[71], The dam would not have to be completely removed; rather, it would only be necessary to cut a hole through the base in order to drain the water and restore natural flows of the Tuolumne River. Not only does it supply 85 percent of the water for 2.6 million people in San Francisco, controlled releases via the O'Shaughnessy Dam are helping preserve downstream specieseven in dry years. It involved the unintended consequences of efforts to shape the environment to meet human needs. [50] The project is operated by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. 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? Ultimately, San Francisco sold hydropower from the dam to the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), which led to decades of legal wrangling and controversy over terms in the Raker Act. There is plenty to see and do right here, from kayaking on the water to climbing the magnificent domes above. Restore Hetch Hetchy and the Environmental Defense Funds own studies support a lower cost estimate, ranging from $1 billion to $2 billion. 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. . It would be almost impossible to build a new dam there today. 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. This is why environmental impact statements, which were not required prior to 1969, are so important today. This valley was isolated and remote, twenty miles northwest of the original. The proposed study would also have been required to identify potential replacements for the water storage capacity and hydroelectric power production.[87][88]. The openings in the Taft administration led to the eventual success of the Raker Act. 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. [82] Dianne Feinstein opposed this allocation, saying, "I will do all I can to make sure it isn't included in the final bill. For functional purposes, Hetch Hetchy was a promising solution to San Francisco's serious water shortages. If youre especially in the mood to relax and let yourself be taken care of, The Blackberry Inn is a luxury bed and breakfast situated on 36 acres and surrounded by National Forest land. The most prominent preservationist spokesman was John Muir.. This 1910 view shows Kolana Rock and Tueeulala Falls in the background. [54] The entire system produces about 1.7 billion kilowatt hours per year, enough to meet 20% of San Francisco's electricity needs. A full breakfast is served in the dining room. The imputed motive was to divide the environmental movement: to see residents of the strongly Democratic city of San Francisco coming out against an environmental issue. If you love that insider feeling of discovering an often-overlooked gem, plan a stop at Buck Meadows on your way to or from Hetch Hetchy. Franklin Lane served as the attorney for the city of San Francisco in 1903. The exploitation of Californias natural resources continued unabated in the years leading up to Hetch Hetchy. [5] The valley was slowly becoming known for its natural beauty, but it was never a popular tourist destination because of extremely poor access and the location of the famous Yosemite Valley just twenty miles to the south. His path roughly follows the John Muir Highway State Highway 132 that runs from Highway 49 in Coulterville up through Greeley Hill before connecting back into Highway 120 before Buck Meadows and the turn-off to Hetch Hetchy. The extensive amount of storage, which is designed to benefit the Bay Area as droughts become more severe with climate. San Francisco applied once again for rights to Hetch Hetchy in 1908. between those who wish to retain the dam and reservoir, and those who wish to drain the reservoir and return Hetch Hetchy Valley to its former state. Garfield was responding to critics who believed that the federal governments primary responsibility was to use the nations public resources for development in the service for the greatest number of people. Friday, enjoy an evening about bats starting at 7 pm. For thousands of years before the arrival of settlers from the United States in the 1850s, the valley was inhabited by Native Americans who practiced subsistence hunting-gathering. As well dam for water tanks the peoples cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man.'. 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. Two additional reservoirs in the Hetch Hetchy RegionLake Eleanor and Lake Lloyd (also They also remove water needed for healthy in-stream ecosystems. Standing upon it will give you the chance to appreciate the sublimity of both nature and human achievement. 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. Another popular trail crosses the OShaughnessy Dam and then takes a left turn to climb steeply out of the Hetch Hetchy valley. It then cascades on its westward descent through the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, and enters the eastern end of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. 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. 