Yosemite Wilderness Restoration Program
2019 Accomplishments
Special thanks to the foresight & longtime support of:
Yosemite Conservancy (YC)
And to everyone else who makes our work possible:
Traditionally Associated Tribes and Groups of Yosemite National Park
Division of Visitor and Resource Protection
Branch of Anthropology
Branch of Roads and Trails
Branch of Wildlife Management
Yosemite Hospitality
“Action on behalf of life transforms. Because the relationship between self and the world is reciprocal, it is not a question of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.” Robin Wall Kimmerer
Our Purpose
Nearly 95% of Yosemite is Congressionally designated Wilderness . Considered a biodiversity hot spot , it's home to nearly 2,000 plant and animal species, spanning elevations from 2,127 feet to 13,114 feet.
The Wilderness Restoration Program (WRP) seeks to protect these invaluable ecosystems by reducing modern human's footprint in wilderness.
Our Focus
We target ecological issues such as compacted soils, erosion, vegetation loss, disruption to water flow, and habitat fragmentation. These can result from inappropriately located campsites, trails in meadows, and social trails.
With increasing visitation and changing climate, these issues make Yosemite's ecosystems more vulnerable to degradation.
Our Collaborators
With a human history dating back almost 10,000 years, Yosemite has a rich diversity of stories told through artifacts left behind and contemporary American Indian communities with traditional associations to the park.
As much of our work takes place in potentially culturally sensitive areas, WRP collaborates with traditionally associated tribes, through the park's tribal liaison, and archeology staff to preserve these critical resources.
Our Legacy
Since 1987, WRP has ecologically restored miles of trail ruts and thousands of inappropriately located campsites to natural conditions. Our work protects Yosemite's invaluable resources for generations to come.
In 2019, dedicated volunteers and staff continued this important work to preserve Yosemite Wilderness.
2019 Crews
National Park Service
Student Conservation Association
Wilderness Volunteers
Campsite Restoration
(Funded by YC and HH-SFPUC)
Crews walked 211 trail miles and surveyed 15.78 square miles of Wilderness.
National Park Service (NPS - green line)
Student Conservation Association (SCA - blue dotted)
Wilderness Volunteers (WV - orange dashed)
Surveyed over 40 locations, treating 794 campsites
Sites removed & restored: 446
Sites maintained: 348
Yosemite Valley - North Rim
Total sites treated: 155
Sites removed & restored: 97
Sites maintained: 58
Camping Trends
WRP collects data for each campsite treated. Multi-year analysis shows relative success of restoration work and informs future management decisions.
Parkwide from 2002-2019:
- Campsites too close to water (within 100 feet) have decreased 20%.
- No significant change in campsites too close to trail (within 100 feet).
Camping Trends in Thru-Hiker Corridors
Yosemite contains nearly 70 miles of the PCT and nearly 33 miles of the JMT. Rising popularity of these trails increases impacts to resources.
From 2009 to 2019, campsite data reveals on average, 8.8% more illegal campsites along the PCT than across the entire Tuolumne watershed.
Invasive Plant Treatment
(Funded by Yosemite Conservancy)
Surveyed and manually treated 157 acres for invasive plants species including:
Cirsium vulgare / Bull thistle
Taraxacum officinale / Common dandelion
Lactuca serriola / Prickly lettuce
Tragopogon dubius / Yellow salsify
Lyell Canyon Meadow Restoration
(Funded in 2019 by HH-SFPUC, Previously by YC & HH-SFPUC)
Eighth year of work in Lyell Canyon: Restoring John Muir Trail (blue) and Pacific Crest Trail (orange) sections that bisect wet meadows. 2019 project sites are shown as red-dashed boxes.
Finished work in past project sites: 2018, 2017, 2015
Restored 7,984.2 square feet of trail to meadow habitat (orange outlined area)
Affected 8.74 acres of Tuolumne River watershed (striped blue area)
Restoration Monitoring
WRP implements photo points and vegetation transects to monitor restoration success.
Photo Points
Lyell Canyon - 2013 Project Site (2013)
Lyell Canyon, 2013 Project Site (2019)
Lyell Canyon (2014)
Lyell Canyon (2019)
Lyell Canyon (2017)
Lyell Canyon (2019)
Upper Cathedral Lake Meadow (2010)
Upper Cathedral Lake Meadow (2019)
Tuolumne Meadows, Soda Store Social Trail (2017)
Tuolumne Meadows, Soda Store Social Trail (2019)
Lukens Lake Meadow (2008)
Lukens Lake Meadow (2019)
Campsite Before and Afters
Chilnualna Falls
Ring reduced
Chilnualna Falls
Ring reduced
Yosemite Falls
Ring removed, too close to trail, too close to rim
Yosemite Falls
Ring removed, too close to trail, too close to rim
North Dome
Ring reduced
North Dome
Ring reduced
Johnson Lake
Ring removed, too close to water
Johnson Lake
Ring removed, too close to water
Cultural Collaboration
The seven traditionally associated tribes of Yosemite National Park consult with cultural and natural resource managers to integrate traditional ecological knowledge with science-based adaptive management throughout the park, protecting cultural and natural resources.
"Our Traditional Ecological Knowledge and stewardship methods include sustainable plant gathering and using fire to revitalize the land. These techniques ensure our survival while enhancing and diversifying the ecosystem." Traditionally Associated Tribes of Yosemite
Following historic preservation law, NPS archeologists survey ecological restoration project areas, document archeological sites, and provide information to work crews so that disturbance to sites is avoided during restoration activities. At the beginning of the field season, archeologists teach crews about Yosemite's rich cultural heritage, how to identify artifacts, and what to do when you encounter archeological sites.
2019 Wilderness Archeology Accomplishments
- Recorded 11 previously undocumented archeological sites
- Revisited 4 sites for re-documentation purposes
- Surveyed 553 acres of Yosemite wilderness
"As you walk through this park, remember who walked here before you and imagine who will walk here after you. We ask that you respect this place so that our people can continue to enjoy these lands like our ancestors have." Traditionally Associated Tribes of Yosemite