It is definitely not what Congress intended when it passed the Raker Act allowing San Francisco to build a dam in Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy Valley.
San Francisco’s “Cottage 1”, aka “The Chalet”, has a spectacular view of the Hetch Hetchy canyon.
Today’s San Francisco Standard published an article titled San Francisco City Officials Enjoy Exclusive Vacation Spot in Yosemite. Why? Reporter Josh Koehn describes San Francisco’s use of cabins at Hetch Hetchy as a “special perk unavailable to the general public”. City officials, their families and others anointed with the privilege of staying at the bunkhouse and cottages are provided access to Hetch Hetchy’s trails, fishing, birdwatching, waterfalls and sunsets that everyday park visitors do not have.
The authorization for use of these cabins is scant at best. The Raker Act allows “buildings necessary or properly incident to the construction, operation, and maintenance…”. While some use of the cabins may be business-related, most appears to be recreational given the prevalence of family members on the guest list uncovered by the Standard. (Restore Hetch Hetchy has asked the National Park Service for documentation of San Francisco’s permission to use the cabins, but was told it could not find any.)
Park visitors are only allowed to camp at Hetch Hetchy if they are leaving for or returning from a backpacking trip. This “backpacking” campground is poorly maintained and perhaps the bleakest in the park. And while the Raker Act required San Francisco to provide water to the campground, that water is non-potable – campers need to walk a mile or so to get to the closest drinkable water, located near the cabins.
It’s a bit of a trek from the dusty campground to the spigot near San Francisco’s cabins.
The current situation is a from cry from what San Francisco promised and Congress expected when the Raker Act was under consideration. It is fundamentally unfair and change is long overdue. Restore Hetch Hetchy believes the cabins should be converted for public use. The City officials queried seem to prefer that San Francisco retain its special privilege.
This and other limitations on public access are explained in Keeping Promises: Providing Public Access to Hetch Hetchy Valley, Yosemite National Park (Restore Hetch Hetchy, 2021) – please read if you have not already.
And if you haven’t had a chance to weigh in on the National Park Service’s outreach re future management of Yosemite, there is still time. Comments are due September 6.