In spite of Muirs eloquent and heated objections, the Raker Act was signed into law in December of 1913. Indeed, Hetch Hetchy today[when?] Next to John Muir, the most vocal defender of the Hetch Hetchy Valley was Harriet Monroe. Albright, along with Stephen Mather, became instrumental players in the creation of a national park system three years after Congress decided the issue of Hetch Hetchy. To do so, it would either have to buy out the private monopoly at an exorbitant price or outmaneuver or outbid Spring Valley for a potential new reservoir., (Source: Natural Rivals: John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and the Creation of Americas Public Lands, John Clayton). An advantage which Phelan, Pinchot and other supporters of the dam project enjoyed was a divided opposition. Smith Peak (7,751 feet) is the highest point in the area and offers outstanding views. Due to large cataracts on the Tuolumne River upstream, Hetch Hetchy Valley may have been in the uppermost range for native rainbow trout in the river. Denouncing dam proponents as greedy, he wrote, 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, life them to the Almighty Dollar. This can lead to algal blooms and decreased oxygen levels. [50] The project is operated by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. The battle for Hetch Hetchy wasnt just conservationists vs preservationists. Those in favor of dam removal have pointed out that many actions by San Francisco since 1913 have been in violation of the Raker Act, which explicitly stated that power and water from Hetch Hetchy could not be sold to private interests. Browers Hetch Hetchy: Undoing A Great American Mistake, makes a compelling case for restoring the valley to its previous glory. Get SPUR news and events delivered straight to your email inbox. It's a big job to open the tunnel and close it again. Watershed Worker (Summer, 2023) - Hetch Hetchy Water & Power (Moccasin) - SFPUC (7542) Job at City and County of San Francisco in Moccasin. Slow-moving reservoirs heat up, resulting in abnormal temperature fluctuations which can affect sensitive species. It spans 900 feet (270 m) with a 17-foot (5.2 m) wide trail across the top that hikers use to cross to the opposite side. Hetch Hetchy Dome, at 6,197ft (1,889m), lies directly north of it. 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. On this point we hold that while we are willing to die for the lives or the health of the citizens of San Francisco, we are not willing to die for their pockets. The new. At full capacity, the reservoir stretches eight miles (13 km) upstream of the OShaughnessy Dam. The bustling metropolis of Los Angeles could not have become the city it did without the water which flowed from the Owens Valley hundreds of miles away. Forests might provide for the material well-being of human beings, but they did not exist for this reason alone. As a consequence, visitors came to experience it for themselves. If youre up for a driving adventure, try taking a little extra time to retrace parts of the route John Muir described in his book, My First Summer in the Sierra. The dam is a small portion of the overall Tuolumne River/San Francisco storage system that benefits the Bay Area. Put another way, if Congress denied the city of San Francisco the Hetch Hetchy Valley, the California Progressive leaders suspected that it would only be a matter of time before the emerging Pacific Gas and Electric Company would grab the area. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This is interesting from an ideological perspective. But Hetch Hetchy was a federally protected as part of Yosemite National Park. Guests at these suites receive breakfast on their patios. Dams, including this one, dont last forever, and perhaps in a few generations the conversation about a different future for the Hetch Hetchy Valley may be worthwhile. [53], As completed, O'Shaughnessy Dam is 910 feet (280m) long, spanning the valley at its narrow outlet. This is also a place imbued with history: San Franciscos congressional delegation won the right to build the dam in 1913, to secure a reliable source of water in the wake of the 1906 earthquake. Hetch Hetchy, unlike other water storage facilities in California, is relatively buffered from near-term climate change because of its high elevation. But Hetch Hetchy, one of nature's perfect . Other trails also continue to Lake Vernon. As the battle lines were drawn, the different methods employed by each side in presenting their case spoke to some of their basic assumptions about the nature of the issue. That reservoir is New Don Pedro, and it rests over existing pipelines to the Bay Area. An adjacent building contains another five suites with vaulted ceilings, forest views and soaking tubs. Hetch Hetchy Valley, dammed and flooded in the 1920s despite bitter opposition from Sierra Club founder John Muir, provides drinking water for an estimated 2 million people in the San Francisco . Muir predicted that this lake would create an unsightly "bathtub ring" around its perimeter, caused by the water's destruction of lichen growth on the canyon walls,[44] which would inevitably be visible at low lake levels. 