Dan's Outside

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Restoring Hetch Hetchy

Loyd at Yosemite Blog has been pointing to a number of articles on the subject of draining and restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley – the “other Yosemite” that was dammed (or damned?) by San Francisco early in the 1900s.

Today he points to two articles. A Time article points out that several hundred dams (though none this large) have been eliminated in recent years, and it generally suggests that contemplating a restoration of Hetch Hetchy is a reasonable thing.

The second, from SFGate suggests that draining the valley would just leave “mosquitos and swamps,” which I thought was kind of humorous (besides being just plain wrong.) Mosquitos and swamps are a natural part of the valley bottom environment at that elevation in the Sierra, at least on a seasonal basis.

Anyone who visited Yosemite Valley this June understands that seasonal flooding (with attendant swampy areas and, yes, mosquitos) is part of what makes such an area so beautiful.

(Technorati: Yosemite, Environment, Sierra Nevada)
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July 12, 2005 - Posted by | Environment

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