudes Google, Meta, Apple, and Bank of America – some of the largest for-profit companies in the world, any of which could fund restoration by searching under the sofa cushions for loose change.
By the way, we will be debating Adrian soon – October 13 at Manny’s in San Francisco. If you are in the area, please come join us.
And a big thank you to Trails Magazine and Nora Neus for excellent coverage of Hetch Hetchy – Yosemite Valley’s Secret Twin!