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. Not far from there, youll find more budget-minded lodging at Buck Meadows Lodge. [21] Miwok names are still used for features, including Tueeulala Fall, Wapama Fall, and Kolana Rock. The Poopenaut Trail begins at a signed trailhead four miles past the entrance station. Public disapproval nationwide with the Raker Act helped to bring about the creation of the National Park Service. Seventeen species of bats inhabit the Hetch Hetchy area, including the largest North American bat, the western mastiff. Park entry (as needed). San Francisco Mayor James Phelan led the fight to build a dam at Hetch Hetchy. [21][33] Albert Bierstadt, Charles Dorman Robinson and William Keith were known for their landscapes that drew tourists to the Hetch Hetchy Valley. But what about when the lake dries? . [3] Kolana Rock, at 5,772ft (1,759m), is a massive rock spire on the south side of the Hetch Hetchy Valley. [9] Formerly, a "small but noisy"[10] waterfall and natural pool existed on the Tuolumne River marked the upper entrance to Hetch Hetchy Valley,[11] informally known as Tuolumne Fall (not to be confused with a similarly named waterfall several miles upriver near Tuolumne Meadows). [2] The dam and reservoir are the centerpiece of the Hetch Hetchy Project, which in 1934 began to deliver water 167 miles (269km) west to San Francisco and its client municipalities in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. The pressure that Muir and his compatriots generated in 1908 and 1909 did not dissuade the administration from its support of the Hetch Hetchy dam, but this pressure was quite effective in the realm of electoral politics. The deciding factor was whether or not the land in question had access to water. Said San Francisco resident William Denman in 1918, "The first time I went into the Hetch Hetchy the mosquitoes were intolerable. [40] By the 1880s, San Francisco was looking to Hetch Hetchy water as a fix for its outdated and unreliable water system. The maximum that the city has put away is 570,000 acre-feet of water. Day 6: Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to San Francisco. Not to be outdone by Los Angeles, San Francisco had a greater feat in mind: dam the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park and pipe the water into San Francisco. Related. Hetch Hetchy is a valley, a reservoir, and a water system in California in the United States. Rounding the corner and catching the first glimpses of Hetch Hetchy Valley reveals the play of light on water. Us too! [39], Interest in using the valley as a water source or reservoir dates back as far as the 1850s, when the Tuolumne Valley Water Company proposed developing water storage there for irrigation. The battle over the Hetch Hetchy, in part, was a fight over public versus private ownership of vital resources such as water. 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. The reservoir provides water to a large portion of the Bay Area through a 160 mile delivery. Hetch Hetchy doesn't require permit, you need just regular National park pass. The water winds between granite features like Kolana Rock and Hetch Hetchy Dome. [75] The remaining deficit would likely have to be replaced by polluting fossil fuel generation. It then cascades on its westward descent through the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, and enters the eastern end of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Wapama and Rancheria Falls Looking up at Wapama Falls from the footbridge on the hiking trail. You could then scuba ElCapitan down to the valley floor. [64] Peter Byrne of SF Weekly has stated that "the plain language of the Raker Act itself and experts who are familiar with the act (and have no stake in city politics) all agree: The city of San Francisco is not in violation of the Raker Act. "[32], In 1867, Charles F. Hoffman of the California Geological Survey conducted the first survey of the valley. Hours: Year-round, but only accessible by car when the Hetch Hetchy Road is open. A full breakfast is served in the dining room. Within 50 years, vegetative cover would be complete except for exposed rocky areas. The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, which lies within the Yosemite National Park, supplies 85% of the water needs of San Francisco and surrounding counties. But Sites would be what's called an off-channel reservoir, built away from the river. In November 2012, San Francisco voters soundly rejected Proposition F,[86] which would have required the city to conduct an $8 million study on how the flooded valley could be drained and restored to its former state. The reservoir is eight miles long and the largest single body of water in Yosemite. ", "Hetch Hetchy reclaimed: The dam downstream", "Alternatives for restoration of Hetch Hetchy Valley following removal of the dam and reservoir page 15", "Chapter 9: Impact of restoration on hydropower production and revenues", "Putting Bay Area's Water Sources to a Vote", "Hodel Would Tear Down Dam in Hetch Hetchy", "On Hetch Hetchy, John Muir was wrong: California's revered naturalist wrote a poetic diatribe against the drowning of the great valley. When changes are made there are unintended consequences. By 1908, a different Interior Secretary, James R. Garfield, sided with the utilitarian conservationists and issued a permit for the Hetch Hetchy project. the Hetch Hetchy Dam (1910-13) Abstract The damming of Hetch Hetchy in Yosemite National Park is a watershed event in environmental history, a presumed travesty that brought anguish to John Muir and his many sup porters throughout the United States. So the idea of planning for new water supplies need not be on the ballot. 