Yosemite Meeting: Bad News (long)

[connie B Berto <cberto@juno.com>]

Joe, I don't know what you heard, but the feds have been steadily cutting
back on horse access and horse amenities in the Valley Floor area of
Yosemite Nat. Park.    Now, a Yosemite Management Plan has slowly been in
the works for many years, but after the El Nino Year floods of two years
ago, when the Merced River (flows thru the valley) jumped its banks and
demolished tourist cabins, tourist tent areas, roads, bridges, etc., the
administration realized that this was a chance to push through a
rebuilding plan that would also sharply limit the motor vehicle traffic
which has been stifling the valley for many years and is getting worse
and worse.  However, they are throwing the baby out with the bath water. 
 Every Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) has to have one alternative
that is "leave it as it is", and then there are any number of
alternatives to follow of various forms of action.  In this case, the
Y.Management Plan, there are five.  In only two, 1 and 5, are the stables
left and the summer concessionare and rent string  allowed to function.  
The feds'  preferred alternative is no. 2.  No stables.  No. 3 is the
worst from the horseman's point of view.  
    There have not been horse camps in Yosemite Valley Floor for many
years.   What horsemen did was to rent stall space at the stables, if
there was room.     What the feds are proposing, a "corral" and five
"parking spaces" --  BIG DEAL -- is just a minimal gesture, and still
does NOT give us any place where we can camp next to our horses.
    If you camp at one of the little towns downstream from the park
entrance,  outside the valley floor, there is no trail access into
Y.valley along the river.  You'd have to ride on the road.    If you camp
in the high country, say at  Tuolomne Meadows or Hetch Hetchy, there are
only a FEW access points down into the valley, and once you got down
there, there would be no place for you to camp.   Ride around a loop and
then ride up and out, if you are lucky to have enough daylight for such a
long trip.
    I don't know if this answers your question.    The trouble is,
Yosemite has no local horse community which can be a constituency.   It's
up in the Sierra Nevada.   Nothing eastward for a couple hundred miles. 
The nearest towns  westward aren't towns, they are places to get a motel
room and gas up and ride an antique steam train.   So it's up to
equestrians nationally to speak up, to continue the 150-year old
tradition of horsecamping in Yosemite.     BTW,  all the meetings and
letters sent to the previous park superintendent about horse issues got
wiped out when the new supt. came in.   We have to start at square one.  
     And make no mistake:   the National Park Service is slowly
eliminating horses from all national parks.  Oh, there are excuses, but
no hard research to back up the claims  ("concerns that could not be
resolved...safety issues...potential conflicts"  --  language like that).
  That's the goal, and if horsemen don't speak out, any way we can, then
we deserve what we get.    One such attempt was just defeated  at Acadia
National Park in Maine...an area that was designed and built  by Nelson
Rockefeller SPECIFICALLY for horses and horse-drawn vehicles.   But the
feds tried...but were beaten back...THIS TIME.  
    If you decide to write, you have to do it FAST; letters must be
RECEIVED by July the 7th.
    Regards,    Connie B

--------- Begin forwarded message ----------

The meeting of June 21 with two representatives, Laurel Boyers and Susan
Gonshor,  from Yosemite National Park (YNP) was attended by 11, eleven,
equestrians.   Very discouraging, but what followed was even more so.   
    The two ladies presented a summary, with slides, of the five
alternatives to the present management plan.  NONE of the alternatives
plan for any horse camping sites in the valley floor.   ZERO.   In fact,
currently the only place you can keep your horse in the valley is by
boarding at the concessionaire stables, if they are open and operating
and if they can accommodate you.   And, under 3 alternatives,  the
stables are scheduled to be closed.
    We horsepeople held a small meeting after the main gathering and drew
up the following position paper.   Please read them, and include those
you find most important into your own communication.  PLEASE NOTE:   Only
an outpouring of comments from equestrians will change this plan and
bring horsecamping back to the valley floor.       We eleven did what we
could, but the rest is up to you and concerned equestrians elsewhere.  
ALL COMMENTS MUST BE *RECEIVED* BY JULY 7, 2000.
   Send comments to:   Yosemite Valley Plan, Attn.  Cindy Bauer, CEO;   
P.O. Box 577, Yosemite CA  95389.  Fax:   209-372-0456.    email:  
yose_planning@nps.gov     .     Please send copies to David Mihalic,
Superintendent of YNP, same address.    Add a copy to your congressperson
would be a great idea too.

