>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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