While the debate goes on, Hetch Hetchy remains a relaxing and often-overlooked corner of the park much to the delight of hikers and backpackers who prefer less touristy experiences. Yes, the plan to drain Hetch Hetchy involves causing new ecological damage. The glacially-carved U-shaped valley floor maximizes the amount of water stored in the reservoir. [3] Kolana Rock, at 5,772ft (1,759m), is a massive rock spire on the south side of the Hetch Hetchy Valley. Eighty-five percent of the water comes from Sierra Nevada snowmelt stored in the Hetch Hetchy reservoir situated on the Tuolumne River in Yosemite National Park. Fortunately, that time has not yet come, so this November, vote no on the Water Sustainability and Environmental Restoration Planning Act of 2012. Lets keep Hetch Hetchy around for the forseeable future. The Great Alaskan Land Fraud and the Pinchot-Ballinger Controversy caused both Richard A. Ballinger and Gifford Pinchot to resign and be fired respectively. [35] Muir, who himself had briefly worked as a shepherd in Hetch Hetchy, was known for calling sheep "hoofed locusts" because of their environmental impact. Hetch Hetchy and many others were built by . The glacial Hetch Hetchy Valley lies in the northwestern part of Yosemite National Park and is drained by the Tuolumne River. Exactly how San Francisco won the right to transform the bucolic valley into a The Hetch Hetchy Valley underwent a monumental transformation when the City Of San Francisco received the approval of Congress in 1913 to build a dam in the Hetch Hetchy Valley, thus storing the water of the Tuolumne River and flooding the valley to a height of over 350 feet. The chief began packing up and, when Nate asked him why, he replied, The valley is yours now., Far below them, the river cascaded into a peaceful valley floor, a heavenly setting similar to that of the main Yosemite Valley. ", "The Hetch Hetchy Story, Part II: PG&E and the Raker Act", "The Forbidden Water: San Francisco and Hetch Hetchy Valley", "Idyllic Pulgas Water Temple still offers comfort for weary wanderers", "Chronology of San Francisco's Water Development", "Frequently Asked Questions About Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and the Regional Water & Power System", "Water From Yosemite Is Still Cheap, for Now", "Serving 2.6 million residential, commercial and industrial customers", "Hetch Hetchy water goes through ultraviolet rinse", "A historic bid for limited boating at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir", "Trump team reassigns Yosemite National Park superintendent; timing raises questions", "Western Water Wars: Efforts to Take Over San Francisco's Hetch Hetchy Systems", "Hetch Hetchy Power Debacle: Continuing Yosemite Threat", "Could Hetch Hetchy Valley be worth $100 billion? [67], Those in opposition of dam removal state that demolishing O'Shaughnessy Dam would take away a valuable source of clean, renewable hydroelectric power in the Kirkwood and Moccasin powerhouses; even if measures such as seasonal water diversion into the powerhouses were employed, it would only make up for a fraction of the original power production. Hetch Hetchy, a glacially carved valley situated in the northern end of the park, was flooded and dammed in the early 1900s in order to serve as the primary drinking water source for parts of San Francisco and the Bay Area. But if you still have energy, continue past the bridge to Rancheria Falls. The Hetch Hetchy dam is upstream on the Tuolumne River from a reservoir nearly six times as large. By Posted student houses falmouth 2021 In jw marriott panama concierge lounge While the debate goes on, Hetch Hetchy remains a relaxing and often-overlooked corner of the park - much to the delight of hikers and backpackers who prefer less touristy experiences. In 2006, the California State Department of Water Resources (DWR) and Department of Parks and Recreation evaluated the cost estimates of multiple feasibility studies conducted between 1988 and 2005. Secretary of the Interior, Ethan Allen Hitchcock, refused to give San Francisco a permit to build the dam. But the reservoir has spared it some of the indignities of Yosemite Valley", "San Francisco Department of Elections, November 2012 Results", "San Francisco vote to study draining Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is defeated", "Hetch Hetchy Water and the Bay Area Economy", "Thesis: Water Supply Implications of Removing O'Shaughnessy Dam", "New Irvington Tunnel latest in Hetch Hetchy water system improvements", Current Conditions, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, California Department of Water Resources, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission: Hetch Hetchy Water and Power, California Resources Agency Hetch Hetchy Restoration Study, Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency on Hetch Hetchy dam, National Register of Historic Places in Yosemite National Park, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hetch_Hetchy&oldid=1131920349, History of the Sierra Nevada (United States), Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the National Park Service, Articles with dead external links from May 2019, Articles with permanently dead external links, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2022, Infobox mapframe without OSM relation ID on Wikidata, Pages using infobox bridge with empty coordinates parameter, All articles with vague or ambiguous time, Vague or ambiguous