California Senate Votes 36-0 to Expand Yosemite

Environment California

Sacramento, CA – The California Senate voted 36-0 to pass SJR 5, a resolution in support of adding 1,600 acres of soaring, conifer-studded hillsides and alpine meadows to Yosemite National Park. The land was originally part of Yosemite, but Congress stripped its protection in a 1906 concession to industrial interests. The resolution would help remove legal barriers to righting this historic wrong.

“This is a great day for Yosemite,” said Nathan Weaver with Environment California. “We applaud work by California’s leaders to preserve and strengthen Yosemite, one of the world’s most beautiful.”

The current owners, Pacific Forest Trust and a partnership of private individuals, support the land transfer. Pacific Forest Trust bought its parcel to protect it from development.

A broad coalition of state leaders supports expanding Yosemite. Its author, State Senator Tom Berryhill (R-Twain Harte) represents Yosemite in the California State Senate. Nearly 30 California state legislators have joined Berryhill’s resolution as co-authors, serving communities as diverse as Bakersfield, Merced, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Redding. The Mariposa County Board of Supervisors, the local government currently responsible for the land, approves. And so does Robert Hanna, an avid park advocate and John Muir’s great-great-grandson.

“This is an incredible opportunity we have that will no doubt speak to all future generations,” said Hanna. “Like it is for so many others, Yosemite is a special place to me and my family and I look forward to working with everyone to add to its majestic beauty.”

Congress must formally adjust Yosemite’s borders before the National Park Service can buy the land through an existing program. A boundary line adjustment would improve Yosemite in time for the 150th anniversary of the original Yosemite land grant, signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1864.

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Environment California is a state-based, citizen-funded, environmental advocacy organization working toward a cleaner, greener, healthier future.