Published for Membersof the Yosemite Association

Fall 1987

Volume Forty-nineNumber Four

Draining Hetch HetchyA WATER AND POWER STRUGGLE

Henry Berrc '

On August 1, 1987, daily pa-pers, mainly those in the SanFrancisco Bay Area . but elsewhereas well, reported that InteriorSecretary Donald Hodel had anotion to study the removal ofthe O ' Shaughnessy Dam and thedraining of Hetch Hetchy reser-voir which occupies about 400

acres in the northwest part of Yo-semite National Park . An InteriorDepartment spokesman saidThis is not a plan, not a proposal.

This is an idea. "San Francisco 's Mayor Dianne

Feinstein . whose city stands tolose some $50,000.000 in re-venues from the sale of electricpower generated below the dam.and . along with several neighbor-

ing cities, water for 2,000,000residents, was not thrilled withthe idea.

Plan, proposal, idea or what-ever, her honor respondedpromptly, stating -I regard this,frankly, as the worst thing sinceselling arms to the Ayatollah. It 'sone administration idea that trulybelongs in 011ie North 's shredder.and I ' ll do all in my power to fight

it . " The mayor also was quotedas saying, "I think the dam isbeautiful . It fits right in itssetting . "

So a 74-year old squabblebetween the conservationgroups and San Francisco'swater and power interests hasbeen reignited.

The face of the O'Shaughnessy Dam .

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YOSEMITE ASSOCIATION, FALL 1HH '

"I could not help wondering if there wasn 'tsome way we might be able to start movementtoward the eventual removal of the dam andreservoir. What an incredible, irreplaceableaddition to the National Park System."—INTERIOR SECRETARY DONALD P. HODEL . IN REFERENCE TO THEREMOVAL OF THE OSHAUGHNESSY DAM AND THE HETCH HETCHYRESERVOIR FROM YOSEMITE.

Mr. Hodel, successor to thecontroversial Interior SecretaryJames Watt, not revered for hisstance on environmental matters,appears to have boggled the con-servationists, one of whom J.Michael McCloskey, Sierra ClubNational Chairman, called theSecretary's idea a welcome "boltout of the blue . We had no inklinghe was interested in the subject ."The Sierra Club has long con-tended that Hetch Hetchy is "agreat blot on the National ParkSystem" ever since Congress ap-proved it in 1913 . Most environ-mentalists have considered Mi.Hodel as more interested in de-veloping public lands for eco-nomic growth and energysupplies than preserving areas forscenic beauty and recreation.

Since the Secretary' s proposal

was announced, there have beenattempts to associate the HetchHetchy matter with the incom-plete and sidetracked AuburnDam—that if the Secretary pur-sued his Hetch Hetchy ambition,the various private and public in-terests concerned with water andpower would get together and re-surrect the Auburn Dam project.This perception is said by Mr.Hodel 's people to be faulty, andhas no basis in fact; the two mat-ters would be evaluated quiteseparately. Furthermore Mr.Hodel contends that HetchHetchy is not to be considered abargaining chip for any InteriorDepartment activity.

It is thought that the idea forthe Hetch Hetchy project arosein the Secretary's mind after heattended the decommissioning

of the Longmont Dams in RockyMountain National Park . In thatcase, however, the aim was to re-move unsafe dams rather than torestore a flooded valley.

Hetch Hetchy Valley 's trou-bled history and the later life ofthe much loved conservationistJohn Muir are inalterably linked.It is thought that Muir 's vigorousbut futile campaigning against thedamming of the Tuolumne Riverand the subsequent flooding ofthe Valley may have contributedto his death . Muir died a yearafter President Wilson, in 1913,signed into law the Raker Bill, giv-ing San Francisco the go-ahead onthe dam.

Most quoted of Muir 's impas-sioned outbursts was " DamHetch Hetchy! As well dam forwater-tanks, the people 's cathe-

drals and churches, for no holiertemple has ever been consecratesby the heart of man . "

On the other was Gifford Pir--chot, head of the U.S . Forest Ser-vice and allied with the San Fran-cisco water developers . He fa-vored a °utilitarian" conservationapproach, and told Congress in1913 : "I am fully persuaded that .. the injury . . . by substituting alake for a swampy valley (HetchHetchy) is altogether unimpor-tant compared with the benefitsto be derived from its use asa reservoir."

One of the benefits of the darnwas the provision of an adequatewater supply for the city of SanFrancisco, which had become

The famous valley before it wasdammed and, inset, John Muir .

:'OSEMITE ASSOCLTION, FALL 1937 PAGE THREE

A WATER AND POWER STRUGGLE

serious in its quest for additionalwater sources as early as 1901 andsingled out the Tuolumne Riveras a possibility. The disastrous1906 earthquake and fire found:he existing water supply in-adequate to subdue the flames,so the city pressed Congress hard:o authorize the dam, (now theonly one of any significance in aNational Park).

The dispute raged along, withthe opponents . principally theSierra Club, pretty well holdingtheir own until December 1913when Mr. W R. Hearst 's San Fran-:iscoExa,nmr'r produced a 16 pageedition supporting the project.That seems to have done it—foron that day the Raker Bill passedthe Senate and President Wilsonpromptly signed it.

Though not as large as Yosem-

ite Valley, Hetch Hetchy hasmany of its striking natural fea-tures, both gorges having beensculpted by the grinding ofglaciers and erosion by rivers—the Tuolumne in Hetch Hetchy,the Merced in Yosemite . Thewalls of both are of gray graniteand Hetch Hetchy's Kolana groupof crags—2,300 feet in height—are a counterpart to Yosemite 'sCathedral Rocks . On the oppositewall is a sheer 1,800 foot verticalwall, similar to El Capitan . HetchHetchy 's waterfalls, Tueeulalaand Wapama, parallel YosemiteFalls in height and volume . Ran-cheria Creek spills into the Valleynot unlike Tenaya Creek into Yo-semite, while the Tuolumneplunges in at the east end some-thing like Vernal Fall though notso high .

The floor of the valley beforeits flooding was meadowlike,covered with grasses and wild-flowers . and with stands of tallpines and massive oaks.

Josiah Whitney, more than ahundred years ago, called HetchHetchy "'almost an-exact counter-part of the Yosemite . It is notquite on so grand a scale . but ifthere were no Yosemite, theHetch Hetchy would be fairly en-titled to world wide fame . "

National Park Service DirectorWilliam Penn Mott has expresseda positive but perhaps cautiousopinion on his boss 's proposal."The National Park Service ofcourse would like to have two Yo-semite Valleys . Whether this is asolution that can be achievedeconomically and feasibly issomething that will take a great

deal of study. "Yosemite Superintendent Jack

Morehead greeted Mr. Hodel 'sidea with enthusiasm . " From thepark ' s standpoint, it would beanother spectacular glacial granitevalley lined with waterfalls. "

Both California senators weresomewhat vague in discussingthe proposal that could divide in-terest groups and constituenciesin their state . Democratic SenatorCranston said reclaiming HetchHetchy Valley sounds like "JohnMuir 's dream come true, how-ever, any plan must fully compen-sate San Francisco and providethe city with the equivalent waterand power. "

The dam under construction in 1914.Elevation numbers are marked onthe rockface .

PAGE FOUR

Y OSEMITE ASSOCIATION, FALL 1y ."-

Republican Senator Pete Wil-son said, " I don 't think SecretaryHodel 's proposal can be takenseriously until . . . we find an alter-native source of water for SanFrancisco . "

But Democratic CongressmanRichard Lehman, whose districtincludes Yosemite National Park,called it a "visionary idea " andsaid he believed the Secretary wassincere in proposing it . 'This issomething environmentalistshave wanted since the dam wentup : tear it down . How do you op-pose him [Mr. Hodel] just explor-ing it if there 's a chance you couldmitigate the awful damage atHetch Hetchy?."

Congressman Tony Coehlo,Democrat-Merced : " It' s some-thing that is rather intriguing butunrealistic . " As majority whip,Mr. Coehio's support would beimportant in moving such a planalong .

If Mr. Hodel is sincere abouthis intentions and the whole af-fair isn ' t a political red-herring assome have suggested, designedto make the administration lookbetter in the eyes of conser-vationists, there are scores ofquestions to be answered andconsiderations to be reckonedwith in the assessment ofwhether or not to razeO ' Shaughnessy Dam. Politiciansmay do a little backing and fillingand jockeying for attention, butthere 's no room for compromise.The dam stays or goes.