time from October 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 6 January 2023, at 11:49. Over the last 35 years, the idea has been studied by the Environmental Defense Fund, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the National Park Service, UC Davis, and several state agencies. Learn what to expect from Mirror Lake in various seasons. O'Shaughnessey Dam Facts. Prominent sponsors of the dam proposal, particularly (by then former) Mayor James Phelan and city engineer Marsdon Manson (and later his successor, Michael OShaughnessy), quietly lobbied key figures in the government, trusting that the appeal of municipal water and power would easily win supporters amid the prevailing progressive political climate. The new. Dianne Feinstein, the mayor of San Francisco at the time, said in a Los Angeles Times story in 1987: "All this is for an expanded campground? As a 13.4-mile (21.4 km) round-trip hike, Rancheria Falls gets fewer day-hikers than Wapama Falls but is a popular backpacking stop. Hetch Hetchy water serves residents in four Bay Area counties, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Southern Alameda. This is because the Tuolumne catchment basin above Hetch Hetchy is almost three times as large as the catchment area of the Merced River above Yosemite, allowing a greater volume of ice to form. OShaughnessy Dam and the waterworks that connect it to the Bay Area are a marvel of engineering. Included with your registration: Two-day guided experience in Yosemite; one day at Hetch Hetchy and one day in Ackerson Meadow (Saturday, May 11, at 8 am, through Sunday, May 12, until about 3 pm). For thousands of years, Native Americans subjected the valley to controlled bushfires, which prevented forest from taking over the valley meadows. Photo: Kim Lawson. The chief replied, There is no valley. Mirror Lakes famous spring-time reflections capture the eye and mind. The construction of the Hetch Hetchy Railroad took place from 1915 to 1918. Furthermore, they provided a place for the wild plants and creatures to live out their own lives, according to their purposes. [54][55], After passing through the powerhouses, Hetch Hetchy water flows into the 167mi (269km) Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct which travels across the Central Valley. Garfield had granted San Franciscos request, but Ballinger ordered the city to show cause as to why Hetch Hetchy should not be deleted from their grant. Within three years, Congress had passed the Organic Act, formally defining the parks and creating a new federal agency, the National Park Service, with a mission: to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.. Building the Hetch Hetchy dam in such a remote location was an enormous project. Hydroelectric power generated from the Hetch Hetchy project is largely sold to Bay Area customers through a private power company, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). can you smoke on royal caribbean cruise ships benefits of hetch hetchy dam. For most of the year the waterfall offers a refreshing shower or cooling mist along with an amazing view. Also convince them it would be a good idea to raise the heights of their dams so we can enlarge these reservoirs with our extra water, flooding anew many miles of the Tuolumne River and acres of currently dry land. Apply Today! Would there be any room in an acquisitive society for wildness, or for non material spiritual values?. It carried workers and materials for the dam, as well as tourists, postage and other amenities. An anthropocentrist would agree with building the dam in the park without taking into consideration what the dam would do to the already existing ecosystem due to not caring about the established animals and plants. Said San Francisco resident William Denman in 1918, "The first time I went into the Hetch Hetchy the mosquitoes were intolerable. Although Hetch Hetchy is included within the boundaries of Yosemite National Park, the entrance is separate from the rest of the park. The SFPUC tests its quality more than 100,000 times a year to ensure that it exceeds all safe drinking water standards. Miners did not stay in the area for long, however, as richer deposits occurred further south along the Merced River and in the Big Oak Flat area. . Hetch Hetchy Valley, far from being a plain, common, rock-bound meadow, as many who have not seen it seem to suppose, is a grand landscape garden, one of Nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples. The water from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is used to supply system customers as well as to generate hydroelectric power; the reservoir is also operated to provide instream flows to benefit fisheries and other wildlife. Located 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas, the dam captures water from the . [17] The valley's abundant plants provided nourishment for mule deer, black bears and bighorn sheep. Native American cultures were prominent before the 1850s when the first settlers from the United States arrived in the Sierra Nevada. 