P.O. Box 577
Yosemite, CA 95389
www.nps.gov/yose/news

May 15, 2006
For Immediate Release

Yosemite National Park and Huangshan National Park Become Sister Parks
Signing at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, formalizes the first such relationship between national parks in the United States and China

On May 13, 2006, Huangshan Park Manager Cheng Yingfeng and Yosemite National Park Superintendent Michael Tollefson signed an agreement forming a cooperative alliance between Huangshan National Park in East China's Anhui Province and Yosemite National Park in Central California.

The purpose of the sister park relationship is to promote international cooperation that benefits both parks. The relationship will allow the parks to share approaches to collaboration, including efforts to work with gateway communities, regional and local economies, friends groups, and partner organizations.

"I am honored to be here today as we sign this historic agreement," stated Yosemite Superintendent Tollefson. "I am confident that this agreement will provide great benefits to these two magnificent national parks."

Huangshan National Park and Yosemite National Park hold similar fascination to visitors, poets, painters and photographers. Both landscapes-with precipitous granite cliffs and towering pines-stir the imagination, inspiring great works of art. Historically, more than 20,000 poems have been written in praise of Huangshan, and a school of painting came into being there. John Muir and many notable American conservationists, writers and artists, have immortalized the majestic beauty of Yosemite for generations of Americans. To commemorate this connection, during a recent trip to China, Matthew Adams presented Mr. Cheng with a limited edition print of Yosemite created by his grandfather, the renowned American photographer Ansel Adams.

Huangshan National Park is in Anhui Province and was created in 1982 by the State Council of the People's Republic of China. Yosemite National Park was established in 1890 by the Congress of the United States. Both parks are World Heritage Sites.

-NPS-