Not surprisingly. the SierraClub immediately expressed ela-tion over Mr. Hodel's unexpectedstatement . It has long fretted overthe presence of Hetch Hetchy andnearly 80 years ago the Club ' sPresident William Colby said thatit was a fight that the organiza-tion would pursue " if it shall takeuntil doomsday. "

Michael McCloskey some-what cautiously allowed that Mr.Hodel 's current proposal to re-store the Hetch Hetchy Valleywas a welcome one . Mr. McClos-key claims that San Franciscowon ' t go thirsty or withoutpower, having storage rights inDon Pedro Dam downstream onthe Tuolumne and the ability totake its drinking water from thereservoir which is close to thecity 's aqueduct. He states thatpower is no problem, since north-ern California utilities are awashin co-generated electricity fromfactories . It should not be forgot-ten, Mr. McCloskey said, that theO ' Shaughnessy and Lake EleanorDams represent a monumentalembarrassment for the nationthat orginiated both the idea of

The north wall of Hetch Hetchy atthe turn of the century.

national parks and the standardsfor their protection.

Among other conservation-oriented groups there was notcomplete agrement with Secre-tary Hodel 's idea. National Parksand Conservation head PaulPritchard stated that his group ini-tially had opposed the idea, butafter meeting with Mr. Hodel de-cided that the Secretary was sin-cere . Mr. Pritchard plans to startbuilding a constitutency amongthe members.

George Frampton, Jr. of theWilderness Society claims that hisorganization's reactions werenegative . " The idea is interesting'he said, "but given SecretaryHodel 's miserable record to date.there is no real evidence that he 'ssincere . "

Peter Coppelman of the Wil-derness Society states that theHetch Hetchy proposal is so in-consistent with the secretary 'sother anti-environmental policiesthere 's doubt that he ' s serious.

A group of 100 outdoor-oriented organizations, the Amer-ican Recreation Coalition, ofwhich Derrick Crandall is head.feels Secretary Hodel has thrownout an idea that attracts many ofhis members because it breaksdown preconceived notions andhas created a positive target forthose who care about naturalresources.

David Brower, highly regardedconservationist, called upon "SanFrancisco Mayor Feinstein, TheBoard of Supervisors and all SanFranciscans to correct the biggestenvironmental mistake ever com-mitted against the National ParkService . "

Certainly the image of a sec-ond magnificent Valley in Yosem-ite National Park is an appealingone . With public access and ap-propriate low-key visitorfacilities, there can be no doubtthat tourist pressures on YosemiteValley would be relieved.

And with seventy years ofYc-semite experience on the books.the National Park Service coulddo an even more noteworthy jotin managing Hetch Hetchy.

A Rare Basket CollectionReturns

Charles and Nellie Atkinson,circa 1893 .

Geo :ge Fisk: . YM

history. Nellie Crockett Riverscame to Yosemite from Peta-luma in 1889 at the age of 25,following the death of her firsthusband in 1887. She worked asa waitress at the StonemanHouse in the summer of 1889,sold photos at the StonemanHouse, and worked for photog-rapher George Fiske developing,printing and retouching photo-graphs . Charles Atkinson, 15years Nellie 's senior, had cometo Yosemite in 1878 in the em-ploy of J . M. Hutchings . Hesubsequently worked for thestate-administered YosemiteValley Commission and per-formed various services forlocal residents . Charles and Nel-lie were married on October 18,1892 . The Atkinsons had threechildren : Dorothy (1893–1963),Charles Edward `"Ned" (1894–1964) and William Bonney(1898–1902) .

Nellie befriended localIndian women and tradedbaked goods to them for theirbeadwork . She became anenthusiastic collector of Indianbaskets, reflecting the growingpublic interest in Indian artsthat took place at the end of thelast century. Her baskets, whichalmost filled one room of the

Dorothy and Ned Atkinson on `"PlumDuff," 1897 . Copied from DorothyAtkinson ' s autograph book, courtesyof Bonnie Douthit.

The Atkinson basket collection.Captain Dick 's basket is the globular-shaped basket with a stepped-diagonal design in the center, andthe basket with English words andpictures is directly in front of it.

Atkinson home, were acquiredprimarily as gifts from herIndian friends or in exchangefor kindnesses. Nellie was alsointerested in art, and she col-lected paintings, statuary andphotography. When Yosemite

When Yosemite Valley 'sadministration was ceded fromthe State of California to the fed-eral government in 1905, CharlesAtkinson was without a job . Hemoved with his family to Soquel,near Santa Cruz, in 1906 wherebe beame a rancher. WhenCharles died in 1912, Nelliemoved in with her daughterDorothy. Nellie died in SantaCruz in 1917

The Atkinson basket col-lection, intact as it was photo-grahed by George Fiske forGalen Clark's 1904 edition ofIndians of the Yosemite, was in-herited by Nellie 's daughter,Dorothy Atkinson Bardsley.After her death in 1963, the bas-kets were stored in an attic byher husband, Leonard, fromwhom they were purchased

by Marion Steinbach severalyears later.

The Atkinson collection hasbeen installed in its own case inthe Indian Cultural Museum toreplicate George Fiske 's photo-graph . This intact collection isinvaluable as it typifies basketcollections made in the region atthe turn of the century. It includesa good selection of utilitarian bas-kets as well as others that provideimportant insights into thedevelopment of Yosemite bas-ketry and how it changed inresponse to Anglo collectingactivities. One basket displays anew design style, manifestingEnglish words such as "gir' and"cow " and pictorial representa-tions, but also shows a blendingof Owens Valley and Mono LakePaiute technology and materials.Other baskets are among the ear-liest from Yosemite with blackand red weaving materialsappearing in the same pattern— adeparture from earlier one-colordesigns.

Unfortunately not muchspecific informaton about indi-vidual baskets has survived withthe collection . Marion Steinbachrelates one interesting story thathas been passed down in theAtkinson/Bardsley family. Cap-tain Dick, a Miwok leader livingin Yosemite Valley, became illand was expected to die . Hisprized basket was to be buriedwith him, as was customarilydone with valued possessions.Although Captain Dick 's caseseemed hopeles to Miwok sha-mans who had attempted to curehim, Nellie Atkinson reportedlynursed him back to health. Inaccordance with Miwok custom,Captain Dick gave her his trea-sured basket just as he wouldhave paid a Miwok shaman forhis cure . Captain Dick lived until1911, when he died at an esti-mated age of 100 years.

Marion Steinbach and herhusband Hank have been long-time advocates of Yosemite . Theyhave donated numerous items tothe Yosemite Museum and they

Continued on page 6

The Indian Cultural Museumhas recently been rearranged toaccommodate the Atkinsonfamily collection of Yosemitebaskets . This early collecton ofIndian baskets, collected inYosemite Valley over 80 yearsago, has been loaned to theYosemite Museum by MarionSteinbach.

These baskets are particu-larly significant to Yosemitebecause the original collectors,Charles and Nellie Atkinson,are noted figures in Yosemite's

PAGE SIX

YOSEMITE ASSOCLkTION, FALL 19t'

Members' MeetingShortened but Sweet

BasketsContinued front rage >

have placed many other objectson loan to Yosemite . Marion hasmade her extensive researchnotes on Yosemite Indians, basedon interviews conducted over thepast 30 years, available toMuseum staff . The Steinbachsfollow in the footsteps of Mar-ion' s parents, Emil and MargaretSchlichtmann, the largest singledonors to the Yosemite collec-tions . Mrs . Schlichtmann co-authored The Big Oak Flat Road to

taxed and outgoing style was per-fect for the event.

Because several items of busi-ness were not discussed asplanned . a summary of the reportthat would have been deliveredfollows:

Membership: Current mem-bership of the Association standsat 3,800 and growing . Duringsummer, 1987, N .P.S . naturalistswere asked to write interpretivearticles for publication in icsemite,and the resulting stories shouldbring a stronger " Nature Notes "flavor to the publication.

Seminars : The seminar pro-gram continues as a healthy activ-ity of Y.A . Expanded course offer-ings were available the past year,and new study topics are beingconsidered.

Sales/Publications : The newEl Portal warehouse has beencompleted and occupied, and Y.A.received two publishing awardsat the biennial meeting of the

Yosemite, and spent many yearsresearching the history of the Yo-semite area . The Schlichtmannswere active in the formation ofthe Pioneer Yosemie HistoryCenter in Wawona, and donatedmost of the furnishings to thePark, a total of over 1000 items.

The Yosemite Museum owesa great debt of gratitude to donorsand active supporters such asthese . The installation of theAtkinson baskets in the IndianCultural Museum brings a largeturn-oE-the-century collectionback to Yosemite once more foreveryone to enjoy and learn from .

Conference of National ParkCooperating Associations . The" Yosemite Fun Book " has beenpublished, and the limited editionbook entitled " Such A Landscape "will be available in November.The Cart Sharsmith biography isexpected by next spring.

Other Programs : Y.A . oper-ated the Ostrander Lake Ski Hutwith success for another year, hada good year with its YosemiteTheater program, and co-spon-sored the Art Activity Centerwith the Yosemite Park & CurryCo. From revenues generatedthroughout the year, Y.A . wasable to donate almost $110,000 tothe National Park Service.

