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. 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 "[65] Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior in the late 1930s, said there was a violation of the Raker Act, but he and the city reached an agreement in 1945. 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. Albert Bierstadt was known for his sweeping landscapes of the American West. They suggest that draining the reservoir and turning Hetch Hetchy Valley into a tourist center similar to Yosemite Valley could be worth up to $178 million per year. Let us introduce you to some of the unique giant sequoia groves in the Yosemite Mariposa County area the Merced, Tuolumne, and Mariposa Groves are inside Yosemite National Park, and the Nelder Grove is just outside the park boundary to the south. An adjacent building contains another five suites with vaulted ceilings, forest views and soaking tubs. So the idea of planning for new water supplies need not be on the ballot. The Sites Reservoir a $4.4 billion project to add dams and store more water that'll be sent south is still years away from completion. In the Bay Area, Hetch Hetchy water is stored in local facilities including Calaveras Reservoir, Crystal Springs Reservoir, and San Antonio Reservoir. It was the second tallest dam in the U.S. at the time. [2] From Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, the water flows through the Canyon and Mountain Tunnels to Kirkwood and Moccasin Powerhouses, which have capacities of 124 and 110 megawatts, respectively. In 1923, the O'Shaughnessy Dam was completed on the Tuolumne River, flooding the entire valley under the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. As in Yosemite, the sublime rocks of its walls seem to glow with life . [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. Above all, one's behavior Argument Against The Hetchy Dam 587 Words | 3 Pages [41], In 1906, after a major earthquake and subsequent fire that devastated San Francisco, the inadequacy of the city's water system was made tragically clear. 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. This can be very disorienting to fish and disrupt their migrations as they depend on steady streams and flows to guide them. But Hetch Hetchy was a federally protected as part of Yosemite National Park. It pitted Gifford Pinchot, Americas first forester, against John Muir, Americas legendary conservationist. It's a big job to open the tunnel and close it again. When changes are made there are unintended consequences. [74] A 2019 study commissioned by Restore Hetch Hetchy argued that draining the reservoir and equipping the valley with a tourism infrastructure comparable to that of Yosemite Valley (which receives around 100 times as many visitors annually as Hetch Hetchy's 44,000) could result in a "recreational value" of up to $178 million per year, or possibly an overall economic value of up to $100 billion. (In fact partially because it is so difficult and destructive to build large dams, we are running out of new supplies of water in California.) The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir also serves to provide energy in the form of hydroelectricity, with a capacity of over 200 megawatts a year. 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 . Dianne Feinstein, the mayor of San Francisco at the time, said in a Los Angeles Times story in 1987: "All this is for an expanded campground? On December 19, 1913, Congress passed and President Wilson signed the Raker Act which permitted the building of the OShaughnessy Dam and the flooding of the Hetch Hethcy Valley in Yosemite National Park. 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. As of October 2022, Hetch Hetchy was at 77.5% of its capacity. And Hetch Hetchy's damming has inspired generations of conservationists to protect our natural heritage and to commit to safeguarding our protected areas. The National Park Service conducted research to determine what would happen if the dam were removed, and people have repeatedly proposed costly studies to further understand the consequences of removing the dam. As of 2013, the water storage and hydroelectric power supplied by the Hetch Hetchy Project serviced an estimated 2.6 million people in the San Francisco Bay Area. [75] The remaining deficit would likely have to be replaced by polluting fossil fuel generation. 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. Many are vital pieces of infrastructure that provide reliable water supplies, hydropower, flood control, and recreation. Hetch Hetchy Water and Power also wants to remove the giant bulkhead that seals up the tunnel with 40 nuts and bolts, Ritchie said. To visit the waterfalls or Yosemites northern backcountry, you walk across OShaughnessy Dam. In an effort to build this support, he published his bookThe Yosemitein 1912. This ballot measure is so problematic that SPUR has taken early action to oppose it. Since then, the "Hetch Hetchy System" has continued to grow, now including nine impoundments . The larger issues at stake would frame environmental debates for years to come. Since the valley was within Yosemite National Park, an act of Congress was needed to authorize the project. Third, dams alter natural habitats and change the ways in which rivers function. Related. Richard Ballinger was appointed his Interior Secretary. Formerly called Buck Meadows Restaurant and Bar, the new caf crosses rustic-mountain flair with roadside cafe friendliness. Wapama Fall is reached via a five-mile, round-trip hike that follows the shoreline of the reservoir with moderate