Infos zum Yosemite NP

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Yosemite National Park Completes Construction On New 6-Lane Scenic Driving Trail

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Hailing it as an exciting new way to experience the park in all its glory, Yosemite National Park announced Friday that it had completed construction of a new six-lane scenic driving trail. “We’re proud to announce the opening of our new six-lane Sierra Heritage Supertrail, which will traverse such amazing landmarks as Mariposa Grove, Glacier Point, and El Capitan, all in under 45 minutes,” said Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman, adding that a rotary atop Half Dome will allow drivers to slow down to take pictures without the inconvenience of exiting their vehicles. “Visitors can roll down their windows and experience the fresh air from each of the park’s five different vegetation zones as they cruise by majestic waterfalls and awe-inspiring valleys at 60 miles per hour. And keep an eye out for the diverse wildlife that lives within Yosemite, because the trail winds through all the major animal habitats.” At press time, traffic had slowed to a crawl at Sentinel Rock as six lanes of vehicles merged to pass through the single manned toll booth.

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Starbucks opens in a U.S. national park for first time — and not everyone’s thrilled

The worldwide coffee giant proudly announced this month the opening of the coffee shop at Yosemite National Park in California and touted it as a model of green energy design. But the store has raised the ire of park purists.

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For the first time, a Starbucks has opened within a U.S. national park, according to the worldwide coffee giant.
The worldwide coffee giant proudly announced earlier this month the opening of the coffee shop at Yosemite National Park in California and touted it as a model of green energy design.
But the controversial project has raised the ire of park purists. So far more than 25,000 people have signed an online petition voicing their opposition to the plan.
“Multinational corporations have no place in our National Parks,” according to the petition on change.org. “The opening of a Starbucks in Yosemite Valley opens the door to further undue development. The Park will lose its essence, making it hardly distinguishable from a chaotic and bustling commercial city.”

The cafe will be located in a recently remodeled food court inside the Yosemite Valley Lodge, according to a news statement released by the Seattle-based coffee company.
In an effort to be “respectful to the park,” the redesign features the space’s original vaulted ceilings, and exposed beams as well as reclaimed and rediscovered redwood from Northern California, Starbucks said.
There’s no sign on the outside, and it’s “just the warm glow from floor-to-ceiling windows that beckon visitors like a campfire amongst the towering ponderosa pines and sequoias,” the statement says.
The project, which is a collaboration between the U.S. National Park Service and Aramark, which is licensing the Starbucks brand and products, was defended to NBC News by Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman.
“It’s an integral part of the visitor experience, to have food and drink that is accessible, of good quality and at a reasonable price. We want to make sure the visitors have that,” he said.
Opponents say the park should have sought public input on the decision and considered using a local coffee company instead of Starbucks.

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$13 million upgrade coming to Yosemite's Bridalveil Fall area

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Bridalveil Fall is the first breathtaking waterfall that millions of visitors see when they first enter Yosemite Valley. Its pounding, cascading waters roar down 620 feet, gracing countless vacation photos and framing legendary images from Ansel Adams and other famed photographers.

But the area, one of Yosemite National Park’s iconic locations, is marred by old, smelly pit toilets, a congested parking lot and cramped, crumbling asphalt trails, all dating back decades. Now, Yosemite officials are putting the final touches on plans for a $13 million restoration of the area, with half the funding coming from a nonprofit group, the Yosemite Conservancy, based in San Francisco.
The new plan will feature a larger parking lot, modern flush toilets, interpretive signs and wider hiking trails with wooden boardwalks and more accessible features designed in the classic granite and pine national park style of the 1930s.
“The falls is doing fine, but the facilities at the base of the falls haven’t changed since the 1960s,” said Frank Dean, president of the Yosemite Conservancy, and a former ranger at Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Sequoia national parks. “Until last month there was still a phone booth there. It’s like a time warp. It needs a makeover.”

Yosemite officials began the process last year. They released an environmental study in February, and expect to finalize plans this summer. Construction on the trails should begin this fall, with the heavy work starting next spring, and the entire project finished a year later, in 2020. Bridalveil Fall will remain open next year during construction, Dean said.

