SIERRA CLUB CALENDARS ARE AVAILABLE GOOD HOLIDAY GIFTS! MEMBERS INVITED TO FILL VACANCIES ON EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

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1 The Sequoia SM Sierra Club Tuolumne Group P.O. Box 4440 Sonora, CA Environmental Voice of Calaveras and Tuolumne Counties Published for members of the Tuolumne Group Sierra Club Vol. 22 No. 5, October 2017 Website: Newsletter Editor: Jill Micheau SIERRA CLUB CALENDARS ARE AVAILABLE GOOD HOLIDAY GIFTS! Longtime Sierra Club volunteer Jennie Moiso is once again heading up calendar sales to benefit the local Tuolumne Group. She has Wilderness wall calendars and binder-type Engagement calendars for home or office. Both have truly spectacular photos of nature scenes. The Wilderness wall calendars ($14) feature large photos for each month, while Engagement calendars ($15) have impressive photos for each week. To order calendars, contact Jennie by phone at: or Jennie at: MEMBERS INVITED TO FILL VACANCIES ON EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE The Tuolumne Group functions entirely due to volunteer efforts by members of the ExCom (the Executive Committee) for our local Sierra Club. In 2018, Elaine Hagen, Steve Zlotolow, Kevin Rice, Keith Martin, and Ross Johnson will each be serving their second year on the ExCom. Current ExCom members Trudy Craig and John Buckley are offering to continue to serve for a new term. Two openings on the ExCom in 2018 need to be filled. ARE YOU INTERESTED IN SERVING? If you are willing to consider attending the monthly ExCom planning meetings, please contact Kevin at: kjrice@ucdavis.edu to sign up to help. WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARE ABOUT YOUR OUTDOOR ADVENTURES? One suggested option for our next-scheduled Tuolumne Group meeting on January 25 is to have willing members of our Group come and talk for 5-10 minutes each about a recent backpack trip, climbing adventure, raft trip, camping experience, or whatever outdoor adventure you feel is worth sharing. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED, PLEASE JOHN at: johnb@cserc.org to arrange to him 10 photos that you would like to share with your brief talk. If we can get at least six members to share photos and details about your exciting or memorable adventure, we will schedule this MEMBERS ADVENTURES for our January program. It could be fun to see what local Sierra Club members have been doing or to see photos of wildlife they have encountered. 1

2 SOME OUTINGS HIGHLIGHTS By Bob Asquith Our Thursday hiking group (which focuses on hikes along the Highway 120 corridor) has had many great hikes in I want to highlight two that had unexpected surprises. Over many hikes, it seems occasionally there is a treat for the faithful. One was hiking from Foresta (along the Big Oak Flat Road in Yosemite) up onto the bench above and then through the forest to Tamarack Creek. This hike was replete with many wildflowers, some waist high. This is a result of several fires removing the tall cover. We started into the forest area and found a huge field of lupine. They were so tightly crowded together there was scarcely room to walk among them. Only a thin trail through the field existed. As we walked on, the trail led around the corner revealing even more lupine fields. This went on for nearly 10 minutes of walking. It is not uncommon to find lupine along this hike, but not in this perfusion. The heavy rains brought about the bloom. It was spectacular. 2

3 The other hike we referred to as our unhike because it is less than 3 miles long and has a 90 minute rest in the middle. This is located in Tuolumne Meadows. We hike up and over Pothole Dome, climbing several hundred feet, and then due north to the banks of the Tuolumne River. This is a spot about half a mile west from where the river leaves Tuolumne Meadows. There, we were treated to a spectacular flow of water generated from the amazing storms of We sat by the river, walked back-and-forth up-and-down the river, and just enjoyed our break in the middle. Then we headed back around the bottom and east flank of the dome. Almost at the conclusion, we looked over to our left, some 50 yards off the trail, spotted this enormous field of shooting stars. It was about size of the footprint of the house. This is unusual in that these flowers usually grow in small clumps and almost never in huge fields. That was twice in one year that we were treated to an unexpected wildflower spectacle. These are just a few of the Thursday folks. 3