Yosemite Fund: The fundrais-ing program has been well-received and is thriving. Throughthe end of July, about $500,000had been raised for the year.Exemplary corporate support hasbeen received from Chevron andPolaroid, and two major projects,the demolition and removal ofthe Bridalveil sewage treatmentfacility and the restoration ofStoneman Meadow, will be un-dertaken this fall . Seventeen vol-unteers staffed two fundraisingkoisks in the park this summer

Road Blocked byRock Slide ReopensNorthside Drive, the main exitroad from Yosemite Valley, hasreopened to traffic . The road hadbeen closed by a rock slide inMarch, and park officials hadfeared additional rock fall.

Once it was determined thatall was stable on the east face ofthe Middle Brother (one of thegranite outcroppings of the ThreeBrothers formation), NPS crewscleared tons of debris and rockwhich had been strewn through-out the area.

After the original slide, Yosem-ite Valley traffic had been routedfor two miles around the closedroadway to Southside Drive,which was temporarily changedto two-way traffic .

and effectively educated visitorsabout the program and soliciteddonations.

Board Nominations : Thenominating committee of theBoard of Trustees recommendedthat the two incumbents whoseterms are expiring, Dr. HarveyRhodes and Ms . Anne Schneider.be re-elected.

Next year 's Members ' Meet-ing will be at Wawona on Sep-tember 9 and 10, 1988.

The Yosemite Associationwould like to express its apprecia-tion to the following individualsand companies who generouslydonated prizes for the MembersMeeting raffle this year.

American River Touring Associa-tion; ANCAL ; Bank of America, Yo-semite Valley ; California Data Mar-keting ; Copy Center ; Crown PrintingDumont Printing ; El Portal Market:Erna 's Elderberry House ; FresnoOffice Supply ; David Gaines;Heubner Sports ; Merced CanyonCommittee ; Mono Lake CommitteeNarrow Gauge Inn : William Neill;OARS . Inc ; Scope Enterprises ; Un-isource : Wagon Wheel Restaurant:Whitewater Voyages : Yosemite Insti-tute : Yosemite Mountain/Sugar PineRailroad ; Yosemite Park & Curry CcYosemite Postmaster ; Zephyr RiverExpeditions, Inc.

which was temporarily changedto two-way traffic.

Although Northside is themain artery for leaving the Valle ;:via Highways 41, 140 and 120,there were no major traffic prob-lems that resulted beside a mode :-ate increase in congestion . Whilethe road was closed, continuingsmaller slides delayed clearing ofthe debris . NPS officials and repre-sentatives of the US GeologicalSurvey monitored the slide areaand conducted aerial surveys be-fore the decision was made thatit was safe to clear the roadway.

To insure the safety of the pus-lie, monitoring of the rock facewill continue, particularly attimes of heavy storms, freeze andthaw cycles and earthquakes.Each of these situations couldresult in new rock fall activity.

The skies wept, but all else wasconvivial for the Yosemite Associ-ation's 12th Annual Members 'Meeting at Tuolumne Meadowson September 12 . Because of theweather, the business portion ofthe meeting was cut short, butnot before poet Gary Snyder had hdelivered a thoughtful and inspir-ing address.

Given the various factors atwork in early September, it 'ssomewhat remarkable that the

relaxed and outgoing style.meeting was even held . LargeForest fires raged throughout Cali-fornia, and for a time . both High-ways 120 and 140 into Yosemitewere closed . With cold and wetweather at Tuolumne, conditionslooked bleak.

Nevertheless, the approxi-mately 300 members in atten-dance seemd undaunted . Sunshone on the luncheon, but wasgone from sight by the timeeveryone assembled for the for-mal meeting . When it began torain in earnest, an exodus for shel-ter took place.

To the pleasure of the group,Gary Snyder spoke about his per-sonal experiences in Yosemite,read several of his "Yosemite "poems, giving fascinating back-ground information for each, anddiscoursed on the importance ofwilderness in Yosemite and else-where . Throughout the weekend,Snyder mingled with Y.A. mem-bers, signed his books of poetryand answered questions . His re-

Gary Snyder spent the weekend in

YOSEMITE ASSOCIATION . FALL 1987

PAGE SEVEN

The Mystery of the HighSierra Sunset

David Balogh

It was supper time on an Au-gust evening in 1957 in the diningtent at Vogelsang High SierraCamp . My introduction to Yo-semite was a trip around theHigh Sierra Loop . and to a 14 yearold everything was new and ex-citing . As I finished dessert. Inoticed that the canvas coveredceiling was turning orange . Was ita fire' No odor of smoke was de-tectable . I excused myself andstepped outside . Thirty yearslater, the sight that met my eyesis as memorable and awe inspir-ing as it was then . The diningtent, Fletcher Lake . Mt . Vogel-sang, the rocks at my feet . evenmy hands were glowing the mostvivid orange I had ever seen . Iwas astonished, mesmerized . Ieven forgot to take a picture.Orange became red and then themountains began to glow a deepsalmon color as if they were at-tempting to relive their moltenheritage from 100 million yearsbefore.

I had no idea what had causedthe color, nor was I really to un-derstand it for years to come.Fishermen returning to camp, andthe Vogelsang staff were no doubtamused at my astonishment.They had all seen it before . butnone could explain to me irin' thecolor came and changed andended so quickly.

Fifteen years and a collegeeducation later, I knew why.What 's more it became my dutyto explain it to a current genera-tion of park visitors, as a park nat-uralist at Glacier Point . In lateryears I explained it in depth tonew naturalists as they prepared,in turn, to present a sunset talk.What follows is my explanationof the phenomenon.

Our star. the sun . is essentiallywhite hot, with a surface temper-ature of about 10,000° C . If thiswhite light were broken up intoits parts, as it is in a rainbow, thefollowing colors are seen : red,orange, yellow, green, blue, in-digo, and violet, in order from thelongest wavelengths .72 microns

(red) to .4 micron (violet) . (Amicron is one-millionth of ameter) . Colors on either end seemto "balance" each other and if onecould selectively remove the shor-ter wavelengths (blue, indigo andviolet) from the sun 's direct beam,the color of the sun would appar-ently change from white to ashade of yellow since the longer'warmer' colors would be left,i .e . red, orange, yellow and somegreen.

If you were an astronaut inspace, the sun would look essen-tially white . On the earth 's sur-face the sun looks yellow (unlessyou live in a large city, then it mayappear orange) . Why?

Our atmosphere containsmany particles of dirt, some ofwhich are very small . The small-est are higher in the atmosphere,the larger and heavier are nearerthe earth 's surface . Those smallerparticles whose diameter isaround' Ao of a wavelength oflight, about .06 micron, will scatter(like a richocheting bullet) theshorter wavelengths of light about4 times more effectively thanthey will the larger wavelengths.The scattering of blue . indigo,and violet makes the sky blue andthe remaining longer wave-lengths make the sun appearyellow This phenomena is called

Rayleigh scatter. (At night the skyis black because there is no sun-light to scatter) . If the dirt in theair is larger in size, i .e . 30 times awavelength in diameter, the scat-ter is non-selective— and the scat-ter is white . That 's the reasonwhy the sky may appear "pow-der" or light blue . This non-selec-tive scatter is called Mie scatter.

The " blue " (Rayleigh) scatteris not " lost" to space . It arrives atthe earth's surface as indirect or

diffused light, but it is separatefrom the direct solar beam . Ray-leigh scatter also accounts forwhy distant mountains appearbluer than ridges near the ob-server. " The purple mountains"majesty above the fruited plain"—from America the Beautiful, the' Blue Ridge Mountains of Vir-ginia,'or the "Blue Ridge Park-way," all refer to this occurence.Finally,, the sky appears "hazier"in the morning and afternoonthan at midday because back andfront scatter is more efficient thanside scatter. The reasons for thatare complex, and are not exploredin this article.

Sunset Colors

In midday, the granite rocksof Yosemite look grey becausethey have no dominating pig-ment in them . The Grand

Canyon 's red rocks absorb allwavelengths of sunlight except forthe ones which they reflect i .e.rusty-red . Granite reflects almostall colors equally but not 100%efficiently, thus the rock looksgrey instead of white . The impor-tant thing is that the rock has nointrinsic color of its own ; thus,when the sun sets, the rocks ofYosemite will show any subtlechanges in the colors remainingin the solar beam which is re-

flected from them.As the sun drops toward the

western horizon, the direct beamradiation from the sun must passthrough more atmosphere thanat mid-day. There are therefore,increasing amounts of Rayleighscatter subtracting wavelengths(color) from the solar beam . Theremaining light reflects from land-marks like Half-Dome, back tothe eyes of the observer and isseen as a color equal to all ofthe remaining colors in thesolar beam.