“The parking lot gets clogged. It’s not configured well. And the bathroom literally stinks,” said Scott Gediman, a spokesman for Yosemite National Park. “There are safety concerns on the trail going to the falls. Sometimes it’s a sheet of ice, and people fall.
“The goal is preserving the area,” Gediman added, “getting people to the falls, improving the trails, getting as much parking as we can and making it more of an experience, just like at Lower Yosemite Falls.”
The blueprint calls for expanding the parking lot by about 24 spaces to hold 80 cars, but reconfiguring the lot so that it doesn’t grow significantly in size. The old compost toilet bathrooms with four stalls will be torn down and replaced with 14 flush toilets.
A new gathering, viewing, and orientation plaza will be added near the restrooms. It will include benches and signs describing the history, wildlife and geology of the area. The new design includes bear boxes, animal-proof trash and recycling receptacles, and upgraded, re-routed trails, with two viewing platforms instead of one.
Asphalt on the trails will be removed but stone bridges built by the U.S. Cavalry in the years before 1916, when park rangers were first appointed to Yosemite, will remain.
“It seems like it will be better. The way it is now is a mess,” said Alan Carlton of Alameda, chair of the Sierra Club’s Yosemite Committee. “We support the plan. We don’t want more development on that end of the valley, but this isn’t really expanding development.”
Park officials also plan to cut down about 100 conifer trees that limit views of the falls, as part of a national parks policy that allows trimming and cutting back trees and other vegetation to improve views that have become blocked over the years in places that historically were not as thick with vegetation.
“We continue to strive for the balance of visitor access and resource preservation,” said Gediman. “We have a dilapidated facility and we are looking to minimize the impact on the natural environment and maximize the visitor experience.”

Half of the money for the project came to Yosemite as part of an obscure law, the Helium Stewardship Act of 2013. Under the law, signed by President Obama, the federal government is selling some of the massive amounts of helium it has stockpiled in an underground facility in Amarillo, Texas, since the 1920s, and $50 million of the proceeds is going to national parks for maintenance projects that have matching funding from private donors. The helium reserve was set up to provide helium for dirigibles and airships, but then was used in military applications during the Cold War. Yosemite applied for, and got a $6.5 million grant from the fund, and the Yosemite Conservancy agreed to put up $6.5 million to match it.
Since 1988, the conservancy has donated roughly $120 million to Yosemite National Park in private donations. The money has paid for major upgrades to facilities around Lower Yosemite Falls, Glacier Point, Tunnel View, Olmstead Point and other locations. One of the conservancy’s projects, a renovation of the trails and facilities at Mariposa Grove, the giant sequoia grove on Yosemite’s southern edges, opens in June to the public following construction.
“There’s a tremendous need to have facilities for visitors,” said Brian Ouzounian, co-founder of the Yosemite Valley Campers Coalition, a group that advocates for more camping facilities in the park. “It’s a long, winding road into the valley. I had a disabled brother. I know what it’s like to need a comfort station and the proper facilities. This project is long overdue.”

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Yosemite Valley reopens after storm brought flooding to parts of Northern California

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After an intense tropical storm caused flooding in roads and rivers throughout Yosemite Valley on Saturday, the national park reopened to vehicles and visitors on Sunday afternoon.
Park crews were working to clear water, rocks and debris from roads early Sunday morning, and officials warned of delays along several routes. Park services, restaurants and lodging have mostly reopened.
The storm Saturday brought less water than expected, dumping 2.5 inches of rain instead of the forecasted 4 inch. But it was enough to swell the Merced River to as high as 13.73 feet, 4 feet over what's considered a flood. Roads and campsites on Saturday were under as much as 4 feet of water, but the water had mostly receded by early Sunday morning, according to park officials.
The storm that hit the area on Friday and Saturday was part of a larger weather system that established rainfall records in Sacramento, Oroville and San Francisco and brought more than 6 inches of rain to parts of the Bay Area. The storm was an example of an "atmospheric river," a long plume of water vapor loaded with warm tropical moisture.