4 PEAK SEASON VISITS CAUSE YOSEMITE CONGESTION AND GRIDLOCK Just a few years ago, Yosemite National Park had annual visitation numbers in the 3 million-visitor range. Then visits rose to 4 million. In 2016, visits soared past 5 million. This current year the number of visitors will not reach that peak visitor level due to Highway 120 access being blocked for months last winter as well as periods of summer wildfires and smoke that discouraged some visitors. Nevertheless, from spring through the summer, on busy weekends or during weekday periods of peak season visitation, so many people crowded into Yosemite Valley that roads were frequently jammed. Traffic came to a standstill. Visitors who traveled for hours to reach Yosemite as their treasured destination ended up stalled for up to three hours in gridlocked traffic because there were literally zero parking spaces available in the east end of Yosemite Valley and because the limited road system in Yosemite Valley was simply overwhelmed. Even at the early part of the busy summer season, Park officials were publicly sharing that the traffic gridlock and the resulting negative visitor experiences were unacceptable in the eyes of the Park Service. A few years ago, Park leaders approved the Merced Wild and Scenic River management plan (which approved management direction for Yosemite Valley as well as other areas in the Park along the Merced River corridor). That Plan spelled out a relatively high visitor user capacity level limit for how many people were allowed into Yosemite Valley in a day. But like many agency plans that attempt to minimize political controversy, the Park Service didn t require any strict monitoring strategy to actually monitor and enforce that limit on crowding and congestion. No clear solution was provided when acceptable use levels were exceeded. 4

5 As part of that management plan, parking in the east end of Yosemite Valley was expanded and a new round-about traffic circle was created to reduce vehicles stopping and backing up lines of cars near Yosemite Village. In comparison to the amount of vehicles all pouring into Yosemite Valley this summer, the expanded parking and streamlined traffic strategy completely failed to meet the demand. Cars filled with families who had driven for hours not only were stuck in gridlock, but after hours of delay, those vehicles were often turned back by Yosemite Park employees at the cross-over road halfway down Yosemite Valley and forced to exit back out of the Park. People who had waited for two hours in a traffic jam never even got to see Yosemite Falls or the east half of Yosemite Valley. Businesses have evolved over the past decade in particular to provide lodging, tours, bus visits, and other services for the huge number of Yosemite lovers who want to visit the Park. Social media has resulted in more day-use and overnight visitors wanting to come to this world-renowned destination. Yosemite Valley in particular is popular beyond its capacity. If Yosemite Valley and its natural resources are to be protected adequately for both the present time and for future generations, visitation limits need to be set. Equally important, when people DO find a parking spot and finally reach their Yosemite Valley destination, their visitor experience matters. To be jostled, crowded, or part of a throng of people swarming the most popular destinations are the exact opposite of what most visitors seek as their experience. Unless the broad range of interests who love Yosemite and/or profit from Yosemite start working together to strategize fair and visionary solutions on how to avoid congestion and traffic gridlock in this iconic place, Yosemite Valley in particular will become more and more of a shopping mall or sporting event type of experience where crowding is the norm. In contrast, a visionary plan that places a priority on protecting the resources and the quality of the visitor experience would ensure that our current generation passes on Yosemite in a healthier condition as a legacy. 5

6 Tuolumne Group Sierra Club P.O. Box 4440 Sonora, CA Non-Profit Organ. U.S. Postage PAID Sonora, CA Permit No. 39 Tuolumne Group Meetings Executive committee meets the 3 Thursday of each month at the Tuolumne Utility District boardroom from 6:30-8:00 PM. Online event calendar: Adopt A Highway Adopt-a-Highway trash pickup happens on the 2ⁿ Tuesday of the even months (February, April, June, August, October, December). If you would like to volunteer, please call Jon Stutevant at for information. Rain cancels this event. Executive Committee Co-Chair: Trudy Craig, broadinski48@yahoo.com Co-Chair: Steve Zlotolow, steve.zlotolow@gmail.com Membership: Elaine Hagen, elainehagen@att.net Secretary: John Buckley, johnb@cserc.org Treasurer: Kevin Rice, kjrice@ucdavis.edu Outings: Keith & Beth Martin, keithwmartin@sbcglobal.net Programs: Open Position Chapter Conservation delegate: Kevin Rice, kjrice@ucdavis.edu Chapter Excom delegate: Kevin Rice, kjrice@ucdavis.edu Publicity, Ross Johnson, srjohnson100@gmail.com Webmaster, John Kinnear, johnkinnear@yahoo.com Newsletter, Jill Micheau, jillmicheau@gmail.com 6