VISITOR  AMENITIES
1.    There are no horse camping sites planned for the future of YNP. 
Page 2-159 of "Alternatives Considered" states:   "This (horse camp)
alternative was dismissed due to its inability to meet the project
objectives"  (i.e., balancing restoration of area and protection of
wilderness VS. development of visitor facilities).  "Outfitting some
sites within the proposed campgrounds to accommodate people who want to
bring private stock to Yosemite Valley was considered but removed from
further consideration due to concerns that could not be resolved.  These
include safety issues, potential conflicts between pets and stock, and
resource considerations.  Sites away from other campgrounds were found to
be incompatible with adjacent uses, or were recognized as potentially
causing adverse effects on the natural environment...Horse camps are
currently available in other parts of the park, including Wawona,
Bridalveil Creek, Tuolumne Meadows, and Hetch Hetchy."       No evidence
to substantiate the negative allegations was attached.
2.    We need an adequate horsecamping site on the valley floor.
3.    Alternatives #2 and 4 allow for five "parking spaces" of
undetermined size, plus a "corral," to accommodate day use of
equestrians.    Alternative 5 relocates the concessionaire stables, with
possible visitor boarding.     Three alternatives eliminate the stables,
and none of the alternatives plan for horse camp sites.
4.     We need more room in the staging area for day use -- a minimum of
15 to 25 maximum, with water.  Comment:  five "parking  spaces" for day
use is inadequate.
5.  The "corral" planned with the five spaces is non-functional.  Remove
the corral, and replace it with more and larger parking facilities for
rigs (at least 35 feet in length per rig).
6.    Horse staging areas must have adjacent campsites for riders.  The
concept of unattended horses (in bear country, yet!) is unacceptable.  
This has serious safety flaws for the stock as well as liability issues
to YNP.
7.   Keep the rental stable concession.  This provides some stabling for
private stock visiting Yosemite.  The rent string serves up to 25,000
clients each season.  The proposed elimination of this concession denies
the elderly, the disabled, and younger children of opportunities to use
the trails above the valley floor.     Question:   how many visiting
horses will be allowed to board at the stables?
8.  A loop dirt trail for horses is planned around the valley floor.  We
approve of this, but who can use it without  adequate staging areas and
horse camp sites?
9.  We need to keep as many stock access points as possible between the
valley floor and the high country.
10.   A reservation system for horse campsites and staging areas is
essential.
11.   Except by special arrangement, two nights' stay per rig should be
permitted.  This would allow the campsites to be more widely available
for use by other equestrians.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
12.    A reasonable fee structure for horse camping and day use should be
established.
13.  The equine industry is a major economic force, nation-wide.  The
economic benefits should be better utilized by the NPS.
14.  Documentation should be provided to support claims that establishing
a horse camp in Yosemite Valley would not meet "project objectives" or
cause "safety issues, potential conflicts...and resource considerations."
15.   Statements that the present location of rental stables impacts
riparian areas and water quality of runoff should be supported by tests
run by environmental biologists.  Where are the test results?
16.   The plans allow for a large component of employee housing within
the valley floor.  Suggest that employee lodging should be significantly
reduced by housing them outside the valley floor;  this would better
accommodate visitors and public usage.

VISITOR INTEREST AND HISTORICAL VALUE
17.  John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt visited Yosemite on horseback, as
did Pershing.  From 1890 onward for several score years,  the U.S.
Cavalry rode from the Presidio in San Francisco to Yosemite to patrol the
valley, every summer.  Horses are part of the tradition of the valley in
ways that bicycles, rock climbing, skateboards, etc., even automobiles,
will never achieve.  It is unthinkable to destroy this historical
tradition by not allowing horse camping in the valley.  To eliminate
horses from the valley floor would be to negate one of the stated goals
of the NPA:   "...to conserve the scenery and natural and historic
objects...and to provide for the enjoyment of the same..."    The article
in park handouts, "Loving Yosemite Valley -- Planning Its Future" states
that the NPS is charged with  "...helping people experience and
understand the landscape and histories with which we are inextricably
linked."
     Horses and humans have a mutual history extending back 7,000 years!
18.    Ask to be put on the mailing list for future information about the
plans for Yosemite National Park.

That's it.   To us who were there, this is part of the trend to eliminate
horses from ALL national parks.   If only 11 people will attend a
well-advertised meeting (and some took time off from work),  I am not
optimistic about the future.    I hope that many of you will write, and
please SHARE this with others.   Remember, the deadline for receipt of
comments is the 7th of July, 2000.     Thank you,   Connie Berto  (Trails
Chair Emeritus of AERC)


--------- End forwarded message ----------