Restore Hetch Hetchy

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"Two Yosemites" Video DVD

Two Yosemites (DVD only)
(A film by David Brower, Sierra Club, 1955). 11 Minutes, Color.
Passionate portrayal of the beauty of Yosemite Valley contrasted with the ugliness of the low-water Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.

$10 Donation.

"Two Yosemites," filmed in May, 1955, by Sierra Club Executive Director David Brower, depicts two "crown jewels" of Yosemite National Park: Yosemite Valley and Hetch Hetchy Valley on the same day. In Yosemite Valley, trees, meadow grasses, wild flowers, waterfalls, and wildlife are all available for public enjoyment as part of the national park experience. However, the only two human visitors [Dave Brower and professional photographer Philip Hyde] to Hetch Hetchy Valley on this day are met with a grotesque "moonscape" of a field of stumps, and a sandstorm from the unvegetated landscape -- despite San Francisco's grandiose claims that the beauty of Hetch Hetchy would be "improved," and that public recreation on the reservoir in the form of boating and swimming would be available.

Dave Brower's classic film was one aspect of his fifty-year effort to encourage the restoration of Hetch Hetchy Valley. Dave deeply understood the use of the media (large, coffee-table books with lots of pictures and films), and he stated: "From his earliest Sierra days John Muir [saw] the importance of building a constituency to protect Yosemite. If people knew about a special place, they would want to protect it." [Foreword by Dave Brower to Muir's book, The Yosemite, p. xv, Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, 1988]

Our goal in making this film available is to allow the public to "know" about this special place, Hetch Hetchy Valley, so that they will want to restore it. To get your own "Two Yosemites" video, together with a Restore Hetch Hetchy membership application, and petition, use our secure Shopping Cart or send a Ten Dollar donation to:

Restore Hetch Hetchy
P.O. Box 3538
Sonora, CA 95370

To get involved in the effort to restore Hetch Hetchy, contact Restore Hetch Hetchy at: info@hetchhetchy.org, P.O. Box 3538, Sonora, CA 95370. Telephone: (209) 533-4481.