Simply stated, when the greenlight is scattered, Half Domelooks yellow ; when the yellow isscattered, Half Dome looks moreorange ; when the orange is scat-tered, all that is left is the longestand least eaily scattered red, andHalf Dome then looks red ; when

Continued on page 15

PAGE EIGHT

YOSEMITE ASSOCLATION, FALL 198'

Past and Future Changes inYosemite's Vegetation

Jeffrey Schaffer

In 1986, the author derived a plate-tectonic model for Sierra Nevadauplift. In the Spring 1987 issue of thisperiodical, he briefly described hisworking model and applied it to pastand future elevations in the Park . Inthe Spring 1987 issue he presentedhis stream-piracy theory on the originof Yssemite Valley. This theory andthe plate-tectonic model were devel-oped independently yet they seem tocomplement each other. In Scha ffer'sfinal article, he discusses the past andfuture distribution of some of thePark 's plants as implied by the model.

If one's information on SierraNevada uplift is inaccurate, thenone's conclusions on the originand development of Sierran plant(and animal) populatons will alsobe inaccurate . I believe botanists(and zoologists) have been mak-ing erroneous conclusions in thebiogeography of Sierran speciesbecause they' ve been using thewrong models of Sierran uplift.There a two models in particular,one largely accepted by geologists,the other, discredited by geolo-gists but accepted by botanists.

Two Other Views of Uplift

The latter, proposed by apaleontologist in the 1960s, statesthat the Sierra was uplifted alongits east side and tilted west as arigid block all in the last millionyears (the duration he thoughtrepresented the " Ice Age," whichwe know today was more like2½ million years) . Becaue of histies to botanists, his modelquickly became popular withthem, and is still cited today.Most of the fossil pollen collectedeast of the Sierra crest indicatedthat before the " Ice Age" the crestwas low. The fossil pollen gaveno indication of high-desertspecies like today's, which are

Diamond Peak (8,744 ' ) in the centralpart of Oregon ' s Cascade Range . Itis one of the few summits supportinggolden drabas . The next southernsummit with these alpine plants isLassen Peak, 210 miles to the south .

due to a high Sierra crest creatinga rain shadow that prevents mostprecipitation from reaching theeastern lands.

This lack of a pre-Ice Age rainshadow perplexed me for years,and it wasn ' t until I reviewed my1986 vegetation transects in theCarson-Iceberg Wilderness, justnorth of Yosemite, that I discov-ered a possible solution . I realizedthat in Carson-Iceberg today,which has a two-mile-high Sierracrest, and a high-desert environ-ment east of the crest, a pollenanalysis fails to truly representthe respective species of eachenvironment. Why' Becausesome species are wind-pollinatedwhile others are insect-pollinated,and it' s the wind-pollinated, usu-ally streamside species that aremost likely to have their pollenblown into streams and thentransported to a sedimentarybasin . And these wind-blownspecies are quite similar on bothsides of the crest : white firs andJeffrey pines on slopes just above

Golden draba (Draba aureola) . Thisalpine plant grows on the summit of11,000-year-old Lassen Peak(10,475 ' ) . The nearest population ofgolden drabas is on Diamond Peak,210 air miles to the north, in centralOregon. Quite likely, Lassen Peakgot draba seeds transported in thedigestive systems of southward-migrating birds .

creeks, and alders, willows andcottonwoods on creek banks.Thus, although the east-sidevegetation differs greatly fromthe west-side vegetation, thisdifference is not reflected in thepollen record.

The model preferred by manySierran geologists is similar. Itstates that the Sierra was upliftedalong its east side and tilted westas a rigid block . However, in thismodel the period of uplift wasmuch longer. Minor uplift mayhave begun before 25 millionyears ago, but with time, upliftcontinued at an increasing rate.This theory, if extrapolated intothe future, projects a SierraNevada of possibly Himalayanheight in the Southern Sierra andof unknown height in the north-ern Sierra.

This model, which hasn'tchanged much in over a centuryis, in my opinion, inappropriatefor biogeographic studies becauseit has what I perceive to be a fatalflaw: it fails to take into account

YOSEMITE ASSOCIATION, FALL 1987

PAGE NINE

that during the entire period ofsupposed uplift, the Juan de Fucaplate was opposite the range, offthe California coast, and migrat-ing northward.

Imagine a lake with somerowboats that are arranged in asouth-north line (representingthe north-south Sierra crest).Now imagine a speedboat (repre-senting the north-migrating Juande Fuca plate and its impact onthe Sierra), just west of this line,racing north past boats and rock-ing each one . Obviously thesouthernmost boat is rocked firstand the northernmost boat isrocked last, as the plate-tectonicmodel implies . By analogy, thetraditional geologic model impliesall boats would be rocked simul-taneously, although those at thenorth end of the lake would berocked less violently than thoseat the south end.

Alpine Plants

My model suggests that upliftbegan in the southern Sierra andthat that area — basically SequoiaNational Park—has risen aboutas high as it will go . The modelalso states that in the northernSierra, uplift has just begun, andin about 8 million years thatarea — the Feather River coun-try—will reach heights similar tothose in the southern Sierra.Yosemite National Park liesbetween the two extremes, andthe model predicts it has hadabout 5 million years of upliftand has about 3 million years left.The model appears to suggestthat in our area, the Sierra cresthas been high enough to supportalpine plants for about the last1½ million years, because beforethen, most of the crest may havebeen below 10,000 feet inelevation.

However, alpine plants mayhave been evolving along theSierra crest for tens of millions ofyears . There are two reasons tobelieve this . First, major vol-canism has occurred in the areafrom at least 25 milion years agountil just a few million years ago.Quite likely during this time,

there were sizable volcanoes, justas there are in the Cascade Rangetoday (its existence is due to thediving Juan de Fuca plate, whicha few million years ago was div-ing beneath the Sierra and pro-ducing similar volcanoes) . Thesouthernmost major volcano inthat range today is Lassen Peak,which provides a haven for somealpine plants . It is only about11,000 yars old, so its populationof alpine plants can't be any older.However, the peak is only themost recent in a series of majorvolcanoes, each one capable ofsupporting a population of alpineplants . I suggest that during theSierra's volcanic phase, there werealways at least several major vol-canoes, either active or eroding,which provided alpine habitats.Thus, alpine plants could haveexisted continuously in the Sierra

After the end of major volcanism inthe Yosemite area and before anysignificant uplift, alpine plants mayhave existed in shady recesses oneroding volcanoes, such as ontoday ' s Three Fingered Jack (7,841'l,in the central part of Oregon ' sCascade Range.

Nevada during the entire volcanicperiod . The implication is thatalpine plants didn' t have to evolvein the last million years, butrather had at least 25 million years(and possibly much more time)to do so.

After the major volcanismstopped in the Sierra Nevada, thesituation for alpine plants lookedbleak, due to the eroding, inactivevolcanoes . However, a fortunateevent happened : the earth 's cli-mate began to cool . This beganabout 5 million years ago, butreally took off in earnest about

2½ million years ago . Back then,alpine plants didn 't have to existabove 9,000 or 10,000 feet, as theydo today ; 7,000 feet would haveeasily sufficed . My model sug-gests that the average height ofthe Sierra crest at the onset ofuplift was about 6,500 feet, ormarginally alpine . However, thecrest back then had considerablevariation, as it does today, andmuch of it would have exceeded7,000 feet, while certain peaks,such as the precursors of Mts.Dana and Lyell, would haveexceeded 8,000 feet. Thus, if mymodel is correct, an alpine envi-ronment should have existeduninterrupted in the Sierra in theSierra for at least 25 million years.

Future Alpine Vegetaton

Near that south part of thePark my model suggests that theSierra crest will rise about 1,250feet before leveling off in about 3million years, while near thenorth part of the Park, the crestwill rise about 2,600 feet beforeIeveling off in about 4 millionyears . Obviously, the Park willbecome more alpine in character.Half Dome will nudge into thealpine realm, while nearbyClouds Rest will advance fartherinto it, though there is the possi-bility that extensive glacial ero-sion could remove either summitin the next few million years . TheBuena Vista crest should fare bet-ter. It will evolve into a " ClarkRange," with similar alpinevegetation.

But over the last 2½ millionyears, the Park has been, moreoften that not, in a glacial period,not in a "warm" interglacialperiod, such as today's. This pat-tern is likely to last millions ofyears into the future . So we canask, what will be the extent ofalpine vegetation in the Park 4million years from now whenthe topography has reached itszenith? The model suggests thatthe 7000 ' contour—the pre-sumed lower level of alpine vege-tation during glacial times —willrun from the Cherry Lake vicinitysouth-southeast to Chowchilla

PAGE TEN

YOSEMITE ASSOCIATION . F,.\LL

Mountain, both features justbeyond the Park's western bound-ary. Thus, virtually the entire Parkwill be covered either in glacialice or alpine vegetation . Such aprognostication does not bodewell for giant-sequoia groves,which could be forced down intothe hostile habitats of the major,low-elevation, steep-walled can-yons . In previous glacial times,the Park 's groves probably suf-fered attrition from such migra-tions, but future migratons willbe even more detrimental.