406 California Historical Landmark)", "John Muir's Yosemite: The father of the conservation movement found his calling on a visit to the California wilderness", "Timeline of the Ongoing Battle Over Hetch Hetchy", "The Hetch Hetchy Letters: If a Group of Intellectuals Argues in a Forest, and then that Forest is Submerged Under Water, Does Their Argument Matter? [16], Compared with Yosemite Valley, the walls of Hetch Hetchy are smoother and rounder because it was glaciated to a greater extent. It then cascades on its westward descent through the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, and enters the eastern end of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. San Francisco Mayor James Phelan led the fight to build a dam at Hetch Hetchy. In 1913, Woodrow Wilson appointed Lane his Secretary of the Interior. The new 68-mile (109 km) railroad wound its way up the narrow canyon of the Tuolumne River past sharp curves and up steep 4% grades. The first is utilitarian conservation. Photo: Theresa Ho, Of course, the proposal was immediately opposed by environmentalists including the Sierra Club and John Muir. [47] On October 28, 1934 twenty years after the beginning of construction on the Hetch Hetchy project a crowd of 20,000 San Franciscans gathered to celebrate the arrival of the first Hetch Hetchy water in the city. . For John Muir, it was about preserving a natural wonder which could be enjoyed by generations to come. It's a big job to open the tunnel and close it again. The battle for the Hetch Hetchy Valleys future was not simply preservation versus conservation. Following a fierce nationwide debate led by John Muir and Will Colby of the Sierra Club, the City of San Francisco was authorized by the U.S. Congress, in the Raker Act of 1913, to construct a dam and reservoir on the Tuolumne River in Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park. In: Educational Resources, History, National Parks, Your email address will not be published. The exploitation of Californias natural resources continued unabated in the years leading up to Hetch Hetchy. Pipelines 1 and 2 cross the San Francisco Bay to the south of the Dumbarton Bridge, while pipelines 3 and 4 run to the south of the bay. It forced elected representatives to consider what a national park designation truly meant and whether or not the land within these parks deserved protection. Use good judgment and stay safe. Monroe was a Chicago poet who joined Muir and others on their 1908 and 1909 outings to the valley. [54] The entire system produces about 1.7 billion kilowatt hours per year, enough to meet 20% of San Francisco's electricity needs. Visitors might still need chains to get down Evergreen Road this time of year, but a trip to Hetch Hetchy reveals an example of the potent storms, and a reservoir of controversy for 100 years. while birds, bees, and butterflies help the river and waterfalls to stir all the air into music. Congress, confronted with rising public opposition, refused to act on the measure. Subsequent proposals for development in our national parks have been defeated by citizen activists inspired by calls to remember Hetch Hetchy. Sign up for helpful guides, beautiful videos, and insider tips on the national parks. You could then scuba ElCapitan down to the valley floor. Controversy continues to swirl around the Hetch Hetchy Dam even now. If their signature-gathering campaign is successful, a small group of environmental advocates, led by Restore Hetch Hetchy, will give you the opportunity this November to vote on a measure that would require the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) to develop a plan to drain Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. The proposed study would also have been required to identify potential replacements for the water storage capacity and hydroelectric power production.[87][88]. [13], Hetch Hetchy is home to a diverse array of plants and animals. [40] By the 1880s, San Francisco was looking to Hetch Hetchy water as a fix for its outdated and unreliable water system. [21][33] Albert Bierstadt, Charles Dorman Robinson and William Keith were known for their landscapes that drew tourists to the Hetch Hetchy Valley. ", "Fall in the Main Tuolumne River at the Head of Hetch Hetchy Valley", "Fly Fishing Poopenaut Valley Tuolumne River", "Screech Brothers Find Hetch Hetchy Valley", "Big Oak Flat (No. The National Park Service concluded that two years after draining the valley, grasses would cover most of its floor and within 10 years, clumps of cone-bearing trees and some oaks would take root. If the nation set aside some natural places as especially sacred, how far beyond their borders should a sense of the sacred extend? The San Francisco Bulletin printed a Dec. 1, 1913, story calling the bills opponents a crowd ofnature lovers and fakers, who are waging a sentimental campaign to preserve the Hetch Hetchy Valley as a public playground, a purpose for which it has never been used.. [56] All four pipelines cross the Hayward fault. [37][38] However, ranchers who had previously owned land in the new park continued their use of Hetch Hetchy Valley a "sheep-grazing free-for-all [that] threatened to denude the High Sierra meadows"[37] before disputes over state and private properties in respect to national park boundaries were finally settled in the early 1900s. Then, well need to weigh our options for other new large water supplies, all of which will have enormous environmental tradeoffs: think of building a desalination plant, fighting with Los Angeles over the Sacramento Delta, building a peripheral canal or siting new large dams in presently undammed Sierra mountains and foothills. [8] Rancheria Falls is located farther southeast, on Rancheria Creek. (In fact partially because it is so difficult and destructive to build large dams, we are running out of new supplies of