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 O'Shaughnessy Dam is near Yosemite's western boundary, but the long, narrow, fingerlike reservoir stretches eastward for about 8 miles (13km). Teams completed the OShaughnessy Dam in 1923 and the reservoir filled for the first time in May of that year. [5] Chief Tenaya of the Yosemite Valley's Ahwaneechee tribe claimed that Hetch Hetchy was Miwok for "Valley of the Two Trees", referring to a pair of yellow pines that once stood at the head of Hetch Hetchy. This strenuous 2.5-mile, round-trip hike to the Tuolumne River has 1,229 feet of elevation gain. Youll just need to see them for yourself. There have been lawsuits over whether San Francisco violated the agreements of the Raker Act. As the Hetch Hetchy Valley was part of Yosemite National Park, Hitchcock preferred to protect the park's natural wonders. From our petition "The cost of replacing water storage in Hetch Hetchy Valley to maintain the current levels of water service and electrical power production by CCSF would be approximately 2 billion dollars, including 199 million dollars for additional interties, 372 million dollars for water supply, 387 million dollars for water treatment, 669 Us too! That's about twice the amount of power lost when Hetch Hetchy will be restored. 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. Located 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas, the dam captures water from the . It was the second tallest dam in the U.S. at the time. [45], The controversy over Hetch Hetchy was in the context of other political scandals and controversies, especially prevalent in the Taft administration. Buck Meadows is also a great place to spend the night. 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. It also was an early battle of conservatives vs progressives. Stand on OShaughnessy Dam and feel the cool updraft. Building the Hetch Hetchy dam in such a remote location was an enormous project. 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 reservoir provides water to a large portion of the Bay Area through a 160 mile delivery. We're not going to remove this dam, and the funding is unnecessary. Application Opening: February 10, 2023 Application Filing Deadline: March 3, 2023 Hourly Compensation: $27.3125 Recruitment ID: RTF0131751-01138303 (131752) APPOINTMENT TYPE: Temporary Exempt: This position is excluded by the Charter from the competitive Civil Service examination process and shall serve at the discretion of the Appointing Officer. But during peak spring flow, the thundering waterfall can wash over the bridge making it dangerous to cross. O'Shaughnessy Dam is a 430-foot (131 m) high concrete arch-gravity dam in Tuolumne County, California, United States.It impounds the Tuolumne River, forming the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir at the lower end of Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park, about 160 miles (260 km) east of San Francisco. [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). This trail is 13 miles round-trip with 3,700 feet elevation gain. Instead, the magnificence of a valley often described as Yosemite Valleys slightly smaller twin takes center stage. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The battle over Hetch Hetchy was a fight to determine whether a beautiful valley would remain in its natural state or service the growing city of San Franciscos water needs. The maximum that the city has put away is 570,000 acre-feet of water. [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. 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. Most of the dam would remain in place, both to avoid the enormous costs of demolition and removal, and to serve as a monument for the workers who built it. Hetch Hetchy is on the main stem of the Tuolumne River and is part of the Tuolumne watershed. [16], Compared with Yosemite Valley, the walls of Hetch Hetchy are smoother and rounder because it was glaciated to a greater extent. However, the same NPS study also finds that with intensive management, an outcome in which "the entire valley would appear much as it did before construction of the reservoir" is feasible. "[61][62], The battle over Hetch Hetchy Valley continues today[when?] From 1901 - 1913, John Muir led the Sierra Club in a campaign to protect the Hetch Hetchy Valley, a part of Yosemite National Park, from being filled by a reservoir. Spring and early summer bring wildflowers including lupine, wallflower, monkey flower, and buttercup. It's a big job to open the tunnel and close it again. William Howard Taft became president in 1909. Upcountry and the Bay Area. San Francisco applied to the United States Department of the Interior to gain water rights to Hetch Hetchy, and in 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt's Secretary of the Interior, James R. Garfield, granted San Francisco the rights to development of the Tuolumne River. By 1908, a different Interior Secretary, James R. Garfield, sided with the utilitarian conservationists and issued a permit for the Hetch Hetchy project. Valley, reservoir, and aqueduct in California, USA, sfn error: no target: CITEREFMatthes1930 (, sfn error: no target: CITEREFWohlforth2004 (, sfn error: no target: CITEREFWhitney1874 (, sfn error: no target: CITEREFGlennon2009 (, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Hetch Hetchy, List of dams and reservoirs in California, List of the tallest dams in the United States, "Alternatives for Restoration of Hetch Hetchy Valley Following Removal of the Dam and Reservoir", "Hetch Hetchy Reclaimed: Drain it, then what? The Freeman Report artfully depicted reservoirs in Norway, the United Kingdom and the eastern United States showing how nature and public utility worked together to improve their surroundings and provide long-term benefits for everyone. [70] Hodel called for a study of the effect of tearing down the dam. Although Hetch Hetchy is included within the boundaries of Yosemite National Park, the entrance is separate from the rest of the park. 