Commercialization or Just a Cup of Coffee?

Do we want brand names in OUR national parks? 

Would they diminish what makes OUR parks unique and special?

The nationwide outcry over the 1913 Raker Act led directly to the passage of the National Park Service (Organic) Act three years later - an act intending to ensure national parks were managed for national, not local, benefit. The Organic Act discouraged but did not explicitly ban building dams in national parks, and attempts to build dams in Yellowstone in the 1930's were stopped.

Join us and very special guests Lee Stetson and Obi Kaufmann for our 2018 Annual Dinner. What could  be a greener way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day?

Online tickets can be purchased at Eventbrite (fee required). Tickets can also be purchased by contacting Julene Freitas at 510.893.3400 or email julene@hetchhetchy.org. You may also download form to purchase by mail.

If you are unable to attend but would like to support our work, any contribution would be most welcome.

"The ultimate removal of the reservoir would make possible the restoration of Valley a few miles from Yosemite Valley and, amazingly, a near twin of that extraordinary gift of nature." 

Carl Boronkay  - former General Manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

We were also very pleased when the Modesto Bee published our editorial opinion, Come Hell or Low Water, on groundwater last week.

Our Fall 2017 Newsletter is available. It has been delivered to mail boxes and is also posted online.

Turlock and Modesto are a world apart from San Francisco when it comes to pricing Tuolumne River water supplies

Who doesn't pay their fair share for using national parks?

San Francisco, that's who!             

San Francisco pays only $30,000 per year to the federal government for its use of Yosemite National Park's Hetch Hetchy - roughly the cost of a one bedroom apartment in the City.  In addition to its meager "rent", San Francisco also pays for the costs of security, watershed protection, trail maintenance etc. These operational costs would generally be necessary, however, even if the City owned the Tuolumne River watershed.