water in California.) Monroe went on to lobby members of Congress as the battle moved to Washington D.C. She was a tireless advocate who believed that people needed to be educated in order to do what was best for everyone involved. Located at 3,900 feet, Hetch Hetchy boasts one of the longest hiking seasons in the park and is an ideal place for thundering spring waterfalls and wildflower displays. Hidden in Yosemite National Parks peaceful northwest corner, Hetch Hetchy Valley is a treasure worth visiting in all seasons. That trip is a 19.1-mile (22.9 km) out and back, or you can turn the hike into a loop that returns past Rancheria Falls (28.2 miles, 45.4 km). GROVELAND,CA San Francisco may be required to pay more rent to the federal government for water from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir or even tear down the O'Shaughnessy Dam. People have died after being swept off the bridge and onto the rocks below. She says the water first leaves Hetch Hetchy through the O'Shaughnessy Dam. The dam was then 227 feet (69m) high; its present height of 312 feet (95m) was achieved only later, in 1938. Due to its high-altitude location at 3,900 feet above sea level and its snowmelt-fed water supply, water from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir behind O'Shaughnessy Dam does not require filtration. [72] The water storage provided at Hetch Hetchy could be transferred into Lake Don Pedro lower on the Tuolumne River by raising the New Don Pedro Dam 30ft (9.1m). [15] When the glacier retreated for the final time, sediment-laden meltwater deposited thick layers of silt, forming the flat alluvial floodplain of the valley floor. Slow down and spend the day at Tenaya Lake a beautiful and easy-to-get-to alpine lake cupped by granite domes. [12] During the last glacial period, the Tioga Glacier[13] formed from extensive icefields in the upper Tuolumne River watershed; between 110,000 and 10,000 years ago Hetch Hetchy Valley was sculpted into its present shape by repeated advance and retreat of the ice, which also removed extensive talus deposits that may have accumulated in the valley since the Sherwin period. As well dam for . Today the 117-billion-gallon reservoir supplies drinking water to about 2.5 million San Francisco Bay Area residents and hydro-electric power generated by two plants downstream. This option favors building a dam in the Hetch Hetchy Valley to provide hundreds of thou- sands of San Francisco residents with water and electricitybasic necessities for health and well-being, as well as urban development and economic growth. While the dialogue around the West's water wars has been concentrated on the Colorado River and the alarming decline of Lake Powell and Lake Mead, watersheds across the Western United States are feeling the effects of a rapidly aridifying landscape due to climate change. Finally, in 1988, a third generator was added to the Kirkwood Powerhouse. Instead, it was a more complicated battle which pitted public interests against private interests. Instead, the magnificence of a valley often described as Yosemite Valleys slightly smaller twin takes center stage. Show More. In the distance, long white plumes of water cascade hundreds of feet down from rocky heights. Coming from the San Francisco Bay Area youll pass right through Buck Meadows on Highway 120. Rancheria Falls itself is a series of whitewater cascades that crashes through a narrow canyon on its way to the reservoir. . Two additional reservoirs in the Hetch Hetchy RegionLake Eleanor and Lake Lloyd (also Once again, the political pendulum would swing. The Blackberry Inn Bed and Breakfast is just one of many welcoming businesses located on the way to Hetch Hetchy. You could miss this small mountain community if you blink at the wrong time, but it is home to a few remarkable small businesses. Gravel, logs, and other important food and habitat features can become trapped. [2] Residents drink it in 26 cities and water districts from San. He wrote, I have always called it the Tuolumne Yosemite, for it is a wonderfully exact counterpart of the great Yosemite, not only in its crystal river and sublime rocks and waterfalls, but in the gardens, groves, and meadows of its flowery park-like floor. And, as you might imagine, it produces some of the cleanest municipal water in the United States. . The reservoir supplies water for the city of San Francisco, so there is no recreational boating or swimming allowed. High temperatures prevail in summer months, but that is a small price to pay for the reward of vast wilderness filled with stunning peaks, hidden canyons, and remote lakes. Including additions made between 1934 and 1938, the dam currently stands 430 feet (131 m) above the bedrock below. The SFPUC tests its quality more than 100,000 times a year to ensure that it exceeds all safe drinking water standards. Pinchot argued that applying the principle of the greatest good for the greatest number, meant the benefits accrued to the people of San Francisco from having the dam far outweighed leaving the valley in its current state. The Sites Reservoir a $4.4 billion project to add dams and store more water that'll be sent south is still years away from completion. A national debate ensued between the preservationist and conservationist factions of the young environmental movement. Us too! This time, in favor of those who wanted to build the dam. There is a third concept, too, though it was little understood at the time.