Giant sequoias

Its widely believed that

Over the last 2 1/2 million years,glaciers and snowfields may haveexisted on many moderate-heightpeaks in the eastern Sierra, theselooking like today's Old SnowyMountain (7,930') in southernWashington's Goat RocksWilderness.

sequoias migrated to their presentlocatons from Great Basin lands.About 3–4 million years ago, asthe Sierra Nevada was rising,these lands to the east began tosink, and today 's Sierra crestdeveloped . The eastern landsbecame increasingly arid, andsequoias became established in

the Sierra before the developingcrest blocked further migration.These lucky sequoias then mig-rated southwest across the rangeand ultimately gave rise to today's75 or so groves.

There are two sets of grovesin the Yosemite area : the Tuol-umne and Merced groves west ofYosemite Valley, and the Mari-pose and Nelder groves south ofit . I believe each set is the resultof a distinct migratory path, thefirst through a canyon in the Vir-ginia Pass-Tioga Pass area, andthe second through a canyon inthe Minaret Summit area . I ' ll dealonly the the latter area, which is

From about 25 to 5 million yearsago, the eastern Sierra could havehad a few major volcanoes, eachsupporting alpine flora . They mayhave looked like today ' s Glacier Peak(10,541 ' ), in Washington 's NorthCascades.

significant because of a uniqueevent . For likely millions of yearsthe Middle Fork San JoaquinRiver flowed down a major can-yon, but came to a halt about 3 .2million years ago, when it wasdammed by massive outpouringsof lava . (The eruptions probablyoccurred at the same time as theinitial development of the localSierra crest .) The migratingsequoia populaton would havehad to pass through the areabefore this time, because later,migration would have been veryimprobable . Does my model bearthis out'

Today 's Mariposa and Neldergroves, despite being only a fewmiles apart, are at significantlydifferent elevatons . Trees of theMariposa grove, which is onsouthwest-draining slopes . lie atabout 6 .000 to 7,000 feet eleva-tion ; trees of the Nelder grove,which is on warmer, south-draining slopes, lie anornaloiuslplower at about 5,000 to 6 .000 feetelevation . Hence, today 's eleva-tions range in this part of theSierra Nevada from at least 5,000to 7,000 feet. When was MinaretSummit area at those two eleva-tions? Today, it is over 9,000 feet.but if one removes the volcanicrocks deposited in the last 3 .2million years, then the elevationis more like 8,400 feet . With themodel we can determine that thecrest was 5,000 feet elevationabout 2 .2 million years ago, whenthe migrating populations shouldhave been entering the area, andit had risen to 7.000 feet elevationabout 1 .3 million years ago, whenthe population should have beenleaving it.

But this time slot contradictsthe constraint that the grove hadto be west of Minaret Summit by3 .2 million years ago . Is the mode:wrong? There are at least severalalternative explanations, and each

YOSEMITE ASSOCIATION . FALL 19E7

PAGE ELEVEN

Yosemite Viewpoints

Valley Pollution

Yosemite is just about our favoritespot on earth ; however I am nolonger able to stay in the Valleyfor any length of time because ofthe smoke pollution from thenumerous campfires.

In 1982 I visited Yosemite Val-ley with my family. After threedays I was forced to leave : thesmoke made it virtually impossi-ble for me to breathe . Since then Ihave tried again with the sameresults and now my family visitsYosemite without me.

I cannot be the only one withthis problem . I am highly allergicto smoke but I am not a handicap-ped person . I have run sevenmarathons, one just two weeksprior to my aforementioned1982 visit.

predicts a different course ofevents for the fate of sequoias.

First, the population couldhave migrated past the locationof today's crest during a period ofintense cold that occurred about5 million years ago. After the cli-mate warmed, the populationcould have survived on suitableslopes of the Ritter Range . justwest of the crest, which backthen may have stood over 9,000feet elevation.

Second, we have to rememberthat sequoias prefer slopes to can-yon bottoms or ridgecrests . So . 3to 4 million years ago, when theSan Joaquin canyon 's bottomwas too warm for the trees, thehigher slopes — particularly thenorth-facing ones — may havebeen just right.

Third, over the last 2½ millionyears, these trees have been, more

It is unfortunate that such abeautiful spot is so polluted . Thecars have been banned from partsof the Valley ; cannot the smokebe controlled tool I would loveto be able to spend some time inYosemite Valley again.

Marilyn TrankleHonolulu

A New Objective for the Fund'

I was extremely pleased to learnof The Yosemite Fund . For manyyears I ' ve felt that just such anorganization was needed inthe Park.

I ' m enclosing this letter withmy contributin because I wantedto add one more thought to thelist of important objectives theFund has lined out thus far. It' s anold idea, enormous in scope, but

The Ritter Range, viewed from thevolcanic Sierra crest . Giant sequoiasmay have gotten established on theslopes of this range before majorvolcanism and down-faulting alongthe crest prevented further west-ward migration of the trees about3 .2 million years ago.

often that not, subjected to theinfluences of Ice Age climates.What we discern about thesequoia 's responses to today 'sclimate may be dangerously inac-curate . As I mentioned above, thelocation of the Nelder grove isanamalous : located on a south-facing slope . it should be higherthan the Mariposa grove, notlower. Perhaps the trees areoperating under rules more appro-priate for Ice Age climates thantoday's climate.

Fourth, the sequoias didn'tmigrate alone, but were accom-

a problem nevertheless that n illhave to be dealt with some day.Problem or solution, the restora-tion of the Hetch Hetchy Valleyto it' s natural state should be thepriority for Yosemite ' s future.Having been a visitor to Yosemitefor thirty years, and a seasonalresident for several more, I cansee that such a project will onlybe accomplished through thecombined efforts of the NationalPark Service . The San FranciscoWater Department . and mostimportantly, through a strongprivate organization such as theYosemite Fund.

As a supporter of The Yosem-ite Fund, I hope to see added alter-natives which could lead to aHetch Hetchy Valley, not a HetchHetchy reservoir, for futuregenerations.

panied by a vast array of plants,animals and microorganisms.The composition of this assem-blage undoubtedly changed asthe sequoias migrated from west-ern Nevada to their present loca-tions, and with the change camechanges in environmental andbiological constraints . We candetermine what these are today,but are very much in the darkabout what they were severalmillion years ago . We need toknow much more about thesespecies before we can accuratelyreconstruct the sequoia 's migrat-ory history.

As you can see . we know verylittle about the tree 's migration,although naturalists from JohnMuir onward have confidentlygiven their accounts . One thing isalmost certain : the tree is headed forextinction . However, with man'shelp, the tree can be planted inthe proper environments toensure an added few tens of mil-lions of years to its existence . Butto optimize the success of trans-planting, we need to understand,among other things, the past andfuture topography of the Sierra-Cascades . Perhaps a new plate-tectonic model such as I haveproposed will serve to promotethat understanding .

Please keep me informed ofall The Fund 's progress, and anyprogress regarding Hetch Hetchyespecially. I would be extremelyinterested in volunteering myservices for a Hetch Hetchyproject.

Thank you so much for yourhard work!

Jennifer Harris FosgateDavenport

Opposing Sequoia Fires

I would just like to express myopinion on the issue of the burn-ing Sequoias taking place in theMariposa Grove . I was just visit-ing Yosemite when I first saw thefires, and I thought it was terrible.

I'm sure that Mr. Steve Bottican find other means of riddingthe litter in the park . Accordingto the Summer 1987 edition oflosemite there are negative after-effects that become the conse-quence of a poorly set-up systemon the part of the ResourcesManagement.

As a member, I would like toknow if there is a way to changethis arrangement . Any furtherinformation would be greatlyappreciated .

Lorrie A . SpurgatN. Hollywood

Excellent Field Classes

Thanks for offering the Grassand Sedge field class this sum-mer with Carl Sharsmith . Ispeak for the others in the classas well as myself when I saythat we appreciated the oppor-tunity to take a field class insuch an important aspect ofbotany that is only rarelyoffered by an organization.

I also took the Alpine Botanyclass the following week withSteve Botti . In spite of this beingan exceptionally dry year thisclass was (as it was last year)excellent . If circumstances per-mit I hope to make more fieldbotany classes that the Associa-tion offers in the future.

Harry SpilmanSouth Pasadena

PAGE TWELVE

Y OSEMITE ASSOCIATION . FALL 1 E

Books of Interest

The following selection ofbooks are works which chroniclethe wide and varied scope of Yo-semite and the High Sierra region,or the national parks generally. Allcan be purchased from the Associ-ation at the Yosemite Valley Vis-itor Bookstore, or by mail order,using the order form on page 14of this issue . Members of the As-sociation are entitled to a 15% dis-count off retail prices.