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. San Francisco was able to accomplish this in 1925 by claiming it had run out of funds to extend the Hetch Hetchy transmission line all the way to the city. OShaughnessy Dam and the waterworks that connect it to the Bay Area are a marvel of engineering. High temperatures prevail in summer months, but its a small price to pay for the reward of vast wilderness filled with stunning peaks, hidden canyons, and remote lakes. In fact, this is so obviously a good idea that the SFPUC and other end users of Hetch Hetchy water have been doing it for years. Even in the summer when Yosemite Valley is being explored by visitors from around the world, Hetch Hetchy remains an oasis of relative calm. [8] Rancheria Falls is located farther southeast, on Rancheria Creek. RELATED: A Woman Started The Environmental Movement (Can It Continue?). The trail to Wapama Falls is one of the most popular trails in the Hetch Hetchy area for a good reason. Hidden in Yosemite National Parks peaceful northwest corner, Hetch Hetchy Valley is a treasure worth visiting in all seasons. Gravel, logs, and other important food and habitat features can become trapped. a strong proponent of restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley and Senator Feinstein is still[when?] Instead, it was a more complicated battle which pitted public interests against private interests. 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. It pitted Gifford Pinchot, Americas first forester, against John Muir, Americas legendary conservationist. A) human well-being B) renewable energy C) environmental sustainability D) cultural services E) human population growth, The current total world population has just passed ________. The view in Hetch Hetchy Valley As you know by now, the hike is 90% along the reservoir so you always get to see the most beautiful blue water in all of California. In an effort to build this support, he published his bookThe Yosemitein 1912. This time, in favor of those who wanted to build the dam. If you want to follow the old railroad line today, the Hetch Hetchy Road and most of the Mather Road were built on the old railroad bed and are beautiful scenic drives as well. [20] They hunted, and gathered seeds and edible plants to furnish themselves winter food, trade items, and materials for art and ceremonial objects. Most importantly, San Francisco would lose its source of high-quality mountain water, and would have to depend on lower-quality water from other reservoirs which would require costly filtration and re-engineering of the aqueduct system to meet its needs. Mirror Lakes famous spring-time reflections capture the eye and mind. Once again, the political pendulum would swing. 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. As in Yosemite, the sublime rocks of its walls seem to glow with life . Friday, enjoy an evening about bats starting at 7 pm. To visit the waterfalls or Yosemites northern backcountry, you walk across OShaughnessy Dam. The O'Shaughnessy Dam is near Yosemite's western boundary, but the long, narrow, fingerlike reservoir stretches eastward for about 8 miles (13km). [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. [8], While its cousin Yosemite Valley to the south had permanent Miwok settlements,[25] Hetch Hetchy was only seasonally inhabited. Through the manipulation of water, the company also had the power to determine which real estate became valuable and which languished. [8], Before damming, the valley floor contained abundant stands of black oaks, live oak, Ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, and silver fir bordering the meadows, with alder, willow, poplar and dogwood in the riparian zone along the Tuolumne River. The falls roar in spring and early summer. remains the least visited area of the park. National opinion divided between giving San Francisco the right to dam the valley and preserving the valley from development. The upcountry portion of the System begins with Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park. In 1967 the Robert C. Kirkwood Powerhouse started commercial operation followed by a New Moccasin Powerhouse in 1969 when the Old Moccasin Powerhouse was taken out of service. The watershed is also strictly protected, so swimming and boating are prohibited at the reservoir (although fishing is permitted at the reservoir and in the rivers which feed it),[60] a measure which is considered unusual for US lakes outside the region. [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). If, on the other hand, San Francisco gained control, it would signal in important victory for public power resulting in lower rates for the people. By 1908, a different Interior Secretary, James R. Garfield, sided with the utilitarian conservationists and issued a permit for the Hetch Hetchy project. For your last day, enjoy a short hike on the shores of the beautiful Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. [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. But the ultra-liberal President Woodrow Wilson signed off in 1913 on the multi-decade construction of a series of dams within Yosemite National Park that flooded Hetch Hetchy Valley to create a massive reservoir, hydroelectric plants, and a 167-mile aqueduct for the sole benefit of the City of San Francisco. strongly against restoration. "[19], People have lived in Hetch Hetchy Valley for over 6,000 years. [24] Screech reported that the valley was bitterly disputed between the "Pah Utah Indians" (Paiute) and "Big Creek Indians" (Miwok), and witnessed several fights in which the Paiute appeared to be the dominant tribe. The battle for the Hetch Hetchy Valleys future was not simply preservation versus conservation. It's dumb, dumb, dumb. The Great Alaskan Land Fraud and the Pinchot-Ballinger Controversy caused both Richard A. Ballinger and Gifford Pinchot to resign and be fired respectively. In Yosemite National Park, the Hetch Hetchy reservoir relies on the annual snowmelt to stay full. From the turn-off, the road winds for 16.5 miles up the old Hetch Hetchy railroad grade (26.5 km) to the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, passing many lonely trails