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. In an effort to build this support, he published his bookThe Yosemitein 1912. Yet it also highlighted the division within the conservation movement over two fundamental principles: utilitarian conservation versus preservation. Most people called it Hetch Hetchy, a mispronunciation of a Central Mohawk word for a plant that indigenous people were harvesting there when the first white man came along.. Even in the summer when Yosemite Valley is being explored by visitors from around the world, Hetch Hetchy remains an oasis of relative calm. Being one of the biggest hydroelectric facilities in the United States and a National Landmark, Hoover Dam generates power to serve more than 1.3 million people. Like Muir, he was totally transfixed by the Hetch Hetchy Valley. Hetch Hetchy is unique because of its small holding capacity in comparison to the vast watershed feeding it. In 1913, Woodrow Wilson appointed Lane his Secretary of the Interior. As a consequence, visitors came to experience it for themselves. 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. [13], Hetch Hetchy is home to a diverse array of plants and animals. The first people, outside of Native Americans, to see the Hetch Hetchy Valley were Joseph, Nate and William Screechin 1850. [50] The removal of the dam would be extremely costly, at least $310 billion,[76] and the transport of the demolished material away from the dam site along the narrow, winding Hetch Hetchy Road would be a logistical nightmare with possible environmental impacts. Plus, the granite walls converge into a narrow outlet at the bottom of the valley the perfect location for a dam. The city must pay a lease of $30,000 per year for the use of Hetch Hetchy, which sits on federal land. So visit Hetch Hetchy. [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. 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. The valley provided an escape from the summer heat of the lowlands. In continuance, water has a personality and the presence of it can change moods and help people feel better. And in a larger sense, the waters of California served as the converting agents. 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 dam in the Hetch Hetchy valley of Yosemite National Park, first proposed in 1908, was intended to create a reservoir that would provide water and electricity for the burgeoning city of San Francisco. The report cited other dam projects in making the argument that this project would increase tourism. In 2019, Restore Hetch Hetchy commissioned another study that found enormous recreational value from removing the dam. In 1923, the O'Shaughnessy Dam was completed on the Tuolumne River, flooding the entire valley under the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. In: Educational Resources, History, National Parks, Your email address will not be published. The second concept is preservation. [2] The dam contains 675,000cuyd (516,000m3) of concrete. Guests at these suites receive breakfast on their patios. [69], In 1987, the idea of razing the O'Shaughnessy Dam gained an adherent in Don Hodel, Secretary of the Department of the Interior under President Ronald Reagan. They poured an estimated total of more than 398,000 cubic yards (304,000 cubic meters) of concrete to form the dam. remains the least visited area of the park. We would be trading flooded acres in one place for flooded acres in another. It has two trailhead options. To get the electricity they would need, they first built a smaller dam at Lake Eleanor. history. The falls roar in spring and early summer. [49], The narrow defile at the lower end of Hetch Hetchy Valley where San Francisco planned to dam the Tuolumne River, seen in 1914 before construction began, The same area seen today, with O'Shaughnessy Dam and Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, Hetch Hetchy Valley serves as the primary water source for the City and County of San Francisco and several surrounding municipalities in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. People have died after being swept off the bridge and onto the rocks below. Even before it was finished, the massive . 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. The other route begins at the entrance station and is 16 miles round-trip with 3,300 feet of elevation gain. Muir and other defenders of Hetch Hetchy believe the fight revolved around two central issues. They acknowledge that a concerted effort would have to be made to control the introduction of wildlife and tourism back into the valley in order to prevent destabilization of the ecosystem,[68] and that it might be decades or even centuries before the valley could be returned to natural conditions.

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