Yosemite Facelift to be Held in Yosemite National Park

Tenth Annual Event to Occur September 24 – September 29

Yosemite National Park and the Yosemite Climbing Association invite the public to participate in the tenth annual Yosemite Facelift on Tuesday, September 24, through Sunday, September 29, 2013. The goal of the Yosemite Facelift is to clean up trash and debris from around the park after the busy summer season. Volunteers are needed to help pick up litter at various locations in the park, including roadways, in the river corridor, on trails, near climbing routes, and in parking, camping, and lodging areas.

Last year, over 1,200 Yosemite Facelift volunteers collected more than 20,000 pounds of trash and debris. Over 95 percent of the trash collected was recycled. Volunteers worked 9,390 hours throughout the event and throughout the entire park to clear debris and trash from heavily visited areas and along park roads.

Interested volunteers can sign up at the booth in front of the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Wednesday, September 25th through Sunday, September 29th. A second check-in station will be located at the Tuolumne Meadows Wilderness Center on Friday, September 27 through Sunday, September 29. The Tuolumne Meadows booth will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. On Saturday, September 28 there will also be a registration booth in Wawona at the Mariposa Lower Grove parking lot, 9am to noon. Crew leaders will be at the booths to organize work groups and hand out trash bags, gloves, and litter sticks. Trash must be returned to the booths each day by 4:00 p.m. to be weighed and sorted.

For more information and a complete schedule of events, please contact Ken Yager at yageryca@gmail.com. Individuals who are unable to participate during the cleanup, but would still like to help, may make a tax deductible donation to help pay for costs associated with the cleanup effort. Donations can be made to the Yosemite Climbing Association at P.O. Box 89 Yosemite, California 95389.

On Saturday, September 28, the park will celebrate National Public Lands Day. In order to help celebrate this special day and the Facelift events, the park will waive entrance fees for Saturday, September 28. The fee waiver includes entrance fees on Saturday only and is not associated with camping fees.

Additionally, there will be a Yosemite Volunteer Awards Ceremony at 4:00 p.m. front of the Valley Visitor Center on Saturday, September 28.