Hetch Hetchy

S.F. Use of Hetch Hetchy Studied

City doesn't need the Yosemite reservoir, grad student says

"Since conservation icon John Muir lost the fight against O'Shaughnessy Dam in 1913, environmentalists have been waiting for this moment. It's an opportunity to re-evaluate the need for the reservoir.

The Sierra Club, Environmental Defense, Restore Hetch Hetchy and others consider O'Shaughnessy a monumental mistake. They have believed all along that San Francisco could live without Hetch Hetchy Reservoir."

Read what John Muir wrote of Hetch Hetchy before it was dammed, from chapter 16 of The Yosemite:

http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/the_yosemite/chapter_16.html

click on this link for info about the restore Hetch Hetchy group: http://www.hetchhetchy.org/

"These temple destroyers, devotees of ravaging commercialism, seem to have a perfect contempt for Nature, and, instead of lifting their eyes to the God of the mountains, lift them to the Almighty Dollar.

Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man." -- John Muir

Sierra Club site on restoring the Hetch Hetchy valley:

http://www.sierraclub.org/ca/hetchhetchy/

Lawmakers call for Hetch Hetchy study

By Stuart Leavenworth -- Sacramento Bee Staff Writer

Published 2:15 am PDT Tuesday, September 14, 2004

"Two California legislators are calling for a state study to examine if a submerged valley in Yosemite National Park could be restored without hurting water and power supplies."

In 1987, then-U.S. Secretary of the Interior Donald Hodel and San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein visited the reservoir. Hodel's plan to restore the valley fizzled.

Hetch Hetchy Reclaimed: In 1987, an attempt to bring back the valley

By Tom Philp -- Sacramento Bee Associate Editor Published 2:15 am PDT Monday, August 30, 2004

"Was he ahead of his time or out of his mind to propose what he did? In 1987, the interior secretary for President Reagan, Donald Hodel, sought to focus public attention on the smaller twin of Yosemite Valley, known as Hetch Hetchy. He suggested getting rid of the dam in the Hetch Hetchy Valley, restoring this landscape inside the national park and somehow replacing the water supply for the San Francisco Bay Area. Soon after he floated the idea, it sank. He attracted few allies from the liberal conservation community, mobilized fierce enemies, particularly San Francisco's mayor at the time, Dianne Feinstein, and generated more skepticism than excitement. He retreated. Ever since, no one with equivalent power has dared touch the subject."

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Info about De Anza College Outdoor Club trips to Yosemite is at:

Tuolumne trip

Snow Camp