The Yosemite Conservancy works with the National Park Service to carry out projects that can’t be funded solely from the NPS budget. By soliciting funding from donors, the Conservancy helps the park with vital environmental, historical, scientific, and visitor education efforts. Back when the group was known as the Yosemite Fund, I wrote a booklet for them describing places in Yosemite Valley where visitors could see the results of Fund projects.
Stop 5: Stoneman Meadow Restoration
Stoneman Meadow offers some of the most magnificent views available in Yosemite Valley. After years of misuse, some 27 footpaths were trampled across the meadow, spoiling its natural beauty and endangering its very existence. Stop here on your walk to enjoy views that now include lush grass and flowers as well as inspiring cliffs and waterfalls.
Stop 6: Bear-Proof Food Lockers
Bear-proof food lockers at campsites are solving a longstanding Yosemite problem. The feeding of human food to bears has necessitated the death of at least 15 bears in recent years. Unintentional feeding from bears breaking into cars, coolers, and tents at campgrounds is being reduced dramatically thanks to the installation of over 1,000 lockers provided by the Fund.
(Yosemite Falls photo ©2006 Patricia F. Winter)
