Yosemite Programs to Get Big Push in Funds
Yosemite and 75 other national parks have been singled out to be part of a program in which private donations to the parks are matched by federal funds (kind of like a 401k for national parks).
FresnoBee.com: Updates: Yosemite wins big in public/private funding plan: “Yosemite National Park benefits more than most. The park%u2019s famous Tunnel View Overlook will be rehabilitated. A new Junior Ranger center will start in Yosemite Valley. Plants and animals will be researched. Throughout San Joaquin Valley schools, students will get scholarships to spend a week in the park.
The non-profit Yosemite National Institutes raised $750,000 from companies such as Intel and charitable groups such as the Stewart Foundation. This money will now be matched with $750,000 from the federal government.
The $1.5 million total will enable 10,000 schoolchildren to participate in week-long programs held in Yosemite and Olympic national parks and at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The Yosemite-bound students are typically San Joaquin Valley and East Los Angeles residents between the ages of 10 and 15. Their park service scholarships are based on a sliding scale pegged to income.
The Yosemite scholarship program is among 110 projects funded through what Kempthorne has styled the %u201CNational Park Service Centennial Challenge.%u201D The basic idea is to combine public and private spending as a lead-up to the park service%u2019s 100th anniversary in 2016. “
For a little over 30 years now I've enjoyed hiking, backpacking, fishing, photographing and exploring Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. Yosemite Blog presents me with the opportunity to share, with you, the beauty and the grandeur of Yosemite and the High Sierra. Read the 
April 27th, 2008 07:17
Just drove passed Tunnel View the other day and was not a soul around looking at the view.
The park was so quiet.
Falls looked great but at this speed I don’t know if they will last the summer