Four similar views demonstrate how vegetation and management actions have altered historic viewsheds.
Yosemite National Park was set aside during the Lincoln Administration in 1864 for preservation and enjoyment by the American public due to its outstanding scenery. Yosemite’s formidable scenery was first and perhaps best described by Frederick Law Olmsted in his Report to Congress in 1865.
"It is in no scene or scenes the charm consist, but in the miles of scenery where cliffs of awful height and rocks of vast magnitude and of varied and exquisite coloring are banked and fringed and draped and shadowed by the tender foliage of noble and lovely trees and bushes, reflected from the most placid pools, and associated with the most tranquil meadows, the most playful streams, and every variety of soft and peaceful pastoral beauty. This union of the deepest sublimity with the deepest beauty of nature, not in one feature or another, not in one part or one scene or another, not any landscape that can be framed by itself, but all around and wherever the visitor goes, constitutes the Yo Semite the greatest glory of nature."
Early landscape artists and photographers brought the grandeur of Yosemite Valley to the nation’s attention, attracting tourists eager to experience its splendors. As the park was developed over the next century, roads were aligned, buildings were sited, and trails were constructed to maximize the visitors’ ability to experience Yosemite’s scenic wonders.
When the park was initially set aside for protection vegetation patterns were different than they are now. Prior to the park’s settlement by Euro-Americans, American Indians in Yosemite had a long tradition of periodically burning the Valley (in conjunction with other traditional vegetation management practices). This kept the meadows open, encouraged regrowth of indigenous subsistence foods and materials, and perpetuated the original oak woodland. Qualities of the parks early scenic setting include:
-
Unblocked views and open meadows—the “miles of scenery” described by Olmstead.
-
Open oak woodland which allowed for easy viewing of the Valley walls and waterfalls which was the scenic context for which the Valley was originally set aside.
-
A mix of low and high density forests throughout the park, maintained by natural (unplanned ignition) wildfires that burned in mosaic patterns.
Conventional land management practices after the establishment of the park altered the park’s scenery over the past 150 years. These practices include:
-
The practice of fire suppression and exclusion by early settlers in the late 1800s which was continued by park managers for decades, resulting in replacement of many original oak woodland areas with aggressive, invasive coniferous species such as incense-cedar and white fir.
-
Construction of roads, parking lots, and water diversion ditches in and adjacent to meadows, unintentionally damaged meadow health and encouraged unnatural growth of large trees in dense stands.
In the 1970s, the park service began recognizing the positive aspects of fire and as a result, limited prescribed burns (a.k.a. “planned ignitions”) were introduced. This helped restore some of the original meadows, reinvigorate giant sequoia groves, and otherwise manage forest health.
Purpose of the Proposed Plan
The purpose of the Scenic Vista Programmatic Management Plan for Yosemite National Park is to develop a systematic program to protect and restore Yosemite’s important viewpoints, vistas, and the natural processes that created them. This plan will fulfill the park’s obligations under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The program will replace the park’s current case by case approach and will enable and guide management actions by the National Park Service to:
-
Develop an objective process to determine what methods would be used to manage vistas
-
Preserve the historic and cultural settings in which the viewpoints were established
-
Restore and maintain scenic vistas through appropriate vegetation management actions such as trimming or removing trees and clearing brush
-
Accomplish scenic vista management, whenever practicable, by restoring natural species composition, structure, and function to systems, preferably by using traditional American Indian vegetation management practices, including fire
Need for the Proposed Plan
The Scenic Vista Programmatic Management Plan for Yosemite National Park is needed because past management practices have allowed vegetation growth to obscure the park’s iconic views, vistas, and discrete lines of sight. This includes trees and brush blocking views seen from specific locations, as well as coniferous forests that have been allowed to overgrow meadow systems. This has degraded both natural and cultural resources in Yosemite as well as compromising the visitor experience.
-
While prescribed burns/planned ignitions have had beneficial effects, many views continue to be obscured by dense growth.
-
Conifer growth caused by historic manipulation and fire suppression continues to fill in meadows and create dense, closed unnatural forests.
-
Visitor experience is negatively affected by this loss of viewing opportunities. Remaining unblocked viewpoints frequently exhibit crowding, compromising visitor safety.
-
If no action is taken, the park’s iconic views and meadows will continue to be negatively impacted.
Creation of a scenic vista management plan is called for by Yosemite’s 1980 General Management Plan, and is specifically allowed for by the National Park Service Organic Act.
The National Park Service and previous agencies that managed Yosemite Valley and the surrounding areas have periodically engaged in Vista Clearing since the 1850s. However, this approach has been ad hoc and has not followed a clear strategy, resulting in the loss of some scenic viewpoints, while other, sometimes less scenic viewpoints, have been maintained. During this same time period, two-thirds of the meadows in Yosemite Valley have been lost to unnatural conifer encroachment.
