February 6, 2009

Yosemite National Park Announces Public Scoping for the Scenic Vista Management Plan Environmental Assessment

Yosemite National Park is announcing the public scoping period for the Scenic Vista Management Plan Environmental Assessment (EA). Public scoping comments will be used to assist the park in developing a range of reasonable and feasible project alternatives that meet the purpose and need, including a no action alternative, and then analyzing the environmental effects of each alternative. A 30-day public scoping period for this EA will open on February 12, 2009 and will extend through March 13, 2009. Written comments should be postmarked no later than March 13, 2009.

Yosemite National Park was originally set aside for preservation due to its outstanding scenery. In 1851, Dr. Lafayette Bunnell, one of the first Europeans to gaze on Yosemite’s beauty, described the supreme grandeur of Yosemite Valley: “...the clouds...partially dimmed the higher cliffs and mountains. This obscurity of vision but increased the awe with which I beheld it, and as I looked, a peculiar exalted sensation seemed to fill my whole being.”

Millions of modern-day explorers have experienced this same view. Today, we call it Tunnel View. It’s just one of many iconic views and vistas for which Yosemite is famous.

The purpose of the Scenic Vista Management Plan is to:

• Protect Yosemite’s historic viewsheds and the natural processes that created them.
• Preserve the historic & cultural contexts in which the viewpoints were created.
• Restore visitor use opportunities associated with lost vistas.
• Where historic viewpoints cannot be rehabilitated, identify potentially new views or vistas.
• Restore or maintain vistas by restoring natural species composition, structure, and function to systems or by using traditional American Indian management practices.

A public open house will take place on February 25, 2009 from 1 pm to 4 pm in the Valley Visitor Center Auditorium in Yosemite Valley. Park Admission fees will be waived for those attending the open house.

Attend a public site visit to be held this summer.

Comments can be submitted at public meetings, by mail, fax, email, and through the Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) commenting system. Comments may be submitted by the following means:

Mail:
Superintendent
Attn: Scenic Vista Management Plan
P.O. Box 577
Yosemite, CA 95389
Phone: 209/379-1365; Fax: 209/379-1294
E-mail

Updates on Other Plans

Badger Pass Ski Lodge Rehabilitation: public scoping open until February 13, 2009

Environmental Education Campus: plan will be out this spring

High Elevation Aquatic Ecosystem Recovery & Stewardship Plan: draft document for public review expected summer 2009

Tioga Trailheads Project: draft document for public review expected late 2009

Tuolumne Meadows Plan-Draft Tuolumne River Plan/EIS: for public review/comment expected winter 2009/2010

Tenaya Lake Area Plan: draft document for public review expected winter 2010