Possible Yosemite Park expansion near Yosemite West

See news report:

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_21097688/does-size-matter-yosemite-national-park-advocates-think?source=rss

Here is a brief excerpt:

The legislation, introduced last month by Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, authorizes the National Park Service to expand Yosemite's western boundary through the addition of several adjacent Mariposa County parcels. The park service could buy the designated land, located near an existing resort development called Yosemite West; in theory, the agency also could accept donated property or acquire it through a land swap.

The Pacific Forest Trust currently owns about half of the 1,575 acres covered by the bill, and a consortium of medical professionals owns the other half. The nonprofit trust bought its share about seven years ago with the long-term goal of conveying it to Yosemite, Wayburn said. The doctors had bought the land as an
investment, potentially for development.

What the article does not mention is that the doctors bought the land in the 60's and that Yosemite West was developed on part of that land as a subdivision agreed upon by Mariposa County during that time period. The part being considered in the swap does not have any current plans for development and any past plans had fallen though many years ago. The doctors are in their 80's and 90's and I doubt if they are up to developing anything even if the economic climate was condusive to that. Also, I would hardly consider Yosemite West as a resort area. While there are rentals, other properties are full time homes and part time vacation homes. There are no amenities up there that you would find in other resort areas.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2012 08:43AM by parklover.

Would this land swap legislation include anything at Park Line in El Portal?

Go to the website http://www.pacificforest.org/ for a map and more information on the boundary change. If you are familar with the area you will see that a small section of Yosemite West will be separated from the major section of Yosemite West. This is because the doctors had planned a commercial area in the upper part of Yosemite West across from the condos but it never happened and this section is being considered to be sold to the trust and then transferred to the park.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2012 08:54PM by parklover.

Was wondering why I'd not heard anything about this lately. Apparently, it was never taken up in last year's congress and it has yet to be re-introduced so it's current status is "Died." Just poking around a bit, I found this site where you can write a letter to your congress person requesting that it be re-introduced, if you're so inclined.

For those who missed this thread when it started, here's a direct link to a moderately detailed site about it, including a map detailing the exact parcels involved.

FYI, the previous bill was HR 5907 and that seems to be the most efficient way for search engines to find references to it.

On an only tangentially related note, there seems to be a bug in this site's search engine. While trying to find the current thread, I entered "Yosemite West subdivision" in the advanced search, and selected "Exact Phrase" as the match option. I got almost 12,000 hits, none of which (at least as far as I looked) had more than one or two of those words in it. Happily, the "Google Custom Search" function worked more predictably, finding 0 matches for the full phrase but immediately taking me to this thread when I searched just for "Yosemite West" (which, of and in itself surprised me a bit given some of the recent, quite active threads on places to stay in or near the Park).



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2013 10:15AM by DavidK42.

With the fiscal cliff mess who knows what is going to happen with it. I just looked at the Pacific Forest website and there is nothing new there.

When did El Portal become part of the park? Anyone know the story.
Part of Merced Scenic River thing-a-ding?

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chick-on
When did El Portal become part of the park? Anyone know the story.
Part of Merced Scenic River thing-a-ding?

It wasn't added. At least I don't think it's been.

NPS has "administrative jursidction" which means that they operate buildings and technically the park headquarters are there. I don't think the boundaries that Congress established extend to any part of El Portal. There are a lot of park headquarters outside the park boundaries. Arches and Canyonlands share a building in Moab. Everglades and Biscayne share a building in Homestead, FL. I remember passing by the park HQ for Lassen Volcanic NP in Mineral. Some headquarters are way, way off from the park site. The HQ for Cedar Breaks NM is a good 50 miles away by car in Cedar City, UT.

The following says that NPS was authorized to set up Yosemite's administration in El Portal back in 1958:

http://www.nps.gov/yose/historyculture/schoolhouse.htm

Thanks. Yeah, I read they purchased 2000 acres around El Portal in 1958.
What had me confused is the map linked by David above.
And then looking at a national forest map. Both show a bunch of El Portal
area in same color as the park.

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Here's a forest service map:

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chick-on
Here's a forest service map:

What's that thing marked "Entrance Station"? It's nowhere near Arch Rock.

I just found another USFS map online. It's supposed to be of Stanislaus NF, shows more or less the same El Portal corridor in "park" color, and has the Arch Rock entrance station in its proper place:

http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5403386.pdf


I wonder how old it is, though. I notice that in the Yosemite Valley area it shows the "River" and "Sunnyside" campgrounds -- and a trail that appears to connect the Four Mile and the Pohono trails, bypassing Glacier Point.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2013 01:22AM by gophersnake.

Cool. I hadn't seen that map before. Thx

If you look at Yosemites Fire Management Plan... there it is again:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/parkmgmt/wildlandfire.htm

My guess is that it is the 2000 acres that were purchased in 1958.
Guess I'll have to do the math and try to see if it fits.

Thx

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chick-on
My guess is that it is the 2000 acres that were purchased in 1958.
Guess I'll have to do the math and try to see if it fits.

Thx

My pleasure!

I just found another map, on p. 8 of this pdf, that calls that area the "El Portal Administrative Site". It seems to include most of El Portal but not the Yosemite View Lodge.

Sounds to me as if it's owned, leased or otherwise controlled by the NPS but intentionally being kept separate from the park so it can be operated under different rules. Oh, p. 9 seems to have the explanation: "These were some of the main reasons that the federal government purchased most of the land for an administrative site in 1958 from the El Portal Mining Company...."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2013 03:02AM by gophersnake.

If they still made Twinkies you'd get a golden Twinkie Award.

Excellent finding that document. Soooooo much great info in there! Thanks!

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chick-on

If they still made Twinkies you'd get a golden Twinkie Award.

You're in luck, Safeway has brought back the twinkie (sort of) under their "the Snack Artist" brand:

Introducing Safeway's the Snack Artist Crème Cake:

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gophersnake

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chick-on
Here's a forest service map:

What's that thing marked "Entrance Station"? It's nowhere near Arch Rock.

I just found another USFS map online. It's supposed to be of Stanislaus NF, shows more or less the same El Portal corridor in "park" color, and has the Arch Rock entrance station in its proper place:

http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5403386.pdf


I wonder how old it is, though. I notice that in the Yosemite Valley area it shows the "River" and "Sunnyside" campgrounds -- and a trail that appears to connect the Four Mile and the Pohono trails, bypassing Glacier Point.

Ha. About that Stanislaus map: Those guys don't give a hoot about accuracy outside their own bit of National Forest service roads. Look what happens to the Merced River below Briceburg.They run it over the top of Telegraph Hill!

I don't see that.

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chick-on
I don't see that.

OK. Here is a real topo map view. Briceburg is where (if you leaving the park on route 140) the road suddenly leaves the river and heads up a steep hill towards Mariposa. There is a bridge there that puts you on a forest service road (which is the old railroad bed) that follows along the river bank down to the reservoir at Bagby. There is also a dirt forest service road up the north side that is absolutely hair-raising if you meet a logging truck coming down.



OK, now I see what they did. The line marking the river drops to a fifth of its previous width there, and then gets lost under a red grid marker. I thought it just petered out. Sorry.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5403386.pdf



But still....where is the main road that follows along the river?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2013 08:15AM by wherever.