Officials with the California Department of Water Resources have closely monitored the storm's effects on Lake Oroville, where a partially repaired spillway may be used for the first time since it crumbled last year and prompted evacuations downstream.
Officials have tried to keep the lake's levels low, but a series of storms hit in late March.
Water Resources officials said they would open the spillway gates to release water if the lake rises to 830 feet. On Sunday morning, censors showed the reservoir waters at 799.5 feet. At 901 feet, the lake would spill over.
Weather conditions in the area are expected to remain relatively dry until Wednesday, when a small storm is expected to bring about a half-inch of rain, said Kris Mattarochia, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford, Calif.

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Glacier Point Road in Yosemite National Park to Open on Saturday, April 28, 2018

Tioga Road in Yosemite National Park opens for the season

Yosemite National Park and Yosemite Conservancy Celebrate the Reopening of the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias After the Largest Restoration Project in Park History

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Yosemite National Park, Yosemite Conservancy and public officials today dedicated the newly restored Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias following a landmark project to protect the ancient trees and reestablish the area’s natural serenity.
“As the largest protection, restoration and improvement project in park history, this milestone reflects the unbridled passion so many people have to care for Yosemite so that future generations can experience majestic places like Mariposa Grove,” said Yosemite National Park Superintendent Michael Reynolds. “These trees sowed the seeds of the national park idea in the 1800s and because of this incredible project it will remain one of the world’s most significant natural and cultural resources.”
Mariposa Grove is home to about 500 mature giant sequoias, which are among the largest living things on Earth. The grove and Yosemite Valley were protected in 1864 as part of the Yosemite Grant Act, the nation’s first legislation focused on preserving public lands.The National Park Service and Yosemite Conservancy donors each provided $20 million to fund the $40 million project. The grove has been closed to the public since July 2015 when restoration activities began.
At a new arrival area, where shuttle busses will drop-off visitors, officials marked the grove reopening with a ribbon cutting and a tribal blessing. Speakers highlighted the grove’s historical significance, the importance of preserving our natural places, and the effectiveness of the National Park Service and Yosemite Conservancy partnership to accomplish exceptional work in the park.
“The grove restoration occurred because tens of thousands of people all invested in protecting a unique natural phenomenon,” said Yosemite Conservancy President Frank Dean. “Trails are supposed to take visitors someplace magical. Today, a walk in the grove has been transformed into a more beautiful and peaceful experience with the focus squarely on the trees.”

A New Experience at Mariposa Grove
Instead of parking amid the grove, a visit today starts at the new Welcome Plaza near the park’s South Entrance, where a cross section of a fallen sequoia that lived for more than 800 years reminds visitors of the ancient place they are about to explore. From the plaza, visitors will take a free two-mile shuttle bus ride to the Grove Arrival Area where habitat grows in what was once parking areas for vehicles, tour busses, trams and employees. The grove’s trails are now made of natural surfaces instead of pavement, and wooden boardwalks hover over sensitive wetland to protect habitat and sequoia roots. Rattlesnake Creek is flowing again after culverts blocking waterflows were replaced by one of the elevated boardwalks. Another new trail invites people of all abilities to experience the famous Grizzly Giant and California Tunnel Tree.
“There is wetland or vegetation that was once pavement, but it’s impossible to know by looking now what was there before,” said Dean. “It is a remarkable transformation.”
A Yosemite Conservancy-funded assessment of Mariposa Grove became the foundation for the restoration plan. That survey, the first ever conducted in the grove, identified an estimated population of 5,803 trees of all sizes, including seedlings, saplings, juveniles and adults. Park biologists learned that 81 percent of the juvenile sequoias and 68 percent of saplings grow within 100 feet of wetlands, an important factor in the redesign of paths and installation of boardwalk to ensure the health of the grove.
Giant Sequoias can grow to be 300 feet high, 35 feet in diameter and 100 feet in circumference. One of the grove’s largest trees, the Grizzly Giant, is 209 feet tall and an estimated 1,800 years old. The grove is also home to more than 70 wildlife species, including rare wildlife such as pallid bats, Pacific fishers, and spotted owls.

