Jeffrey,
What a well spoken and intelligent response. Let's
keep Yosomite a place where our children and grand
children can enjoy the beauty of this unique gift of
nature. I love taking in the open air in my roadster
as much as anyone, but I have been to Yosemite in
Summer and there is no enjoyment in bumper to bumper
traffic no matter how beautiful the place. I would
rather ride a bus.
Peter van der Pas (Giraffehauler)
--- Jeffrey Wilson <jeffalso88@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >Preserve how? Most of Yosemite is completely
> inaccessible by car right now
> >anyway.
>
> Well, living close to Yosemite and having family
> that live within 30 miles
> or so of Yosemite allows one to hear some of the
> real reasons.
>
> I visit Yosemite as much as I can and even did some
> "projects" regarding the
> ecosystem of Yosemite and the general area when I
> was in college (Bio
> Major).
>
> Part of the reason for the preservation push right
> now (not just Yosemite
> but The Grand Canyon and many other national parks
> as well) is due to
> AUTOMOBILE damage to the park. Yes, I said
> Automobile damage. You may be
> asking, "How is that possible?". The biggest issue
> is CO (Carbon Monoxide
> and other nasties but out by our cars). It damages
> the trees and other
> native plantlife on the valley floor. There has been
> a tremendous influx of
> automobiles into the park in the last few years (oh,
> 10 or so) and it has
> really caused some damage that you can even see if
> you know where to look
> for it.
>
> Also, a good portion is from cars parking along the
> side of the meadows in
> the valley to take pictures. Wheels rolling over the
> same areas over and
> over again, has caused some damage to the meadows.
>
> Sure, much of the good parts of the park are a hike
> away from the valley
> floor and only accessible by foot, but much of the
> Preservation push has
> come as an effort to 1) Keep fewer people going to
> the park (fewer cars
> allowed, you are naturally going to upset some
> people and encourage them not
> to come) and 2) Help reduce the damage to the most
> visible, most visited
> parks of the park - the Valley and Glacier Point.
>
> It would really be a shame if they attemptd to
> restrict auto traffic into
> the park, becuase the closest you could park would
> be 30-40 miles away and
> into the valley you are looking at an hour drive as
> it is, so it could be
> 1.5 to 2 hours just to get into the valley with
> "public" transit methods.
> Not to mention, how horrible it would be to NOT
> drive through Yosemite with
> the top down on a glorious sunny day :) But, in the
> end, wouldn't it be in
> the best interest of everyone to preserve these
> beautiful areas (treasures
> if you will) of our wonderful country than to let
> them slowly rot and decay
> because of our own arrogance and egos? If done
> properly, I will gladly
> support the efforts of our Departments of
> Agriculture and Forestry in
> preserving these parks, especially Yosemite (best
> national park in our
> country, IMHO).
>
> Jeffrey Wilson
>
>
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