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CF
climber
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 31, 2015 - 02:39pm PT
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was at hetch hetchy today and the crack and words "Free the Rivers--J. Muir," that a climber painted on the dam in 1987 are still sort of visible. any one remember the climbers name? he was a real environmentalist back in the 80's and i knew him but i think he passed away some years ago
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — An environmental artist with the skills of a mountain climber painted a giant crack down the face of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir dam, park officials said Monday. "It was really a work of art--it wasn't just graffiti," said Dean Coffey, general manager with the Hetch Hetchy Water and Power District, which provides water to San Francisco and surrounding communities. "Whoever did it has a lot of pride."
The vandal painted the 40-foot crack on the 312-foot-high O'Shaughnessy Dam, in Yosemite National Park, in the darkness Thursday night. Dam officials quickly painted over the crack, which included the five-foot-high words "Free the Rivers--J. Muir," as soon as they discovered it Friday morning, Coffey said.
John Muir was a leading environmentalist and explorer who fought to keep state legislators from approving the dam. Muir lost the battle in 1913 with the passage of the Raker Act, which allowed San Francisco to build the dam and supply the city with water.
The painter of the crack would have had to work off ropes hung from the top of the dam, Coffey said.
"You have to be a pretty fair construction hand to do that sort of thing. They had to have some rigging and been skilled," he said.
Park officials have begun an investigation, Coffey said. The caper was probably executed by "Earth First or one of those organizations that do that kind of work," he said.
A similar incident in 1980 was not discovered for two days and no one was charged in the incident, he said.
O'Shaughnessy Dam, completed in 1923, holds back 340,000 acre feet of water on the Tuolumne River to form Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. An acre foot is 325,000 gallons, or the amount of water an average suburban family uses in one year, a water department official said.
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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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Oct 31, 2015 - 02:47pm PT
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An acre foot is 325,000 gallons, or the amount of water an average suburban family uses in one year, a water department official said.
Makes me wonder what that number is now. Yeah, I realize an acre foot is an acre foot. But what's the average usage now?
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jstan
climber
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Oct 31, 2015 - 02:54pm PT
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O'Shaughnessy Dam, completed in 1923, holds back 340,000 acre feet of water on the Tuolumne River to form Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. An acre foot is 325,000 gallons, or the amount of water an average suburban family uses in one year, a water department official said.
A "unit" of water as on our water bills is 748 gallons. 325,000 gallons per year is
36 units per/month for an average family( of four) means each person in the family consumes 9 units /month. I (one individual) use 3.3 units/month but am embarrassed to admit I think I can cut it to 2 units per month. However water consumption data seems to indicate the great majority of water consumed goes for agricultural production, some of which still employs flood irrigation.
We don't need nearly the amount of water being used presently.
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c wilmot
climber
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Oct 31, 2015 - 03:54pm PT
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If they tear it down SF will have to drink the polluted Sacramento river water presently being piped to the east bay
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Oct 31, 2015 - 04:31pm PT
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A "unit" is 100 cubic ft.
So Cal average consumption pre-drought was about 1/2 AF per family.
It's a lot less than that now.
Water companies are having issues with reservoirs going stagnant and even paying the electricity bills because water sales are down so much.
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Cragar
climber
MSLA - MT
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Oct 31, 2015 - 04:31pm PT
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First name Dean, his last name started with an M and Irish?
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pb
Sport climber
Sonora Ca
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Oct 31, 2015 - 04:34pm PT
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Dean Malley, was a buddy of Grants
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Cragar
climber
MSLA - MT
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Oct 31, 2015 - 06:35pm PT
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Hey pb, that's who I was thinking of. I hope all is well with y'all and your Tuolumne county funness is funner than ever!
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Maysho
climber
Soda Springs, CA
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Oct 31, 2015 - 07:21pm PT
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It was Tom Skeele. He is very much alive, doing great living in Santa Cruz. Back then he got fired from his YI instructor job for doing that.
Dean Malloy was a great friend of mine, I don't think he had anything to do with the crack painting caper, but I could be wrong.
Peter
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CF
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 31, 2015 - 07:38pm PT
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thanks peter i thought i remember him talking about himself working on that project. i do remember him as a ahead of his time yosemite environmentalist and had book of how yosemite places would look with the structures gone. he had a great mockup photo of the nps stables jail area and how it would look as a nice green meadow, amazing, wish some one had that.
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Oct 31, 2015 - 09:45pm PT
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Kinda reminds me of that naked pink lady that appeared over the Malibu tunnel back in the day. The artist was annoyed with all the graffiti and painted this 50 foot nude in a night. The cover-up is still visible 50 years later. Evidently took some climbing skills to get up there to her credit.
http://www.woostercollective.com/post/the-story-of-the-pink-lady-of-malibu
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rwedgee
Ice climber
CA
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Oct 31, 2015 - 10:05pm PT
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The crack goes thru the dam, not that big but you can see it up the face and across the walkway.
Also ~ 890 gallons a day per household ? Seems like a lot.
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Spreck
Social climber
Oakland
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Note our campaign to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley and return it to Yosemite.
Restore Hetch Hetchy has sued San Francisco to force them to store their water downstream, outside of Yosemite. The case is pending in Tuolumne County Superior Court
See http://www.hetchhetchy.org/initial_court_ruling_in_our_favor for the latest.
Best,
-Spreck Rosekrans
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christoph benells
Trad climber
Tahoma, Ca
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Damnation movie made me cry.
i think it is streaming on netflix. highly reccomended!
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c wilmot
climber
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Restore Hetch Hetchy has sued San Francisco to force them to store their water downstream, outside of Yosemite. The case is pending in Tuolumne County Superior Court
What a complete waste of money...
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scooter
climber
fist clamp
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I heard Erik SLoan has been taking up a collection for paint to redo the crack. He plans to do it next year around Facelift.
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Portland Oregon
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to consider tearing down major water sources at this time is just plain stupid Not as stupid as growing rice in a desert...
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Spreck
Social climber
Oakland
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Restoring Hetch Hetchy in Yosemite National Park need not reduce water supply by one drop. It accounts for only 1/8 of the surface storage in the Tuolumne watershed and can replaced by recharging aquifers in wet years for withdrawal in dry years.
See the studies at hetchhetchy.org. Restoration is not a threat to water supply.
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Not as stupid as growing rice in a desert...
The less said about alfalfa, cows and almonds the better...
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