The Penguin Dictionaryof BotanyBlackmore/TootillPenguin Books, 1984#9365, paper, $7.95This is a new dictionary ofbotany which covers both thepure and applied aspects of thesubject, and such related fields asagriculture and horticulture . En-cyclopaedic in form, it containssubstantial articles (200—250words) on major terms and con-cepts as well as shorter articlesand cross-reference type defini-tions, ranging from physiology tocell biology, microbiology to hor-ticulture and genetics to plantpathology.

The Penguin Dictionary ofBotany will be a useful referencesource for students whose sub-jects have a bearing on botany: itwill also be useful to the informedlayman with an interest in thistopic, and an important aid tostudy for A-level students andfirst year students studying bot-any or biology.

Peterson First Guides:A Simplified Field Guide to theCommon Species of NorthAmerica : Birds ; Insects;MammalsSponsored by the Roger ToryPeterson InstituteHoughton Mifflin, 1986.#10028 (Birds), paper, $3 .95#10030 (Insects), paper, $3 .95#10035 (Mammals) paper, $3 .95These guides are the first booksthe beginning naturalist needs.Abridged versions of the famousPeterson Field Guides, the FirstGuides focus on the species youare most likely to see . They make

it easy to get started in the field,and easy to graduate to the full-fledged Peterson Guides . Eachbook features the most commonand conspicuous species, each il-lustrated in full-color. along withconcise descriptions . The Peter-son Identification System, whichuses arrows on the illustrationsand italics in the descriptions toshow you exactly what to lookfor, is featured throughout thebooks .

‘1 ooi:

previous books is The Trailblaz-

Westering Man:The Life of Joseph WalkerBil GilbertUniversity of Oklahoma Press,1985,#17845, paper, $9 .95Joseph Walker (1798—1876) hadprobably the longest and mostdistinguished career of any fron-tiersman in American history.This first biography of this greatfrontier hero is based on years ofresearch and many previously un-published and neglected sources.It gives a rousing and authorita-tive picture of Walker—hispioneering heritage, his many ac-complishments, and his excep-tional personality. The bookchronicles Walker 's many explora-tions including his sighting of Yo-semite Valley in 1833.

Bil Gilbert is an award-winning journalist whose articleshave appeared in Smithsonian,Audubon, Sports Illustrated, and.many other important publica-tions . A graduate of GeorgetownUniversity 's School of Foreign Ser-vice, he has been a Visiting Profes-sor of Journalism in the Univer-sity of Missouri . Among his five

Yosemite TrailsExploring the High SierraJ . Smeaton ChaseTioga Publishing Company, 1987#2001, paper, $9 .95J . Smeaton Chase, a British visitorturned resident of young and un-crowded California, explored thestate by burro and horseback be-tween 1911 and 1918 . His lyricalword paintings of the naturallandscape and careful observationof the native flora are inter-weaved with stories of pioneer-ing settlers . This is early centurytravel literature at its best.

Smeaton Chase 's descriptionsare in the tradition of the writingsofJohn Muir. Tioga Press 's re-issueincludes a -new introduction andplant list by Carl Sharsmith, long-time NPS naturalist in Yosemite.

Visiting Our WesternNational ParksA Guidebook to the Parks Westof the Continental DivideExcluding AlaskaGeorge P. PerkinsLorraine Press, 1987#17620, paper, $12 .95Visiting Our Western NationalParks is a guide to assist travelersin planning a trip to one or severalof our western national parks.This unique little book has the fol-lowing information on each park:

Detailed descriptions of camp-ing and lodging facilities:

Summaries of hiking trails anda brief history ;

A map and photographs:General information, includ-

ing addresses and telephone num-bers for obtaining informationdirectly From the park ; and

A special section of colorphotographs depicting some ofour parks ' wildflowers.

Author George P. Perkinsspent two years researching thisproject and writing his book . Hevisited all the parks but two andmost of them several times . Hepersonally stayed in many of thecampgrounds, toured most, andhiked a considerable number oftrails during his visits . All thephotographs, except those forwhom credit is given, were take:by the author.

California's National ParksJim MurfinArch Cape Press, 1987#6678, cloth . $19 .95There are six national parks inCalifornia, four in incrediblybeautiful mountains and twooverlooking the sea.

Two of them, Redwood andSequoia National parks, containalmost all of the remaining standsof the giant trees that are as mucha symbol of California as anyman-made landmark . The list in-cludes Lassen Volcanic NationalPark at the edge of the Cascades.a wonderland of forests andlakes, and the Channel Islands offthe coast of Southern California.where seabirds and seals can bewatched from 500-foot cliffs asthe wild ocean crashes far below

But the main event, as everyCalifornian knows, is Yosemite.the second-oldest national parkin America and considered bymany to be the most beautiful inthe world.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said ofit " the greatest wonder is that wecan see this and not wondermore . " And all the wonders of Yo-semite, Sequoia National Park,Kings Canyon National Park, Las-sen, Redwood and the ChannelIslands may be savored in thestriking color photographs in thepages of this book.

ers, an account of the explorationof western North America inTime-Life 's Old West Series.

1t .1(II)

PetersonFirst (,ur FirstGuidcs

IFORM'AL PARKS

I

YOSEMITE ASSOCIATION . FALL 1957

FAGETHIRTEEN

Custom Compact Binoculars.AA high-quality. lightweightmodel by Bushnell with excellentclarity. 7 x 26, long eye relief,field of view 368 ; center focus,porro prism. weight 11 oz ., exitpupil 3 .7 #50451 . $239 .95 —now $190 .00.

YosetNte11 The 1988 Yosemite Calendar.

This beautiful full-color wallcalendar has become a favorite ofYosemite lovers . 15 stunningphotographs are included, and thecalendar measures 10 " x 13 " . For1988, the writings of naturalistsand pioneer environmentalists arefeatured . #4180. $8 .95.

BBlack Bear Hand-puppet . Withsoft. moveable head and legs

to allow him to participate in themost meaningful of conversationsand enough stuffing to allow himto join your stuffed animals whenyou' re not around, this realisticcharmer is ready to entertainyoung and old alike . 11" tall, handwashable . #50200 . $28 .00—now $22 .00.

CNo-Frills Bear. This bear isstrictly " back-to-basics " —no

plush. no frills, just plain wrap! Infact, he carries the "No Frills Sealof Approval" on his chest for all tosee . 10 inches tall . #50230.$8 .00—now $6 .50 .

ou will find somethingmore in woods than inbooks. Trees and stoneswill teach you that whichyou can never learn frommasters. —ST. BERNARD

D YOSEMITE1933 L'1LEN1MR

EImages of Yosemite Notecards.Eight classic Ansel Adams

views entitled "Images ofYosem-ite " create a stunning black andwhite notecard collection . Theduotone process has allowed aremarkably high quality repro-duction of the photographs . Thesedistinguished cards come boxed ina set of 8 different scenes printedon folded 5 " x 7" cards with en-velopes . #50101 . $8 .50.

FChristmas Card Assortment.Send your holiday wishes this

Christmas on tasteful cards byAnsel Adams . Eight striking blackand white images are boxed ineach Christmas assortment. The5 " x 7" cards feature an inscriptionreading " Season 's Greetings " inred ink ; envelopes included.#50110 . $8 .50 .

PAGEFOURTEEN YOSEMITEASSOCIATION, FALL 198-

-------------------------

Order Form credit card orders call:

(209) 379 2648 Monday—Friday. 8 :30am–4 :30pm

YoseAMteC A T A L O G

G Yosemite Association Cap.Complete your outdoorwardrobe with this trendy itemfrom the Association collection!It 's the perfect hat for a hot, sunnyday in the great outdoors—meshfabric to keep a cool head, a gener-ous bill to shade your face, and ad-justable strap in the back to insurea good fit for everyone . All of thisplus the Yosemite Associationpatch to let everyone know whatyour favorite organization is!Brown with white accent.#1600, $6.00 .

HYosemite Association Mug.This distinctive and func-tional white ceramic mug has ourlogo and name imprinted inbrown . Holds eight ounces ofyour favorite beverage . #1625,$5 .00.

I Yosemite Fund Mug . This mugis decorated with the newly-designed scratchboard logo for usein conjunction with Yosemite As-sociation 's fundraising effort.White with black design, eightounce capacity. #1626, $5 .00 .

Yosemite Enamel Pin . Designedespecially for the Association,

our enamled metal pin is a workof art. Each of the 10 differentglazes is hand placed and sep-arately fired . The result, fromWilliam Spear Design, is an eye-catching and colorful piece . Themetal enamel pins are reliefengraved in a '/ x 2" size.#1695, $11.95.

