From NPS: Tree Work on Northside Drive Starting on Monday, July 25th Valley District Forestry crew will be working along the Valley Loop roads felling and removing hazardous trees and encroaching vegetation. Traffic control will be in effect with minor delays between 7:00am and 3:30pm. Work areas will include North and South Side Drives. Estimated completion date 8/10. Valley Loop Trail Reby Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteDave What is the life of the equipment? Will it last that long? I dunno. There aren't many moving parts. 20 years doesn't seem that long, so I suspect that it will.by Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Wawona Prescribed Fire Postponed Until Further Notice Due to the strengthening high pressure weather system forecast for next week and the potential for unfavorable smoke impacts, the Wawona Northwest prescribed fire scheduled for next week is postponed until further notice.by Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Non Campus Mentis? http://www.amazon.com/Non-Campus-Mentis-According-Students/dp/0761122745 (word of explanation: non compos mentis refers to someone who is not of sound mind. Hence the play on words for book title.)by Frank Furter - General Discussion
http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2011-07-26-worst-writing-contest_n.htm (AP) A sentence in which tiny birds and the English language are both slaughtered took top honors Monday in an annual bad writing contest. Sue Fondrie of Oshkosh, Wis., won the 2011 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for her sentence comparing forgotten memories to dead sparrows, said San Jose State University Prof. Sby Frank Furter - General Discussion
I don't know what commercial kwh costs the NPS from PGE or whatever provider, but internet suggests that 20 cents per kwh is rough estimate: $0.2/kwh X 800,000= $160,000/year Assuming that there is no increase in cost of electricity and ignoring repair costs, the time cost of the dollars to purchase the equipment or the debt service if finaced: 5.8million/ 160000 = 36 years In all lby Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Documents concerning the Scenic View Plan can be assessed at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=347&projectID=23811&documentID=35583 The Environmental Assessment is the most detailed description. The appendix which scored various sites for scenic impairment by a numerical score or VRA ( visual resource assessment lists the sites under consideration. Under plan #3, whichby Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2011/07/25/1982009/yosemite-to-unveil-58-million.html Yosemite National Park officials will unveil the National Park Service's largest grid-connected photovoltaic solar panel system during a press event on Wednesday....by Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Yosemite National Park Continues Work on Pavement Preservation Project El Portal Road - Crews will be cleaning along the El Portal Road next week (July 25th thru 29th) with minimal delays 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Tentatively, on August 31st, crews will be working nights (9:00 PM to 7:00 AM) placing a surface treatment on the El Portal Road between the Big Oak Flat Intersection and Parkline (Yosemiteby Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
PARK AND PARK PARTNER NEWS The Visitor Use and Social Science Branch is conducting numerous studies in Wawona, Mariposa Grove, Tuolumne, and Yosemite Valley that utilize GPS units to collect visitor travel information. Visitors who receive these units are directed to return them to research staff or a drop box outlined for the investigation. In some cases, visitors may forget to return these uniby Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Zion National Park (UT) Rangers Conduct Multiple Technical Rescues The park's search and rescue team conducted four canyoneering rescues in three days, then took on a big wall rescue of two injured climbers: * July 16th - On the morning of July 16th, a 20-year-old man suffered a lower leg fracture after a short fall while descending into Mystery Canyon. When the injury occurred, he wasby Frank Furter - General Discussion
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/07/yellowstone-fire-climate-change.html The size and frequency of wildfires in the northern Rocky Mountains will increase so much with global warming that it will profoundly alter the landscape of Yellowstone National Park and its environs, predicts a new study....by Frank Furter - General Discussion
QuoteDave QuoteFrank FurterNo comments about Mirror Lake? Why not resume dredging and perimeter vegetation removal to restore its prior glory?What's happening in Mirror Lake is a natural progression. What's happening in the meadows, and other places, are the result of human interference. I assume Mirror Lake was named for the original condition which deteriorated in the early 1900's. I believeby Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
No comments about Mirror Lake? Why not resume dredging and perimeter vegetation removal to restore its prior glory?by Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
....the man who gained viral fame by shedding tears at the sight of a double rainbow wants to be your next Commander-in-Chief. Paul “Bear” Vasquez is that man, who currently lives in a mobile home Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/07/24/double-rainbow-guy-ponders-presidential-run/#ixzz1T7bajDOo For those who need to relive the joy:by Frank Furter - General Discussion
(not specifically Yosemite, so posted under General Discussion forum) How do you explain park deaths? You can't. http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/columnists/ct-talk-brotman-yosemite-0725-20110725,0,2421265.column ....The boulder I sat on to admire the view turned out to be loose. It rolled, breaking my hip and pelvis. It trapped my leg and dragged me toward the edge of the canyonby Frank Furter - General Discussion
