Throughout tens of thousands
of years, humans have brought many changes upon Yosemite. Many people came to
the Sierra to mine for gold; those mining sites are still there (National Park
Services). Since Yosemite was such a beautiful and amazing place, the Europeans
spread the word of it to everyone out there. Parts of the landscape were
exploited, spurring conservationists to appeal for protections (National Park
Services). Things got bad or ugly in 1889, as people began farming domestic
animals in the area; there were flocks of domestic sheep were continuously
consuming meadows and wildflowers, as well as destroyed the “soul of the land”
(OhRanger). Allowing people to farm animals In Yosemite would have led to the
consumption of the beautiful nature that Yosemite provides. Today, 3.5 million
people enter the park’s gates to explore annually (National Park Services).
Although money and popularity of the park is brought in by visitors, humans are also responsible for impacting the ecosystem in a negative way. It is stated that vegetation, animals and environment suffer due to the effects of human presence within their habitat (Ournationalparks). Simple things like yelling or standing and walking on forbidden ground can deteriorate natural habitats and scare and harm animals (Ournationalparks). These threats can either be directly caused by humans, or indirectly sparked by the effects of human development and civilization. For instance, consequences might range from the disturbance and retreat of animals due to invasive visitors, to noise pollution due to nearby highways and airports (Ournationalparks). Roads, parking lots, hotels, airports, campgrounds and all the other infrastructure required to support human activity in a national park brings long-lasting impacts to the ecosystem (Ournationalparks). Wild animals are frequently hit and killed within park roads, due to the shock that vehicle lights and noises have over them. Impacts on Yosemite are more connected to the direct actions of visitors within the park as well. Some vehicles park along the roadways and slightly off the road, and what this does is that it encroaches on some of the nearby vegetation (Ournationalparks). If this keeps happening day by day, then the local vegetation will face perpetual transformations. There are problems of trail cutting, in which people do not follow the marked trails and instead cut through the middle while stepping on vulnerable plants and grounds (Ournationalparks). There also exists a problem of people petting or feeding wild animals like deer or squirrels. Human interaction with wild animals can end in violence or else can disrupt the attitude and mood of the animals’ behavior (Ournationalparks). A big problem that human poses for Yosemite is emissions from human activities; these emissions from human activities cause climate change, which in turn shifts biomes. This gradually leads to more fires, as it has been stated that wildfire frequency and duration have increased (Park Science). Many numerous small mammals have also shifted upslope, as a result of the shift of climate change; they will continue to shift due to the climate change. Many vulnerable areas will be affected by the climate change and greenhouse gases (Park Science). In April 2009, the environmental protection agency outlined a report regarding the impact of human activity and human emissions, and to a certain extent climate change, to public health and welfare. It outlines that increased drought, more heavy downpours and flooding, more frequent and intense heat waves and wildfires, greater sea level rise, more intense storms, and harm to water resources, agriculture, wildlife and ecosystems will be the effect of human activity and climate change if the trend is not curbed. It is thus reasonable to conclude that broader and more general ecological footprints caused by human activity and emmissions will have a significant effect in the future of Yosemite and other national parks and forests. With this, one can arguably say that the human impact judging from this alone might be bad or ugly, especially in the near future (yosemite.epa.gov).
