July 3, 2008
New Website Empowers National Park Visitors To Address Global Warming - www.doyourpartparks.org/yose
You can help Yosemite reach its carbon footprint goal! The National Park Service in cooperation with the National Park Conservation Association have developed a new website, www.doyourpartparks.org, which empowers national park visitors to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help national parks to become leaders in combating global warming. It’s simple. Go to the website and pick a park to create a personal profile that will be linked to your carbon footprint and the park of your choice—Yosemite is one of 15 parks currently participating in the project. Calculate your carbon footprint by entering basic information about your household’s energy usage and pledge to reduce your carbon footprint. Explore the website and learn more about climate change and other information about what you can do to help. Join an on-line community of people committing to reduce their carbon footprint. By focusing your efforts with your pledge to Yosemite you will be able to see how every effort you take adds up. Our collective effort will help protect Yosemite’s glaciers, plants, wildlife, and air. Sign up today!
Did you know? If only 5 percent of national park users substituted 10 percent of their current electricity use with greener sources of power, they would save 11 billion pounds of CO2 per year!
Announcing the Parsons Memorial Lodge Summer Series, 2008
All programs, unless otherwise noted, begin at 2 pm and last approximately one hour. Allow 30 minutes walking time to Parsons Memorial Lodge from either Lembert Dome parking area or the Tuolumne Meadows Visitor Center. Admission is free.
J U L Y
Saturday, July 19: Lightning: What Strikes Our Fancy
Slide presentation by Dr. Jan van Wagtendonk, Research Scientist, USGS Field Station
Sunday, July 20: Bats, Birds, and Butterflies: Illuminating the High Sierra through Stories
Performance by Ane Carla Rovetta, naturalist, illustrator, and storyteller
Saturday, July 26: Bugs of the Underworld: The Natural History of Aquatic Insects
Video and talk by Ralph and Lisa Cutter, naturalists and award-winning nature videographers
Sunday, July 27: Reading the Land: A History of Geologic Research in Yosemite
Slide presentation by Greg Stock, Park Geologist
A U G U S T
Saturday, August 2:
2:00 pm: Ooolation! Singers
A performance of nature-inspired music by young singers led by hammer dulcimer player Malcolm Dalglish and singers Naomi Dalglish, Joshua Kartes, and Georgia Rose Armstrong Park
7:30pm - 10:00pm: Practice and Process: Prints and Writings in the Mountains
Slide presentation by Tom Killion, artist, and talk and reading by Gary Snyder, writer/poet, from Mountains and Rivers Without End
Sunday, August 3:
2:00 pm - 5:00 pm: Practice and Process: Prints and Writings in the Mountains
Discussion of the woodcut printing process by Tom Killion, artist, and talk and reading by writer/poet Gary Snyder—poems of place from his fifty years of work and writing
Saturday, August 9: Celebrating Yosemite’s Rivers and 40 Years of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
Slide presentation by Kristina Rylands, NPS Tuolumne Planning Project Manager
Sunday, August 10: Rock Glaciers as Refugia during Changing Climates: Pika, Plants, and Water
Slide presentation by Connie Millar, Senior Scientist, USFS
Saturday and Sunday, August 16 and 17: 12th Annual Tuolumne Meadows Poetry Festival
Poets David Hinton, Li-Young Lee, and Jay Leeming; Musician Shira Kammen, violin and vielle
Saturday, August 23: Ansel Adams in the Sierra Nevada
Slide presentation by Michael Adams, M.D., son of Virginia and Ansel Adams
Sunday, August 24: 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm, Good Summer Rain: Songs and Stories of Place
Concert and writing workshop by award-winning singer/songwriter Erica Wheeler
Saturday, August 30: Mono Lake’s Tributaries: An Eventful Past, A Promising Future
Slide presentation by Greg Reis, Information Specialist, Mono Lake Committee
This series is supported by the National Park Service, Yosemite Association, Loralee Tucker Hiramoto Memorial Fund, Friends of Parsons Lodge, Institute for Law and Systems Research, and Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from The James Irvine Foundation.
