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Restoration around falls to begin next month
by Carl T.
Hall
San Francisco Chronicle - May 21, 2002
A two-year, $12.5 million restoration of the area around Yosemite Falls, one
of the most photographed -- and heavily trampled -- natural wonders in the
world, was announced Monday.
It is billed
as the first major change in Yosemite National Park under the Yosemite Valley
Plan, a long-term blueprint intended to relieve traffic congestion and restore
some of the park's most popular attractions.
Work begins next month on some of the trails and smaller footbridges in the 56-acre Yosemite Falls restoration area. Most of the major construction is planned for late in the 2002 season.
Visitors will
continue to have access to the falls, park officials said.
The project is
a joint effort by the National Park Service and nonprofit Yosemite Fund.
Officials disclosed
details Monday in San Francisco, where a fund-raising effort was announced
to collect the last $2.5 million of the project's total cost. The first $10
million was raised from private foundations and federal funds.
The renovation
plan was prepared by landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, whose credits include
the FDR Memorial in Washington, D.C., and Levi Plaza and Ghirardelli Square
in San Francisco.
Yosemite Falls,
at 2,400 feet from the lower base to the top of the upper falls, ranks as
the fifth-highest waterfall in the world. It draws about 3 million visitors
annually, and park officials say the wear clearly shows in degraded facilities
and overcrowded trails.
"The human-built
area around the falls is a mess," said Chip Jenkins, assistant park superintendent,
citing degraded trails, jammed parking and overcrowded bathroom facilities.
"The natural beauty is iconic, but the approach is not worthy of it."
A face-lift has
been needed for more a decade, said Bob Hansen, executive director of the
Yosemite Fund.
"Right now,
the bathroom facility and a lot of the infrastructure around the falls is
so beaten up and ugly it makes your heart sick to look at it," he said.
The restoration
includes removal of a parking lot that accommodates about 35 tour buses and
35 cars. Parking will be available instead at a central facility served by
shuttle buses, about one-quarter mile from the falls. Plans also call for
larger rest rooms, improved viewing areas, better access for the disabled,
a restored loop trail and renovation of six bridges
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