4th Annual Yosemite Facelift
Yosemite Climbing Association in conjunction with National Public Lands Day and the California Coastal Commission is proud to announce that the 4th Annual Yosemite Facelift will kick-off its Park-wide cleanup on Wednesday, September 26th starting at 8:00am. The event will go on for five days thru the weekend and will close on Sunday, September 30th. The summer season brings in many visitors and with them comes the ever increasing problem of trash and litter. Our primary goal is to conduct an intensive cleaning of all areas in the park followed by our next goal of promoting awareness on the issue and to educate the public on how to live and play responsibly in our beautiful National Park. Areas of focus are roadways, the river corridor, trails, parking areas, climbing areas, and lodging areas.
All interested parties are encouraged to meet in front of the Visitor Center from 8:00am to 5:00pm to collect trash bags and litter sticks. If you can't be there by 8:00am, show up when you can. At the end of the day bring back the trash to weigh-in and help us keep track of our progress. Each participant receives a raffle ticket for every day they participate. Prizes will be raffled off at our closing reception the evening of September 30th. In addition to that the Park Entrance fee will be waived to all Facelift Participants and free camping will also be available on a first come first serve basis.
The Cleanup has continued to grow over the years with more volunteers reaching out into more areas to collect more trash. The popularity and awareness of the event has been growing steadily since its first year due not only to our volunteers but also from the support received from our donors and sponsors. Last year 1,157 participants donated 9,256 hours, collected over 25,000 pounds of trash, and was valued at $166,970.00 by the National Park Service. In much appreciation of this effort NPS presented Ken Yager with the Yosemite Award. Please help us make the YCA Yosemite Facelift an even greater success this year.
If you cannot participate, but would still like to help, please consider a tax deductible donation to Yosemite Climbing Association at PO Box 89 Yosemite, CA 95389. Your donation will help us offset the cost of the event.
YCA Joins California Coastal Commission
This year YCA has joined forces with the California Coastal Commission in the mission of cleaning up our lands and helping to create and maintain healthy environments for our wildlife, plant life and human life. The Coastal Commission will be helping with this years clean-up in man-power and dollars and we are proud to be partnered with them in this effort. Saturday September 15th is National Coastal Clean-Up Day. The California Coastal Commission is a proud and leading advocate for this cause. The clean-up on the west coast spans from Washington to Baja, California. Every year thousands of pounds of plastic are deposited into our coastal waters, and mostly by inland sources. In Yosemite we have the Tuolumne and Merced Rivers, two sources of water flow to the oceans and to the people. It is our responsibility to ourselves and to the nature to keep our waters clean and free of harmful pollutants. A healthy environment makes for healthy living. So, when in Yosemite (and all waterways) please be responsible with your belongings and your trash. Always pack out what you packed in. And speaking of packing, another way to help reduce the amount of plastic that flows through our rivers and oceans and in effect our National Park(s) is to reduce the amount we use and consume, thus cutting down on Packaging.
For more information on the California Coastal Commission please visit: http//www.coastal.ca.gov
A Small Set-Back but We're Still Going
At the end of July YCA experienced a set-back that has cost us hours, time and a little patience. Our main computer crashed a complete failure in the mother-board. Luckily due to some foresight we had conducted a series of back-ups to the internal and external hard-drives months prior to the epic. Some data has been lost but the majority of our catalogued inventory has been recovered. So, while we plan and coordinate our Facelift and Art Auction and other events of much need and interest our computer is being put back together and reinstalled (with much thanks to C. Falkenstein) and the remainder of the cataloguing will continue in the fall.
A Note from Katie
This year I've been honored to work with Ken at YCA. I've been busy cataloguing the many items of Yosemite's climbing history and getting to know this place not only as the mecca of climbing in North America but also as a deeply special place host to many innovative, bold, and visionary people. I had the great privilege of meeting Yvon Chouinard and watched first-handedly as he forged a piton. I was also excited to meet Robin Hansen and filmed an interview with him as he told the tales of climbing in the first half of the 20th century in Yosemite and what the times were like in this magical place as it was first being explored as a climbing area. In July I also filmed an intensive and insightful interview with Tom Frost; it was fascinating to hear about some of the great first ascents, the start of Pacific Ironworks, life in Camp 4, and getting camp recogonized as an important and historical place in the park's history. As a climber considerably new to these stomping grounds it's both humbling and inspiring to be part of the lineage of climbers that have made this place what it is today. I look forward to continuing my work with Ken and helping to keep Yosemite beautiful, simple and magical.
Sincerely,
Katie Lambert |