along the way. The first people, outside of Native Americans, to see the Hetch Hetchy Valley were Joseph, Nate and William Screechin 1850. [citation needed] The George W. Bush administration proposed allocating $7 million to studying the removal of the dam in the 2007 National Park Service budget. A bigger population will increase demand, meanwhile climate change could significantly reduce supply through drought and hydrological cycle changes. On returning home, he asked an Indian chief the name of the valley. [59] The water quality is high because of the unique geology of the upper Tuolumne River drainage basin, which consists mostly of bare granite; as a result, the rivers feeding Hetch Hetchy Reservoir have extremely low loads of sediments and nutrients. In contrast to the utilitarian view, the preservationist approach denied the assumption that the natural world existed solely to serve mans purposes. The landscape painter Bierstadt, who brought his German Romantic training to the valley in 1862, gave the world an even larger portrait, and one in extravagant color, that photographers could not match on any scale. The Hetch Hetchy watershed, an area located in Yosemite National Park, is the major source of water for all of San Francisco's water needs. From this work, we have concluded that it is not wise to reduce water storage facilities considering the realities of a growing population and climate change. 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. The trail includes spectacular views of Tueeulala and Wapama Falls. Over the next decade, he produced fifteen large oils that transformed the valley into a dreamland unlike anything that ever met mortal eye.. The proposed ballot measure calls for the creation of a task force that would spend $8 million to develop a long-term plan for improving water quality and reliability, remediating environmental damages caused by the water supply system, and identifying new water and renewable energy supplies so that Hetch Hetchy Valley could be returned to the National Park Service. Even a short stroll from the car gives a magnificent view of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir from the OShaughnessy Dam. The first is utilitarian conservation. The waterfall on the Tuolumne is now submerged under Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Each switchback reveals scenic overlooks of the reservoir and Kolana Rock. [42] They claimed the valley was not unique and would be even more beautiful with a lake. When youre standing at the shore overlooking what appears to be a lake, picture yourself looking down into a verdant valley filled with the tall native grasses that give the valley its name. The terminus of the incomplete line was "conveniently located next to a PG&E substation", which connected to PG&E's private line which in turn bridged the gap to San Francisco. "[83], Opponents of dam removal have pointed out that the flooding of the Hetch Hetchy Valley has also deterred the crowds that overrun other areas of Yosemite National Park. The Hetch Hetchy Valley was within Yosemite National Park and protected by the federal government, leaving it up to Congress to decide the valley's fate. Bierstadts paintings and Muirs writings began to publicize the beauty of the Hetch Hetchy Valley. The extensive amount of storage, which is designed to benefit the Bay Area as droughts become more severe with climate. The entire valley is now flooded under an average 300ft (91m) of water behind the dam, although it occasionally reemerges in droughts, as it did in 1955, 1977, and 1991. Sign up for the email list and join an active community of monthly readers. She says the water first leaves Hetch Hetchy through the O'Shaughnessy Dam. The grassroots organization of environmental activism, established by John Muir and his supporters, became a model for future environmentalists. You may take easy hike to Wapama falls ( around 6 miles) or even more challenging hike to Rancheria falls ( around 14 miles). [58], Water from Hetch Hetchy is some of the cleanest municipal water in the United States; San Francisco is one of six U.S. cities not required by law to filter its tap water, although the water is disinfected by ozonation and, since 2011, exposure to UV. Yes, the plan to drain Hetch Hetchy involves causing new ecological damage. Hetch Hetchy Water and Power also wants to remove the giant bulkhead that seals up the tunnel with 40 nuts and bolts, Ritchie said. If the dam were not to be built, it would only benefit the small percentage of Americans who actually visited the site and were concerned about the park's pristine condition. After Hetch Hetchy, many realized the National Parks needed more protection. In 2019, Restore Hetch Hetchy commissioned another study that found enormous recreational value from removing the dam. [2] First, they block rivers which prevents fish from migrating. It is 13 miles from the Yosemite National Park border and twice as close to the park than the town of Groveland. In the sum of American economic expansion the intrusion might have seemed a minor, obscure matter, but to [John] Muir immense issues were involved: why had the nation preserved that pure wildness in the first place? If the nation set aside some natural places as especially sacred, how far beyond their borders should a sense of the sacred extend? Including additions made between 1934 and 1938, the dam currently stands 430 feet (131 m) above the bedrock below. It would be almost impossible to build a new dam there today. [21] Periodic clearing of the valley provided ample space for the growth of the grasses and shrubs they relied on, as well as additional room for large game animals such as deer to browse.