Hetch Hetchy

How disheartening to read that Yosemite National Park turned away visitors because of overcrowding (“Glorious Thaw,” May 25). It is even more saddening because the other valley in the Park, Hetch Hetchy, is underwater. It too is blessed with spetacular waterfalls, but was dammed in the 1920s so that San Francisco could store water and generate hydropower.

With the removal of the dam, the Park could redirect the overflow of visitors to Hetch Hetchy and relieve the overcrowding in Yosemite Valley. When the Interior Department reviewed removing the dam in the 1988, they concluded that the other dams San Francisco owns in the Sierras could provide enough water, but it would lose five to ten million dollars in power sales. That is a small price to pay to double Yosemite National Park.

PETER JACOBSEN

Orange