QuoteFrank Video I have seen of the water at Vernal from the past week shows an incredible volume of water in torrential waters just upstream of the falls. ..... Is it not abundantly obvious that the water going over the falls is coming from somewhere, for example the upstream part of the Merced River? Do people think this is some elaborately staged feat of incredible pluming engineering (aby Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotehotrod4x5 QuoteDave QuoteFrank FurterInteresting. I have always been a little suspicious of the "prevention of episodic fires in the valley" explanation.The natives living in the Valley did burn the meadows, but that was not what kept the trees out of the meadows. It was the seasonal flooding.Conifers don't grow in meadows because it is too wet. The location of grasslands and foresby Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotehotrod4x5 .... Turns out they paid 100 bucks a night to the scalper for their site.... Solution to the debt crisis?by Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteDave Many of these trees have grown in historically treeless areas BECAUSE of human activities. Drive along Southside Drive, all those trees on the left shouldn't be there. The building of that road disturbed the water flow and allowed trees to grow in an area that was otherwise too wet. Just past Bridalveil Straight, the last pullout on the left, you can see a glacial moraine. In the springby Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quoteplawrence QuoteBob Weaver I believe the rock in my photo is the smaller, upper one in your photo. Obviously both are extremely dangerous to go out onto. Not really, if you're aren't scared of heights. I doubt that any big wall rock climber for instance would have any trouble standing on those two overhanging rocks and not feel anything but perfectly safe in good weather. But it's simplby Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
This is a slippery slope. Does restoration of historic views include dredging Mirror Lake and re-instituting the Firefall? Hopefully, there is a healthy amount of skepticism among those overseeing this proposal as frequently the heavy hand of well-intentioned human activity turns out to have unintended consequences. The tendency is to ask, what would John Muir advise?by Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteSierraGold More signs and barriers? For what, just to be ignored? ... The issue may not be more signs. Too much information or too many signs can be an error as well as too little or too few. The other issue in any safety program is no knowing how many events are prevented. How many injuries have been prevented by the current infrastructure? We do not know. How many can be prevented iby Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Human behavior and the psychology of accidents is an interesting subject that is not explained simply by lack of information or impaired judgment. On that subject one can read the book "Deep Survival" for a fascinating discussion. In thinking about signage, infrastructure, or regulations in Yosemite, it occurs to me that there are also analogies to highway related injuries and accidby Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotehotrod4x5 Quoteherosemblem I know I'll be exhausted when I reach the top of Vernal and then Nevada Fall next week. First thing I'll do when I reach the top of each is dip my feet in the water. It'll be so refreshing... Oh wait.There are plenty of safe places to dip your feet, ONLY your feet, in the water up there. Just use common sense. The foot bone is connected to the leg bone which iby Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotewherever QuoteFrank Furter For the sake of discussion, how do you come to that conclusion? What measurement or standard makes it clear that the current conditions are just enough? Could nothing more be done...or is too much done? How do you know that the current sanctions and policies are "just right"? Please. Those questions are far too complex to be answered in this forumby Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteRoadrash There are enough permits and rules already mandated. .. For the sake of discussion, how do you come to that conclusion? What measurement or standard makes it clear that the current conditions just enough? Could nothing more be done...or is too much done? How do you know that the current sanctions and policies are "just right"?by Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteFrank you previously referenced Airline announcements implying that Yosemite should do more things like that. But airline announcements are routinely ignored and are only done because of government bureaucracy-do they really serve any purpose other than making government regulators happy? Communication is tricky. Too much repetition is ignored but the key to education is repetition. No eaby Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/21/BAR61KDIGH.DTL Yosemite rangers rarely punish those off trails Friday, July 22, 2011 On any given day, Yosemite National Park rangers arrest drunken drivers, hand out citations for illegal campfires or fine teenagers for spray-painting rocks. Straying from a trail or climbing over a barrier at a waterfall - a transgression thby Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Again, I am going to voice my objection to public derogatory comments about accident victims or their families. These statements are mean-spirited and serve no purpose. They are rapidly indexed and easily retrieved by search engines and serve only to embarrass or add to survivor anguish, as Bee has mentioned. If you stop and think about the situation, there are many times when "experts&qby Frank Furter - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion