March 3, 2008
Tuolumne Planning Workshop to be Rescheduled
The Tuolumne public planning workshop originally scheduled for March 8 has been postponed and will be rescheduled for a date in April (yet to be determined). The purpose of the next session is to share with members of the public the preferred alternative for the Tuolumne River Plan and to begin discussing alternative concepts for the Tuolumne Meadows Plan. Prior to the April workshop, the latest Tuolumne River Plan alternatives--including the new preferred alternative--and related workshop materials will be posted on the park's website at www.nps.gov/yose/parkmgmt/trp.htm. For additional information or to receive future notices regarding this workshop, please contact project manager Kristina Rylands at
209/379-1175 or by email.
NOTE: The Merced River Plan public workshop on Friday, March 7, will take place as scheduled (9:30 am to 3:30 pm in the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center Auditorium).
Yosemite Renaissance XXIII Art Exhibit
The Yosemite Renaissance, which is now in its twenty-third year, opened at the Yosemite Museum Gallery on Saturday, March 1. It will remain there through May 4, 2008. (Friday through Monday, 10 am to Noon and 1 pm to 4 pm). This year, from a near-record number of 465 entries, 38 paintings, photographs, sculptures, and drawings by 34 artists from across the country were selected. On the evening of the opening reception, photographer Ted Orland and print-maker Tom Killion (both former Yosemite Renaissance award-winners) selected the artists who will receive the $4,000 in cash awards. This year's exhibit is unquestionably one of the best ever mounted by Yosemite Renaissance, including a broad range of works from the representational to the abstract to the conceptual. Local artists in the exhibit include: Linda R. Abbott, Susan Bolen, Elizabeth Carmel, Michael Frye, Marian Gault, Peggy Hansen, Mark Heliger, William Neill, Penny Otwell, Jon Shiu, and Carol Rae Shockley.
Construction Updates
Big Oak Flat Slide Repair: Beginning Monday, March 3, a contractor will begin mobilizing to complete slide repairs on the Big Oak Flat Road (just north of the Foresta Road intersection or three miles north of the El Portal Road intersection). The project is scheduled to be complete in six weeks. Traffic through the site will be limited to one lane with signal lights controlling traffic 24 hours per day, seven days per week. There will be 15-minute delays. Hours of work are 7 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday.
Reconstruct El Portal Road at the "Narrows" (a 1/4-mile section of road upstream of the Big Oak Flat Road (with connections to Highway 120)-El Portal Road intersection): The contractor is working three shifts on the El Portal Road project and they have begun working Sunday nights. This will mean the traffic lights will only be used on weekend nights and Sunday. This schedule will continue until they are well above the river with the new retaining walls. There will not be any night closures of the El Portal Road on Sunday March 2 through Tuesday March 4. Night closures are scheduled for Wednesday March 5 and Thursday March 6.
Otherwise, the following schedule is in effect:
Monday through Saturday days: 30-minute delays from 6 am until 10 pm
Sunday through Thursday nights: closure from 10 pm until 6 am with one opening promptly at 11 pm
Call 372-0200 (press 1 then 1) for last-minute updates on the status of this road (and all other park roads).
March 1 Snow Survey Results
The March 1 snow survey results have just come in! The Merced drainage is at 119 percent of average for March 1; the Tuolumne drainage is at 121 percent of average for March 1.
