The bridges across Wapama Falls, in their current state, are too dangerous to cross at high water. San Francisco is required to maintain this trail – and thus the bridges – as required by the 1913 Raker Act.
The National Park Service is in the process of updating its management agreement with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
The most recent version of the agreement, completed in 2019, has the sexy title “Memorandum of Agreement Between City and County of San Francisco San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and National Park Service Yosemite National Park for Comprehensive Management of Watersheds within Yosemite National Park Supplying the San Francisco Regional Water System”.
We’ll call it the MOA.
Most of the 2019 MOA is about watershed protection and security (some of the security elements are redacted in the public version). Restore Hetch Hetchy believes the 2019 document is inadequate in several respects. We asked the National Park Service to release a public draft before the 2023 version is finalized. The NPS declined.
So we have written to the National Park Service and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission expressing our view that the 2019 document does not comply with the law in several respects. The letter is pretty self-explanatory, but we’ll summarize it here:
- The NPS should not restrict access to Hetch Hetchy based on security concerns. If the SFPUC is concerned about security, it should fund additional supervision or take other measures that do not restrict the public from visiting its national park.
- Constructing and maintaining the trail that crosses Wapama Falls is San Francisco’s responsibility under the Raker Act. The bridges need to be safer at high water. After all, hikers have been swept off to their deaths when the flow of Falls Creek is high.
- The Raker Act also requires that San Francisco provide water to the campground at Hetch Hetchy – presently relegated to use only by backpackers. The water provided is not potable. Restore Hetch Hetchy believes this is unacceptable.
- The boat ramp at Hetch Hetchy is unusable at present. The NPS may need to use it for emergencies as they have in the past. It should be fixed.
- The NPS should not hand out the SFPUC’s materials to visitors. Also, the NPS policy of supporting the SFPUC’s (rare) filtration exemption is not permitted by the Raker Act.
Anyone staying at the Hetch Hetchy campground must walk almost a mile to get drinkable water.
We have not heard back – from either the NPS or the SFPUC. We will keep you posted.