A Historic Gift for a Historic Occasion: Yosemite Turns 150

You only turn 150 once, so what does one get their favorite National Park? How about more beauty, more habitat, and more pristine watershed.

That’s why today, on Yosemite’s 150th anniversary, PFT is giving what we hope is just the beginning of a historic gift—the 80-acre O’Conner Ranch. Sitting along Yosemite’s western boundary, three miles west of Chinquapin and Highway 41, this gift parcel is made possible in part through the generosity of the Resources Legacy Fund.

Overlooking the Wild and Scenic South Fork of the Merced River, with several springs and creeks that drain into a roadless watershed, this property is habitat for a suite of species including the Pacific fisher, goshawk, and  cooper’s hawk. Through a restoration timber harvest in 2005 the Pacific Forest Trust was able to restore a three acre wet meadow, further enhancing its habitat value. It also serves as an important winter and spring migratory corridor for larger predatory species.

This gift marks the largest expansion to Yosemite National Park in over 75 years—a record we hope to break again soon with our work to add the remaining 1,520 acres. Part of John Muir’s vision for the Park in 1906, those remaining acres await the passage of the Yosemite Boundary Adjustment Act, which will enable the Park Service to purchase these private tracts from willing sellers and help shield the western border of Yosemite Valley from development. With a bipartisan bill introduced in the House, and a groundswell of local support, we’re hoping to have these 1,520 acres join the 80 acres we are donating today very soon. Learn more about our efforts here.

Read recent press about these efforts:
“Yosemite National Park expansion stalls in Congress” Paul Rogers and “Reader’s Letters”, San Jose Mercury News

“Mercury News editorial: McClintock’s Yosemite blunder needs correcting” Mercury News Editorial, San Jose Mercury News

Read the story of the O’Conner Ranch