Additional Project Facts
Four acres of sequoia habitat restored.
Four miles of new trails built, including converting many roads within the grove to trails.
20,500 feet of asphalt removed or 1.44 acres, a 50 percent reduction.
600 feet of boardwalk and bridges installed to protect sequoia roots and improve hydrology that allows the grove to flourish.
Accessibility throughout the lower grove area improved, as well as around the Grizzly Giant and California Tunnel Tree, with new universally accessible trails and ADA parking areas.
New educational signage installed about sequoias, trails, stewardship, ecology and history, including greetings in the languages for the Traditionally Associated Tribes of Yosemite National Park.
Unsightly vault toilets in the grove were removed and replaced with new restrooms with flush toilets in the South Entrance Welcome Plaza and Grove Arrival Plaza.
Gift shop and tram tours were removed from the grove.

Visiting Mariposa Grove
Mariposa Grove Welcome Plaza is located at the park’s Southern Entrance at Hwy. 41 and is open every day.
Free shuttle busses from the Welcome Plaza to the grove depart in summer 8 a.m.-8 p.m.
Yosemite Conservancy volunteers orient visitors and operate a new gift shop at the Welcome Plaza.
Parking in the new Southern Entrance Welcome Plaza includes 285 spaces, eight accessible, and 16 oversized vehicle spaces, two of which are accessible.
Parking at the trailhead to the grove, called the Grove Arrival Plaza, includes 33 spaces, and vehicles displaying valid disabled placards may drive there when the gate is open.
More than 1 million people visit Mariposa Grove annually.

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Raging Wildfire Cuts Off Major Route Into Yosemite National Park

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A wildfire burning largely out of control on the western edge of Yosemite National Park has killed one firefighter and shut down State Route 140, a major access route into the park.

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Wildfire could become "major threat" to Yosemite, scientist says

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Swain, of the University of California at Los Angeles, bases his prediction based on two factors.
One is that the fire is burning in a tinderbox - an area that's filled with dry, dead trees that became infested with beetles during previous years of drought. The other is that he believes that area of Mariposa County faces "a long period of hot weather to come."
The wildfire grew quickly and forced the closure of a key route into Yosemite National Park as crews contended with sweltering conditions Sunday, authorities said.
The fire broke out Friday and was consuming dry brush along steep, remote hillsides on the park's western edge. It was burning largely out of control, and officials shut off electricity to many areas, including Yosemite Valley, as a safety precaution.
Guests were ordered to leave Yosemite Cedar Lodge on Saturday as flames crept up slopes and the air became thick with smoke.

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Yosemite in Kalifornien - Waldbrand bedroht US-Nationalpark

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Der Yosemite-Nationalpark ist einer der berühmtesten der USA. Nun könnte ein großflächiger Brand den Park nachhaltig schädigen.

Ein Waldbrand im US-Bundesstaat Kalifornien breitet sich unkontrolliert nahe dem berühmten Yosemite-Nationalpark aus. Die Flammen fraßen sich seit Freitag durch mehr als 5.000 Hektar Wald im angrenzenden Sierra National Forest westlich des Parks. Das twitterte die kalifornische Feuerwehr.

Erst fünf Prozent des Ferguson-Feuer genannten Brandes seien bislang eingedämmt worden. Trockenes Wetter und Westwinde könnten das Feuer demnach weiter in Richtung des Nationalparks treiben.

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Das sieht leider nicht gut aus.

Deadly Ferguson Fire chugs toward Yosemite National Park, thunderstorms cause concern

Momentan würde ich von einem Besuch des Yosemite NP und auch des Sequoia NP abraten.
Wildfires near Sequoia, Yosemite National Parks continue to grow

Glacier Point Road ist auch geschlossen.Klick