'(Pelican Pouch . Wilderness Belt\Bag. The Pelican Pouch is not

only perfect for carrying fieldguides, but also offers instantaccess to all the small items thatare usually buried in your pack—pocket camera, lenses, maps, oryour favorite trail mix! The Pouch's designed with front snap fasten-:rs on the straps . This allows com-fortable positioning on yourbelt—even between belt loops ; noneed to take your belt off first . Thematerial is high quality Cordurapack cloth with a waterproof coat-ing on one side . Beige with the

YosemiteAssn =gin

dark brown and white YosemiteAssociation patch, the PelicanPouch measures 8 x 5 x 2½inches . #1690, $11 .95.

L Yosemite Association Decalsand Patches . Our associationlogo, depicting Half Dome is of-fered to our members in these twouseful forms . Help announce youraffiliation with our organizationto others by purchasing and usingYosemite Association patches anddecals . Patch #1635, $1 .50 ; Decal#1636, $1 .00.

n AYosemite AssociationT-hirts. Comfortable, 100 0 0

cotton, light tan colored Hanes"Beefy-7 shirts are printed withthe Association 's Half Dome logoin brown.Child sizes (short sleeve) : small ,#1650, medium #1651, and large#1652, $7.05.Adult sizes (short sleeve) : small#1653 . medium #1654, large#1655 and extra-large #1656.$9 .40 : (long sleeve) : small #1657,medium #1658. large #1659 andextra-large #1660 . $11.75.

L

hem #

Qtµ Size Description

11

2

3

4 '

5

6

7

8

9

Subtotal: 1

PriceEach Total

°I o

Subtotal A:6% Sales Tax (CA customers only)

Shipping charge

$ 1 .50

Less 15% Member's Discount:

Total enclosedOrdered by:Name:Address:City :

State :

Zip:

Membership NumberYosemite Association, P .O . Box 230, El Portal . CA 95318

YOSEMITE ASSOCL,TION . FALL 1797

Sierra SunsetContained from page -

the red is gone (scattered), theshow is over (almost).

Alpine Glow

Alpine glow is a phenomenonof refracted light and scattering.The atmosphere acts like a lensthat is lying on its side . After thedirect beam radiation of the sunis no longer striking the rocks, theextraneous light from the sun isbent through the atmosphereleaving the impression of a sal-mon colored afterglow on themountains . This afterglow maylast for quite a while or not be

seen at all depending on theamount of Mie scatter (fromlarger particles in the air) . Miescatter also results in sunsets thatcreate more subdued colors onthe rocks . That is . the more pollu-tion (dirt) in the air over the cen-tral valley of California, and thehigher the inversion layer (whichallows the dirt to rise), the weakerwill be the sunset colors . Therewill still be the same order of colorchange, but the colors will be lessintense if there is a lot of Mie scat-ter or atmospheric absorption ofthe solar beam. Obviously, thebest (most vivid) sunset colorswill be seen after an afternoonthunderstorm, or on a cold winter

day when the atmospheric dirt isheld at lower levels in the atmo-sphere and the air over the Sierrais at its cleanest.

The Earth's Shadow

A seldom noticed, but interest-ing final treat on a clear night,when one has an unobstructerdeastern horizon is the earth'sshadow. It can be " seen " after thealpine glow lifts off of the moun-tain peaks.

As you look at the part of thesky opposite (180 0 from) the settingplace of the sun (i .e .) east, youwill see : 1) the blue sky above . 2)the pink or salmon color of the al-pine glow as it ''lifts" off of the

PAGE FIFTEEN

high sierra, and 3) the " clear"grey-blue color below the pink.This is the earth 's shadow beingcast out into space (it even ap-pears to be curved) . One reallycannot " see " a shadow unless it iscast on something, but the lack ofdirect beam radiation indicates itspresence, and it is easily seenwhen pointed out.

Learning and explaining whythe colors change have notspoiled my enjoyment of the Yo-semite sunset. For 15 summers Ihave had the pleasure of speakingat the sunset program at GIacierPoint . Every time that I do, for abrief moment, I am 14 years oldat Vogelsang High Sierra Camp.

New MembersWe would like to welcome to the Yo-semite Association the following finepersons who became memberswithin the past three months . Yoursupport is greatly appreciated.

Regular Members

Laura Abrams. Tom Accardo . RakeshAgarwal . Margaret Ahrendt . JuneAlbano, Augustas Anderson . KathrynAnderson. Robert Ashley. GordonAustman Rod & Gayle Baker . RobertBangham Arthur Barabas . LesleyBarncard . George Barr. John B Barra.Samuel Barron Jr. Francis Behan,Donald L Bell Judith Bell . RickBeltran, William Bender. Arthur& Jane Bergen. Steve Bernbach.Muriel Beroza, Juliann Blake . Daniel& Judith Bloom. Frederick & JulieBohmfalk . Pamela Bowers . BonniRenee Bredesen . Eugene & JuliaBreitenstein . David Allen Breninger.Robert Brister. Ellen Broach . JanBrown, Capt Timothy & Mai LindaBrown . Pat Brunch . Phillip Dean &Patti Pepper Buck . Gary & DianaBulanti . George Burwell. Donald But-will . Annette Catamec . Gary Christy.Janet Claypoole . Valerie & Brian Cole.Mr & Mrs Robert Courtney. SandaCraiu . John & Betty Creger. JaneCross . Deborah Crouse . James &Cynthia Cullen . Billie Cushway.Marilyn DAmico . Joan Davis . JackieDe Camp, Tony & Joan deBellis.Kenneth Densley Gerald & MarthaDeRuntz. John Diefenderfer. Mr &Mrs R J Dolchanczyk . Chris Dresden.Inge Dresden . Franklin DuMonlin.Audrey Dye . Patricia Eastwood.Richard Eckert. Kenneth & JuliaEdwards, Jennifer Engstrand . MarianEnsor. Gilbert Erickson . MarjorieLakin Erickson . Becky Erlandson. Lil-lian Estrada . Lori Evans, JonathanEverett . Burley Johnson Family. JudyFessenden . S A & Margaret Foletta.Janet Foote, Jeffrey Fraley. Mr & MrsJohn R Freeman . Mr & Mrs Gordon JFrey, Norma A Fritsche . Mrs JinnFruin, Jeff & Diane Galyen. Jean L.Garner . Loraine Gaulke, DeniseMurphy Gedrimas . Richard MGeorges . Winifred Gibson . GeorgeGiddings . John & Lydia Gomez . AliceT Greenwald . B J Griffin. Mary Kay

Gromnis . Clark Louis Grussin,Deborah & Richard Gunther. KayGuptill . Robert Hagen. Thomas Mark& Mary Haldorse, Leslie Haness.Michael Hansen . Ann Hardy. RobertA Harriman . Norma Harris . Dr & MrsRobert Harwood . Jack & Jackie Haw-kins . Jason Heine . George Heller,Amber Hen-el . Nicolette Hightower.Maribet Hilario. Henry Hill . WilliamLarry Hodge . George & KarenHoekstra . Ben Holt . C J Hormann.Cherry Payne & Bob Howard . Mar-jorie Howard-Jones . Jody Hudec,Stephanie Hughs . Carol Huhn. SherryHull . Philip Hung . Ken Ingram,Annette Irvine . Mrs Arvella Jackson.Dennis & Kate James, Keith Johnson,Signe Johnson . Opal Jones . MargaretJose, J J Kaiser, Richard & PatriciaKaylor. James Kelch. April Keley.Joyce Keller. Linda Kelly. Joseph &Elaine Kilanowski . John Kirkendall.Harry & Karen Kisseleff . GloriaI iaparda . Stella A Klein . Everett Klipp.Jean Klohe, Dale Knox . Elliott Kolker.Michaelene Krey, Fay Krooth . WandaKuenzil, Patricia Kurtz, Keith Kuss-mal. Kathleen LaFleur. Steven Laine.Robert J Lang . Tini Lanfield, Francis &Joanna I.aVallee . Kay & Gary Leach,David Leonardo . Howard Level, JackLeon Lewis MD . Patricia Lobner. Ber-nie Lumm . Josah & Mary Maresca,Brad Mating . Mike & Elena Mariscal.Marina Martinez . Mr & Mrs HarryMatlock . James & Irene Maxwell,Michelle D Mazure . RandolphMcCreight, Dorothy McGinnis . BethMcGuire . Christine Meleg . Dr & MrsLawrence Meredith, Gene Merlin.Timothy & Jeanne Mestaz . JenniferMilano, Carla B Miles . Logan & BettyMiles . Chris Miller, Henry Miller,Keith and Kristin Miller. Steven RMiller. Dorothy Mlcoch . Delia Moon-rider. Karen S Moore, John Morehead,Jeff Morris, Ron & Cathie Mullin,Leonard Muni . Jane Murray. KristineNardello . Donald Nelson, Ruth Nel-son . Nina Nigh . Donald North, Kath-leen Orr. Charles Osterlind, JudyPalmer. Rebecca Palton. Toni Parnell,Melba Pastre . Alec & Marilyn Penny,Mike & Anne Petrovich . RolandPfeifer, Sherry Piatt . Kenneth Pinnon.Anne M Pitta. Don Place . VirginiaPlattner. Peter Pollaczek . Mr & MrsE G Pomeroy. Vera Poste, FrankPaulsen, Mary K Prentice . Felice S

