Date: August 28, 2006

The 9th Annual Apple Picking Event and Bear Awareness Day will be held at the Curry Village Orchard Parking Lot in Yosemite Valley on August 30, 2006 from 10am to 1pm. 

Park visitors are invited to join Yosemite National Park staff, staff from DNC Parks and Resorts in Yosemite, Inc., and Yosemite Association volunteers in picking apples from the historic, though non-native, apple orchard at Curry Village. Each fall, the apples attract bears into the developed areas of Yosemite Valley and alter their natural diets. By removing the apples, the bears will return to natural food sources found throughout the park.

Bear Awareness/Apple Picking in the Curry Village Orchard Parking Lot will occur as part of a continuing public awareness campaign designed to inform visitors of the key role they play in protecting Yosemite's bears. Since 1998, the bear management program has significantly reduced incidents in the park through these efforts.

Yosemite National Park rangers and biologists will be on hand to educate park visitors about the behavior, biology, and management of Yosemite's black bears. 

DNC Parks and Resorts in Yosemite, Inc. will donate their famous Bear Scat Muffins for hardworking volunteers, as well as free t-shirts for the first 50 volunteers to pick three full bags of apples.

Visitors attending this year's event are encouraged to park in the Yosemite Valley Day Parking, (near Yosemite Village) as parking at Curry Village will be very limited due to the event. For more information, please call 209/372-0200.