Spatial
Scale: Yosemite National Park is located in the US, California; its
landmass is 747,956 acres (or 1,169 square miles) that’s about the size of
Rhode Island. The designated wilderness of the park is 704,624 acres (or 1,101
square miles), which is more than 94% of the park (National Park
Services).Yosemite consists of 214 miles of paved roads, 68 miles of graded
roads, 20 miles of paved walks and bicycle paths, and 800 miles of trails
(includes Pacific Trail and John Muir Trail) (National Park Services).
Within the park, there is a diversity of rocks in Yosemite, which include:
Layers of
Rock: There are
cross-sections of large granite layers seemingly cut into the side of the road.
Yosemite's granite continues to expand along joints or fractures in the rock
due to internal pressure within the earth's crust. This process—known as
exfoliation—causes slabs of granite to "peel" off, like layers of an
onion. This natural process continues to shape the landscape of Yosemite and
rockfalls are common in most areas of the park (ohRanger).
Hanging
Valleys: The glaciers acted
like giant bulldozers, plowing and plucking rocks from the surrounding cliff
walls. Where streams once flowed into the Valley, the glaciers left behind
dramatic precipices, known as "hanging valleys." This is particularly
noticeable at Bridalveil Fall and Yosemite Falls in Yosemite Valley, and in
Hetch Hetchy (ohRanger).
Roche
Moutonnée (sheep rock): These asymmetrical
outcroppings of rock resemble sheep feeding in a meadow. The gentle, sloping
ridge follows the direction from which the glacier came. An example of this
type of formation is Lembert Dome in Tuolumne Meadows (ohRanger).
Glacial
Polish and Striations: The shiny, flat
surface of some rocks is the handiwork of glaciers that polished them centuries
ago. Sand and other small abrasives that pressed against the granite under the
weight of the glaciers cut distinct striations, or scratch marks, on the rocks,
which indicate the direction the glaciers were moving. Examples of glacial
polish can be seen on the domes surrounding Tenaya Lake (ohRanger).
Dikes: Some rock faces show long white lines that are so neat and
straight that they resemble street lines. These are rocks rich in feldspar and
quartz, which, in their fluid state, oozed up through a crack in the rock and
solidified millions of years ago (ohRanger).
Benefits
people get from Yosemite: There were many early lodging establishments in Yosemite, like the
Wawona Hotel; the hotel offered a more primitive setting for the Valley’s first
tourists and today's visitors, and more elegant lodging. Other hotels, like The
Ahwahnee was added to satisfy those looking for comfort (National Park
Services). The Yosemite services benefits the people because different kind of
hotel settings were created in order to fit with people’s tastes and cater to
their experiences at Yosemite.
Protected
Areas of Yosemite: The drive for federal protection of the Yosemite region began
shortly after the first non-Indian settlers arrived and before conservationist
John Muir first visited in 1868. Abraham Lincoln provided this protection when
he signed the Yosemite Grant on June 30, 1864 (ohRanger). This grant is
considered the foundation upon which national and state parks were later
established. As mentioned in the history, the Mariposa Grove and Yosemite
became the first public preserved area in the country, but they were still
under the control of the state of California (ohRanger). Finally, on October 1,
1890, the U.S. Congress set aside more than 1,500 square miles of
"reserved forest lands" soon to be known as Yosemite National Park.
It included the area surrounding Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of
Giant Sequoias. These became protected areas of Yosemite (ohRanger). Finally,
the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove ceded from the state of California's
control and included with Yosemite National Park in 1906 (ohRanger). In early
20th century, “buffalo soldiers” were assigned to keep watch of
the park (ohRanger). Stories from those whole walked in Yosemite’s trails
allows us to appreciate the place more and their lasting footprints led to
conscious preservation (National Park Services).
Status of
protected area: Yosemite’s resources fill a flourishing museum collection of more
than 4 million items. The museum maintains a research library with some 10,000
books relevant to Yosemite, as well as photographs and articles (National Park
Services). Due to the booming amount of tourists and campers,
"nature guides" were hired to help educate visitors about the park's
special values and the Field School for Natural History was established to
train future interpreters in the 1920s (ohRanger). This would create guidelines
on how people should and should not treat Yosemite. For the status of
preservation/protection of the park, today, the staff of the National Park
Service—along with its park partners and legions of volunteers—continues to
meet the challenge of protecting Yosemite's unique natural and cultural
treasures for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations (ohRanger).
Overall, it seems that the protection status of Yosemite National Park is going
well for now.
