The National Park Service, working with Yosemite’s traditionally associated tribes and the Yosemite Conservancy, has improved its interpretation of the ongoing legacy of the Indigenous peoples who lived in Yosemite long before it became a national park. The sign below is prominently displayed at the entrance of the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias. We’d like to see similar signs at Hetch Hetchy and elsewhere in Yosemite.
The new sign at the entrance to the Mariposa Grove should be a model for others in Yosemite. Click here for larger version.
And just last week, the Park Service removed an old sign from in front of the village store that cast Indians in a negative light for defending their land and their families.
Kudos to the Park Service for removing the sign that mischaracterized the Mariposa War. We know better.
We’d like to see a few other Hetch Hetchy related signs as well. We’ve asked the Park Service to work with CalTrans to install a sign on Highway 120 that indicates where Hetch Hetchy is, and that it is another entrance to Yosemite National Park. And we’d like to see extended hours of access to Hetch Hetchy or, even better, access around the clock like it is in the rest of the park – warranting a change to or removal of the sign below.
In recent years, gate hours have been even more restricted than the sign indicates. Why restrict gate hours at all? (Photo: Jennifer Witherspoon)