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Bulk
of $105m in federal money will go to rebuilding lodge, dormitories.
by Michael Doyle
Fresno Bee, March 15, 2002
It has taken a while, but Yosemite National Park officials have nailed down
how they intend to spend $105 million in federal funds.
Renovation and restoration at most campgrounds will have to wait.
The biggest items include rebuilding Yosemite Lodge for visitors and Curry Village dormitories for concession employees.
Replacing the dorms and fixing the popular lodge, damaged in a 1997 Merced River flood, will account for nearly half of the flood recovery money Congress has provided, the new report to Congress shows.
"We're looking forward to implementing the projects," Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman said. "We think the visitors will benefit, and the park will benefit."
The "Yosemite Valley Plan Project List" submitted to Congress this week identifies the 15 park projects expected to be completed by September 2004. At an estimated cost of $33 million, the Curry Village dormitory construction amounts to the single most expensive plan; rebuilding Yosemite Lodge will take an additional $24.3 million.
Some projects don't even have a price tag yet.
The project list, for instance, states that an "Indian cultural center" will be designed by May 2003, in "partnership with Indian groups," but no final price is identified.
It's the campgrounds, though, that have prompted some of the most intense debate, both in California and on Capitol Hill. The Merced River flood wiped out 374 campsites, out of 849 available in heavily trafficked Yosemite Valley. They haven't been replaced.
Park officials have said consistently since the flood that they intend to pull out the river campgrounds' remaining electrical and plumbing fixtures and work toward restoring the natural floodplain.
Just as consistently, some -- including Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa -- have urged the possibility of rebuilding the campgrounds.
"I just want to make sure they're removed for the right reason," Radanovich said. "There are a lot of people who want those campgrounds to remain in the Valley."
At Radanovich's request, park officials are studying what it would take to return the Merced River campgrounds to operation, even though they still intend to restore the area to natural habitat. Park plans call for campsites to be replaced outside of Yosemite Valley.
The project list includes $2.1 million for a park-wide campground study, which is supposed to be finished in December. Congress, as part of this year's funding bill for national parks, ordered this Yosemite campground study in response to the loss of the Merced River campsites.
An additional $621,000 is set aside for the planning necessary to restore the flood-damaged Merced River campgrounds to natural conditions. This planning isn't expected to be finished until April 2003.
"The whole point is to return it to meadow and habitat," said Jay Watson, California representative for the Wilderness Society. "Once the planning is done, we'd like to see them go ahead and do the [natural restoration] work."
In some cases, as in a plan to buy a fleet of clean-fuel shuttle buses, Yosemite officials intend to use a combination of flood-recovery and entrance-fee funds.
But because Congress already has provided most of the money in a lump sum, Yosemite won't have to fret through the annual appropriations process by which parks typically seek project funding.
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