Reminder: Submit public comments on the Yosemite National Park Invasive Plant Management Plan Environmental Assessment by July 13, 2008
The public comment period for the Invasive Plant Management Plan Environmental Assessment opened on Friday, June 13, 2008 and will run through Sunday, July 13, 2008. The plan is available on the park's website at https://www.nps.gov/yose/parkmgmt/invasive.htm. A public meeting will take place in El Portal, California on July 8, 2008 at 7 pm in the Clark Community Hall. Park representatives will talk about the plan and be available to answer any questions.
Written scoping comments should be postmarked no later than July 13, 2008. Comments can be submitted at public meetings, by mail, fax, email, and through the Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) commenting system. To request a hard copy or CD ROM version of the EA and to submit written comments:
Mail: Superintendent, Yosemite National Park
Attn: Invasive Plant Management Plan
PO Box 577
Yosemite, CA 95389
Fax: 209/379-1294
e-mail us
PEPC: https://parkplanning.nps.gov
For more information on park planning efforts, visit the website at www.nps.gov/yose/parkmgmt/
Reminder: Submit scoping comments for the Yosemite National Park High-Elevation Aquatic Resources Management Plan Environmental Assessment by July 25, 2008
Yosemite National Park is preparing a High-Elevation Aquatic Resources Management Plan and Environmental Assessment (EA) to guide management actions by the National Park Service to protect Yosemite’s diverse high-elevation aquatic ecosystems and to restore natural composition, structure and function to systems that have been disturbed by past or ongoing human activities.
The National Park Service is requesting public input on the scope of the Aquatic Plan EA from June 23, 2008 through July 25, 2008. A public meeting will be held on July 12, 2008 at Parson’s Lodge in Tuolumne Meadows from 1 pm to 4 pm.
Written scoping comments should be postmarked no later than July 25, 2008. A draft document is expected to be available for public review in summer 2009. To request a hard copy or CD ROM version of the EA and to submit written comments, contact the National Park Service in person or by any of the means listed below:
Mail:
Superintendent
Attn: High-Elevation Aquatic Resources Management Plan
P.O. Box 577
Yosemite, CA 95389
Phone: 209/379-1365; Fax: 209/379-1294
e-mail us
PEPC: https://parkplanning.nps.gov
Visit online: www.nps.gov/yose/parkmgmt/aquatic.htm
2008 Tuolumne Planning Workbook NOW AVAILABLE
The NPS is pleased to announce that the 2008 Tuolumne Planning Workbook is now available for review and comment through September 15. Copies are available upon request and will be distributed throughout Tuolumne Meadows at the Tuolumne Meadows Lodge, the grill, the Tuolumne Meadows Visitor Center, and at Parsons Lodge.
To receive a copy, email your request to e-mail us, leave a phone message with your contact information at 209/379-1365, fax a request to 209/379-1294, or send your contact info by mail to Superintendent, attn: Tuolumne Workbook, PO Box 577, Yosemite, CA 95389. An online version can be viewed on the park's website at www.nps.gov/yose/parkmgmt/2008wrkbk.htm.
The purpose of the Tuolumne Planning Workbook is to provide an update on the Tuolumne River Plan process and give the public and park staff an opportunity to review and comment on early planning ideas. The 2008 edition builds on the work presented in the 2007 Workbook and was developed in response to the nearly 300 workbook mail-back comment forms, letters, faxes, and emails received last summer. The latest workbook contains the following:
- An update on the planning process, including how the Merced River Plan litigation affects this planning effort
- Changes as a result of public comments on the 2007 workbook's preliminary alternative concepts
- The latest range of draft management alternatives for the Tuolumne River, including the NPS preferred alternative
- Early alternative site plan concepts for Tuolumne Meadows
- A mail-back comment form
This summer the NPS is hosting public workshops in Tuolumne Meadows at Parsons Lodge to discuss the Tuolumne River Plan and accept public comments:
- July 18, 1 pm to 5 pm
- August 9, 9 am to 1 pm
Public input received on the 2008 workbook will be accepted through September 15 and will be considered in the preparation of the Draft Tuolumne Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (Draft Tuolumne River Plan/EIS), scheduled for release in summer 2009.