up and downhill hiking. can you smoke on royal caribbean cruise ships benefits of hetch hetchy dam. [37][38] However, ranchers who had previously owned land in the new park continued their use of Hetch Hetchy Valley a "sheep-grazing free-for-all [that] threatened to denude the High Sierra meadows"[37] before disputes over state and private properties in respect to national park boundaries were finally settled in the early 1900s. As well dam for . This trail is 13 miles round-trip with 3,700 feet elevation gain. . . John Muir knew that without public support, the Hetch Hetchy Valley would be lost. Just before reaching the Bay Area, it passes through the Irvington tunnel near the city of Fremont, and the aqueduct splits into four pipelines at 373253N 1215555W / 37.548104N 121.932041W / 37.548104; -121.932041. The main power facility in the system, the Moccasin Powerhouse, began commercial operation on August 14, 1925. The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, which lies within the Yosemite National Park, supplies 85% of the water needs of San Francisco and surrounding counties. 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. That trip is a 19.1-mile (22.9 km) out and back, or you can turn the hike into a loop that returns past Rancheria Falls (28.2 miles, 45.4 km). The water is transported from the reservoir by the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct which is made up of 170 miles of gravity-driven pipelines, dams, and other reservoirs. Consider one project in progress that involves re-routing an entire river . Indeed, the battle over Hetch Hetchy may have been a little-known contributor to the permanent alignment of American politics it was the tension between Ballinger and Pinchot that set in motion the events that lead to the split mentioned above. The dam is a small portion of the overall Tuolumne River/San Francisco storage system that benefits the Bay Area. [21] Miwok names are still used for features, including Tueeulala Fall, Wapama Fall, and Kolana Rock. . They would light upon a man's blue shirt and turn it brown, and were voracious as mosquitoes would be. Yet it also highlighted the division within the conservation movement over two fundamental principles: utilitarian conservation versus preservation. 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. The O'Shaughnessy Dam is near Yosemite's western boundary, but the long, narrow, fingerlike reservoir stretches eastward for about 8 miles (13 km). The report cited other dam projects in making the argument that this project would increase tourism. The Hetch Hetchy Valley is a part of Yosemite National Park. As the Hetch Hetchy Valley was part of Yosemite National Park, Hitchcock preferred to protect the park's natural wonders. . 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. And today there is even an organization, Restore Hetch Hetchy, which is committed to doing just that. 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. 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. [citation needed], The Hetch Hetchy Valley began as a V-shaped river canyon cut out by the ancestral Tuolumne River. In terms of quality, Hetch Hetchy water is so pristine that it is one of only a handful of water supplies in the country that doesnt need to be filtered, a process that is expensive and energy intensive. In spite of Muirs eloquent and heated objections, the Raker Act was signed into law in December of 1913. 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? Indeed, Hetch Hetchy today[when?] [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. Like Muir, he was totally transfixed by the Hetch Hetchy Valley. DWR also found that the planning studies necessary to refine the costs and benefits of restoration would cost $65 million alone. SPUR Urban Center, 654 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-4015 | (415) 781-8726 | [emailprotected], 2023 SPUR Privacy Policy 501(C)(3) Non-Profit Tax Identification: 94-1498232, a member-supported nonprofit organization. He produced at least four oil paintings of the valley one of which is prominently displayed in Mount Holyoke Colleges art museum. Five country-chic rooms in the main building include en suite bathrooms, free WiFi and electric fireplaces. OPTION 3Give control to the local people of Hetch Hetchy Construction of O'Shaughnessy Dam began in 1919 and was finished in 1923, with the reservoir first filling in May of that year. Congress, confronted with rising public opposition, refused to act on the measure. Required fields are marked *. Pinchot argued that applying the principle of the greatest good for the greatest number, meant the benefits accrued to the people of San Francisco from having the dam far outweighed leaving the valley in its current state. In the early 20th century, San Francisco flooded the Hetch Hetchy Valley, destroying "one of nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples." This is why the city can now ban new natural gas. But tearing OShaughnessy Dam down now in order to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley would be a disaster. As well dam for water-tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been . In some cases, however, including the Klamath and Hetch Hetchy, the benefits of restoration clearly outweigh the benefits provided by the dams. Show More. After Hetch Hetchy, many realized the National Parks needed more protection. Swimming and boating are prohibited in Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in order to maintain a clean source of drinking water.
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