Cutting Trees in Yosemite to Preserve View

[Michael Kadillak]

I read in the newspaper yesterday that the Park service is planning on getting out the chain saws early next year to cut down thousands of trees in an effort to preserve the view of some of the iconic views of Yosemite for tourists. Seems that the overgrowth is harming the esthetics. What a bunch of crap. All they would have to do is let nature do its thing once every 15-20 years as it had for centuries and all would be well. Reminds me of the park whacking countless elk in Rocky Mountain National Park because there are no natural predators and the numbers are in excess of what they deem reasonable.

When we attempt to set up nature as we should see it, we always fall far short of expectations.

[Steve Goldstein]

I love the hypocrisy of the Park Service. They have very strict regulations about using mechanized/motorized anything in the parks, but of course the NPS is exempt and can go around using chainsaws when they see fit!

I think they should be allowed to do whatever they want provided they abide by the same rules they enforce on the public. If they want to cut trees, they should do it by hand.

[Bill_1856]

I don't know about thousands of trees (sounds like a bad idea to me), but "topping" those few at "the overlook view" back to their height 50 years ago would be acceptable (to me). Cloning them out in Photoshop just ain't the same.

[JC Kuba]

It reminds me of a story I read in a paper many years back of someone who built a house the side of a hill overlooking Lake Tahoe whose view was obstructed by trees in a state park between his house and the lake. He just hired some people to cut the tops of the trees, on the state park, off. He was fined, but I imagine he had enough money the improved view was worth it for him.

[Preston]

There appears to be a prevailing attitude that active fire suppression by the NPS in Yosemite Valley is the reason for the growth of coniferous trees that are encroaching on the view shed. My belief is that the growth of the pines and willow is a direct result of the natural glacial lake-meadow-forest succession, with active fire suppression playing a role.

Second, there are also feelings that the valley should look as it did in the time of habitation by the Ahwahnechee, who used low intensity fire in order to promote the growth of oak trees for acorns, and grasses for grazing.

I believe the NPS would be more than happy to scour the valley of the trappings of our mechanized society and allow the land to take it's natural course. But, they can't do that. The NPS has done some good things, such as moving some of their operation out of the valley, creating the one-way loop, eliminating private vehicles from Happy Isles and Mirror Lake, etc., and that's a good start.

Michael, I agree with you that we should "let nature do it's thing". However, given the high-value infrastructure currently present, and the threat to human life by fire, the NPS is unlikely to allow a high intensity fire to rip through the valley. A glacier would do the trick... :-)

Personally, cutting hundreds of trees and stands of willow in order to provide visitors with a 'perfect' viewshed is abhorrent to me. My feeling is--leave it be.

It will be interesting to see if this actually comes about.

--P

[Michael Gordon]

I wrote about this on my blog (http://michaelegordon.wordpress.com/2011/07/31/cant-see-the-forest-for-the-missing-trees/) and welcome your comments there.

If the program was really created for wildfire abatement, then why did they name it the "Scenic Vista Management Plan"? The majority of thinning will take place alongside roads, turnouts, and at scenic viewpoints. Hmmm......

[Michael Kadillak]

I don't know about thousands of trees (sounds like a bad idea to me), but "topping" those few at "the overlook view" back to their height 50 years ago would be acceptable (to me). Cloning them out in Photoshop just ain't the same.

The images shown in a compare and contrast view takes out the option of just "topping" a few trees. This is a massive issue as can be see in the link below.


http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_18586909

[Kirk Gittings]

NPS has long considered "parks" as something to be manicured to fit some persons ideal. Look at Mesa Verde and Chaco. Without constant stabilization and reconstruction they would be nothing but piles of rocks with an interesting history.

[SamReeves]

Disagree. Tunnel view, when I was there last time had too many frickin trees. Get the chainsaws out and make some firewood.

[bob carnie]

I remember an article in one of the camera magazines by Fred Picker, where he recommended cutting the trees from the backside so you would not see the fresh cuts.

[Drew Wiley]

Selective trimming along the roads has been going on for decades, and control burns are nothing new in the Park either. Once in awhile a poorly managed burn gets away; otherwise, what's the fuss? Yosemite Valley was long managed as a meadow. For
millennia the Indians kept it open using seasonal fires, just as they did throughout much of their winter range in the Sierras. Then it was uncerimoniously grazed by sheep before it became a state park. The overgrowth occurred during the fire suppression era of Natl Park custody in the mid 20th C, and once that philosophy
changed, they can't exactly start burning much of the Valley floor itself with its high
visitor density and quantity of manmade structures, so some alternate plan is inevitable.

[Asher Kelman]

NPS has long considered "parks" as something to be manicured to fit some persons ideal. Look at Mesa Verde and Chaco. Without constant stabilization and reconstruction they would be nothing but piles of rocks with an interesting history.


Kirk,

I didn't know about that work. What's involved?

Asher

[Asher Kelman]

I remember an article in one of the camera magazines by Fred Picker, where he recommended cutting the trees from the backside so you would not see the fresh cuts.