Price . June Prowell . Suzette M Prue.Henry S Puga. Donna R Pugh . JeffreyRininger. Nancy Roberts . TracyRoberts . Christine Rucker. Donna &Steve Russell . John & Lou AnnSabiesti, Marion Sachdeva. Jim &Shirely Salisbury. Cherie Ann San-chez . Randy Sautner. Harold Schapel-houman . Alfred Schmidt, Robert &Delores Schoen, Dana Schwartz.Laura Sefchik, Harry Selling . SusanShallenberger. Harold & Sandra Sha-piro. Robert Bruce Sherman . S ASiegel . Wm & Marsha Silveira, LillianSimmons . Beth Simon . Howard DSirak MD . Phil H Smith Jr. GarySnyder. Diana Spagnoli . RobertSpenser. Lorraine Spooner. Dan Stan-zione . Anne Stark . Richard Steen-strop . Katrina Steer. Jerrolyn JStephenson . Craig Sutton . Len Svinth,Gerry Swan . Alan Sweger. John &Sherryl Taft . Gary E Talbot. Walter& Mavis Taylor, Stephan & NancyTerrel . BettyThanos, Tom & DianeThompson, CherThompkins, John FTripoli, Trudy Triscari. Jean Tweedie.Pamela Valleni, Mary P Van Nort.Celeste Varas de Valdes, Mario Ven-eroso, Christino Vicerra Jr. Judith AWaeschle, Allan Wagman. ChristineWalcoff. Patricia Wallen, RupertWandel . Z JWanski, Daniel JamesWatkins . William M . Watkins . JoeE Weigand . Ken & Trish Werner. Bon-nie West . Richard Wheelock, RobertWhitford . Steve Wilhite . Wendy MWilliams . Corrine K Windman . Bur-key Word . Cathy Wright . KennethYale . Stevin I . Zarbin . Doug Zimmer-man, Alan Zucker.

Supporting Members

S Y Adler,: Frank & Marilyn Allen.Trish Bredie . Susan M Bishop . GailBlattenberger . M E Brand . Dinese Car-dinell . Dr & Mrs Lewis Chasin . Bar-bara Christiani . Leo & Deana Collins.Barbara Crane . Ana Maria De Alvare.J DeCarlo . Ray & Carole Derbas.Denise A Dickson . Esther Dudgeon.Betty Ellsworth . Kristi Engstrom.Wendy Rae Fisch . Cdr & Mrs R DFlynn . Rose Mary Forehand . Scott LGalloway. Gary & Elaine Gibbons,Norman & Helen Guerber. Andrew& Geraldine Hartman . Eilna Hoist.Joan M Kardis . J Michael & MaryKozos . Charles A King, Rabbi Susan

Laemmle . William H Lanehart . Don& Juanita Leatherman . Jay C Leff. Jef-fery P Lodewick . Jennifer Macarone,Richard Magoteaux . Thomas Marrs.William McNeil . Joseph L Medeiros,Virginia Meyer, Mrs Barbara Mohler,Howard & Susie Neilson . VirginiaNiedraier. Theresa O 'Brien, MichaelW Pandos . Edmond Pendleton Jr.Dave & Polly Pistole . Mondra Ran-dall . Vera Rosanke . Peter J Sapienza.Laverne Schnare . Richard Simonetti.Maritza A Solono-Valdez . Mr KurtStevens . Michael & Linda Traux . R Vil-larreal . Lynn Daily & john Vondrecek.Gayle Wayne . Jude Williams, Mr &Mrs James Yost, Sandra Zackaray.

Contibuting Members

Noel Applebaum . Charles Avitt.Ronald Biduk. Thomas H Brown.Todd Cameron . Mr & Mrs FrankDoting, Ray & Jackie Doumanian . Dr& Mrs W E Gregory. Cliff Hutson . MsAudrey Jerpbak . John Johnson . Doug& Nancy Jones, Mr & Mrs M Mana-han . Albert & Joyce Mineta . Dr &Mrs Ralph Newton, Mrs Jeanne Over-street . Jerry E Prochazka . Sue Reinold.Skye Sloan, Dr Martin & Laura Tobin,John H Tyler. Valerie Vanaman . David& Marie Widup . Carolyn Wright.Ronald M Zaller.

Sustaining Members

Mr & Mrs Ragnar Anderson . James& Geraldine Block, Bruce Cullen.Sharon Dannecker, Charlotte McDuf-fee . Emmett Purcell . David & ShirleyRower, Susan & Mark Stanley.

Life MembersJune Bilisoly, Helen Graziano . D JHeronen . Norman L Hill, C R Hutch-inson . Pat & Jerry Irish . Ben Kudo.

ParticipatingLife MembersDon & Joan Clucas Family, John KPatricia Helton. Fritz & Betty Keil.Lawrence Reinecke .

Yosemite AssociationPost Office Box 230El Portal, CA 95318.

Address Correction RequestedForwarding and Return Postage Guaranteed

Non-profit Organizatic-U .S . POSTAGE

PAIDYosemite Association

YosemiteAssociation

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sileeUn iversity/8,7111f.B e r k 1 y, 8 .a '34

you join us in our effort to make

A Yosemite Association decal;Yosemite an even better place-

and

Member Benefits

As a member of the YosemiteAssociation, you will enjoy thefollowing benefits:

A Yosemite, the Association bulle-tin, published on a quarterlybasis;

A 15% discount on all books,maps, posters, calendars and pub-lications stocked for sale by theAssociation;

A A 10% discount on most of thefield seminars conducted by theAssociation in Yosemite NationalPark;

AThe opportunity to participatein the annual Members' Meetingheld in the park each fall, along

q

Regular Member $20 .00 q

Contributing Member q

Life Member$50 .00 $500.00

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Supporting Member $35 .00 q

Sustaining Member q

Participating Life Member$100 .00 $1,000.00

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Spouse add $5 .00

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Yosemite is published quarterly formembers of the Yosemite Association.edited be Steven P. ,Iledlet; and designeebelow Goodchild/Tnad. Copyright © lo -Yosemite Association. Submission atnsanupts, ptItot pl7karyo(othermater

tStr'e is

Join the YosemiteAssociation

You can help support the workof the Yosemite Association bybecoming a member. Revenuesgenerated by the Association ' sactivities are used to fund a vari-ety of National Park Service pro-grams in Yosemite . Not only doesthe Yosemite Association publishand sell literature and maps, itsponsors field seminars; thepark 's Art Activity Center, andthe Ostrander Lake Ski Hut.

A critical element in the suc-cess of the Association is its mem-bership . Individuals and familiesthroughout the country have longsupported the Yosemite Associa-tion through their dues and their

Special membership gifts asfollows:

Supporting Members : Matted printfrom an illustration by Jane Gyerin " Discovering Sierra Trees " ;

Contributing rldembers : Full colorposter of Yosemite's wildflowersby Walter Sydoriak;Sustaining Members: A colorfulenameled pin depicting a Yosem-ite waterfall by William Spear,

Life Member: Matted color photo-graph by Howard Weamer of aYosemite scene ; and

personal commitments . Won ' t

with other Association activities

ble as provided by law

Fr ofbxoRichard H Peterson.

Exoffc,o

Please enroll me in the Yosemite Association as a . . .

Panicipatiug Life Member: Ansel

John M Morehead,Adams Special Edition print, achi-

Ex office

vally mounted .

Elvira Nishkian.Fr officio

Membership dues are tax-deducti- Richard C Otte ,

Board ofTrusteesThomas J Shepharci.

ChairmanHarvey Rhodes,

Vice-ChairsnanBeverly BarrickBarbara DeWittCarlo S FowlerEdward C HardyE H McLaughlinWilliam J PopejoyLennie RobertsDavid RobertsonAnne SchneiderPhyllis WeberDaniel WolfusLeonard W McKenzie

Ex o /5de

Moving-If you are moving, or haverecently moved, don ' t forgetto notify us . You are a valuedmember of the Association,and we'd like to keep in touchwith you .

PresidentSteven P Medley

SalesPatricia Wight.

Acrrng .11anagc

FundraisingCoordinatorKaren Cobb

SeminarCoordinatorPenny Orwell

Bookkeeper/Office ManagerClaire Haley

MembershipCoordinatorGail Pyle

Secretary/Cashi¢Lorelei Beck

ConsultantHenry Berrey

Northern CaliforarDevelopmentMary Lou Edmon

Digitized byYosemite Online Library

http ://www.yosemite .ca .us/library

Dan Anderson

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