Quick Shots: Yosemite National Park

So much happens within the areas of our National Park Service each week, that it is hard to keep up with everything. So starting today and continuing on the weekends, I'll try to post links to news stories on the web that may be of interest to you. This week, we have a bit of a theme here, as the three links below all relate to current happenings inside of Yosemite National Park.

Yosemite National Park: Something For Everyone:
"Among Yosemite Falls, Half Dome and all of the other breathtaking natural wonders sits the Ahwahnee Hotel. A historical landmark in its own right, the hotel was built back in 1927 and has retained its original architecture."

Funding for Yosemite falls behind inflation:
"'Park officials told us that, as a result of reduced funding levels, four vacant dispatcher positions cannot be replaced,' the GAO auditors stated this week. These vacancies, the congressional watchdog agency added, are 'threatening the park's ability to provide 911 services seven days per week and 24 hours per day.' The remaining staff has to work overtime to fill vacancies, and upcoming retirements threaten to leave Yosemite shorthanded in patrol and jailer positions."

Hetch Hetchy deserves to be restored to its original beauty:
"Eighty years ago, a terrible mistake was made when Congress authorized the building of a dam in Yosemite National Park's Hetch Hetchy Valley (the twin sister of the magnificent Yosemite Valley), described by environmentalist John Muir as 'a grand landscape garden, one of nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples.' In 1987, President Ronald Reagan's Secretary of the Interior Donald Hodel made a serious proposal to eliminate the reservoir and restore the Valley. Again Congress refused to fund the necessary studies."