That guy Fred Picker was totally wrong. The trees need to be dug out! Otherwise they will just grow again. They need to grind up the roots and cover the place with wood chips and plant some begonias!

Asher

[Jim Graves]

I agree with Drew ... Yosemite Valley ... as opposed to back country Yosemite, is NOT a wilderness area and hasn't been for 100 years. It's a park with paved roads, paved trails, structures all over the place including a hotel, motel, grocery store, restaurants, and a photography gallery ... and 3 million people a year. And, if you're going to let that many cars, buildings, and people in you might as well manage it within reason ... and that is what they seem to be doing.

Let's spend our zeal on the restoration of Hetch Hetchy.

[tgtaylor]

Here's what the valley looked like when Carleton Watkins photographed there:

http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/watkins/32.html

Thomas

[BrianShaw]

I guess it will soon be time to sell my green filters. I bought them to reduce the amount of green foliage in my Yosemite pictures!

[Michael Gordon]

Why stop at 100 year old views? Yosemite National Park wash shaped by ice and snow, and Yosemite Valley was once filled with and carved by a glacier. I'd like to know what the NPS is planning to do to restore ancient glaciers and perennial snowfields...

Asher: Begonias aren't native; they'll have to plant California Poppies.

[Drew Wiley]

Wrong altitude and soil conditions for poppies, but there are jillions of them blooming further down the canyon some years. ... and in a hidden spot or two, a variety of poppy which isn't a California Poppy!

[Preston]

I'd like to know what the NPS is planning to do to restore ancient glaciers and perennial snowfields...

Can you imagine ice calving into a glacial lake in what is now El Cap Meadow. That would be so cool. We'd just have to find someplace else to photograph the oak and maple trees, though. And where would people set up their lawn chairs to watch the climbers on The Captain? :-)

Since we seem bent on creating a 'perfect' visitor experience, and to show how Yosemite Valley should look, at which point in the flow of time do we choose? That seems to be the bottom line.

--P

[Drew Wiley]

I'd like to see wooly mammoths grazing in the meadow, and instead of just black bears
raiding picnic boxes, seeing tourists running from dire wolves, giant ground sloths, giant short-faced bears, and sabertooth cats. Remember your pepper spray!

[Ed Kelsey]

Sounds like a great idea to me.

[dsphotog]

If the trees are in the way, simply build a shooting platform on top of your car.

[Eric Woodbury]

I usually carry a small chainsaw in my bag for those errant trees. Sounds like I won't need it in Yosemite anymore. Maybe they could cut out a few ice cream stands and curio shops to the 100 year ago level, too.

[Drew Wiley]

About hundred years ago the place was possibly more developed than now. Previous
to being a public park it was a privately run park. Livestock grazed in the mdws too.
I've heard a few second-hand stories and have seen some tintypes. My babysitter as an infant was allegedly the first white woman in Yosemite. Since she was in her 90's
at the time, it's possibly a true story, especially if she visited the Valley as a little girl
prior to the gold rush. I heard the account from her daughter, who was herself elderly
when I was a child. Let's just say the Ahwanee Indians didn't wear anything at the time and still lived in bark huts. That much was obvious from both photos and the tales.

[Curt Palm]

I'd like to see wooly mammoths grazing in the meadow, and instead of just black bears
raiding picnic boxes, seeing tourists running from dire wolves, giant ground sloths, giant short-faced bears, and sabertooth cats. Remember your pepper spray!

you could just get those Mammoths:
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/17/scientists-trying-to-clone-resurrect-extinct-mammoth/

[Bill Suderman]

Don't dispair, gents, just keep in mind (I almost said "focus on") the 3 million visitors spending 100 bucks in the park and probly several hundred before leaving Californy then look at the condition of your state coffers...

The NPS always looks at public access to park areas as "sacrificial" so, because the valley draws so many and has been so altered, let 'em do what needs doin' for the tourists, but leave the back country to me and my backpack. Que, no?

I've never had to hike far from the icons to be all alone. Just think about the Wally's World family...stand in front of the car with the Grand Canyon in the background...we've been here 10 minutes already, we gotta go if we are going to Crater Lake before dark...

[Drew Wiley]

Yosemite is one of the few parks, along with Yellowstone and Grand Canyon, which has so many visitors that it turns a high enough profit to benefit the entire Natl Park system. This factors into any plans to hypothetically make the Valley less developed or significantly limit access by motor vehicles. Some of the backcountry gets pretty
crowded too, but mostly out of Tuolumne Mdws. The southeast quadrant of the park
and northern boundary area offer plenty of solitude. I've done backpacks when I never
encountered another individual.

[Bill Burk]

The idea of cutting trees to improve 93 views sounds terrible to me.

[Tom J McDonald]

There is a house near where my grandmother used to live in Sydney, in the suburb of Rose Bay. Someone down the street poisoned a big, old tree which was growing outside their windows, so they could look at the lovely views of the bay. The tree died but stayed standing.

Well, the city Council came along and hung a big banner from it, on which it read: this tree has been illegally poisoned and will remain her as long as is safely possible... or something like that.