Yosemite Press Release: Tenaya Lake makeover

             Yosemite’s Tenaya Lake Area to Get Major Makeover

           Yosemite Conservancy to Fund Wetlands Restoration and

         Improved Visitor Access at Spectacular High Country Lake

The first phase of a major makeover at Tenaya Lake, one of Yosemite National Park’s most popular summer destinations, will restore wetlands and improve beach access with funding by Yosemite Conservancy.

“Tenaya Lake is a jewel of the park’s high country,” said Mike Tollefson, president, Yosemite Conservancy. “We’re focused on restoring and protecting it so that the visitor experience is as exceptional as its location.”

Picnickers, hikers and rock climbers are drawn to the lake’s picture perfect beaches, deep blue water, surrounding granite domes, and lodge pole pine forests. Its eye-catching scenery is visible from Tioga Road, which provides easy access to the lake for park visitors of all ages and abilities. However, its popularity has resulted in challenges of crowded parking areas, unsafe traffic conditions, unintended harm to fragile ecosystems, shoreline erosion and unwanted run-off.

“This initial phase restores and protects habitat and improves accessibility for all visitors to this magnificent location,” said Yosemite National Park Superintendent Don Neubacher.

Yosemite Conservancy will provide $850,000 for initial improvements at the lake’s East Beach area. Work begins this summer on a new ecologically friendly trail that will provide easy access for all from the parking lot to the shore and minimize future impacts to wetlands. The beach area will be enhanced for family use and picnicking with installation of new tables including a common “long table” that will accommodate family gatherings.

Wetlands and riparian areas also will be restored to natural conditions with re-establishment of native willows.

Neubacher said future enhancements at Tenaya Lake would address ecological restoration of roadside parking areas, additional habitat protection, and redesign of the parking lot at the East Beach to accommodate tour buses that now park on the road and replace parking spaces removed from the roadside. “Initial restoration efforts will improve habitat surrounding the lake and protect it better for the future, while providing a better experience for park visitors. Both the park and its visitors benefit from this Conservancy-funded project,” said Neubacher. Tenaya Lake sits at 8,150 feet, 31 miles east of Highway 120 and nine miles west of Tuolumne Meadows along Tioga Road.

About Yosemite Conservancy

Yosemite Conservancy is the only philanthropic organization dedicated exclusively to the protection and preservation of Yosemite National Park and enhancement of the visitor experience. The Conservancy works to restore trails, protect wildlife through scientific research and habitat restoration, and offers outdoor programs that provide visitors with unique ways to connect with the park. It has funded over 300 projects through $60 million in grants in areas including trail and habitat restoration, wildlife protection, education, volunteering, and the production of award winning books and DVDs. Learn more at www.yosemiteconservancy.org or call 1-800-469-7275.

                                   -NPS-

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Kingfisher den found in Yosemite

The following is a press release from Yosemite National Park...and a pretty cool finding!

Yosemite National Park is home to more than 400 species of animals, including a number of species that qualify for listing under the Endangered Species Act.  The park provides habitat for a wide variety of wildlife due to its undisturbed ecosystems in the Central Sierra Nevada.  Wildlife species in Yosemite range from aquatic invertebrates to large mammals.

One of the many mammals that roam Yosemite’s forests is the Pacific fisher (Martes pennanti).  The fisher, a medium-sized member of the weasel family, is a candidate species for listing as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act.  Yosemite National Park, in conjunction with the U.C. Berkeley Sierra Nevada Adaptive Management Program (SNAMP) Fisher Project, has successfully identified the park’s first Pacific fisher den.

The female Pacific fisher using this den was originally captured as a juvenile in October of 2009 in Sierra National Forest, directly south of the park.  SNAMP researchers have been able to continuously track this fisher using radio-telemetry since her initial capture.  After remaining near her capture site for almost a full year, she moved northward toward Yosemite.  This female fisher recently moved her kits (young) from their den in Sierra National Forest where they were born, to a den in the southern portion of Yosemite National Park.  This is typical behavior for a female fisher with newborn kits.  The female will likely move her kits one to two more times to different dens during the next month.

Female Pacific fishers can breed as early as one year of age, but most do not successfully reproduce until three years of age.  The fisher discovered at the park successfully had kits at two years old.  Following a gestation period of about 40 days, the female typically gives birth to one to three kits in a hollow cavity of a tree.  Kits are born blind and helpless, and completely dependent on their mother’s milk for the first 8 to 10 weeks.

Kits begin to crawl after about 3 weeks, can open their eyes after about 7 weeks, and can start to climb after 8 weeks.  At about 4 months, kits are more mobile and are able to travel with their mother on hunting trips.

Fisher eat small mammals such as mice and squirrels, and are even known to be one of the few animals to prey on porcupines. After approximately 5 to 7 months, the kits leave the maternal den and their mother and travel out of the territory of their birth and upbringing.

The Pacific fisher is a western subspecies that once ranged from British Colombia, south through Washington, Oregon, and northern California, and reached their southern extent in the Sierra Nevada.  Pacific fisher have declined to only 50 percent of their historical range in California, with only two native populations separated by approximately 260 miles remaining today.  One population is located around the western California-Oregon border, while the other is located in the southern Sierra Nevada in California.  Yosemite represents the northern boundary of the small and isolated southern Sierra Nevada population, which is estimated to be between 125 to 250 adults.

The Pacific fisher is threatened by low reproductive rates, reduced genetic diversity, predators, disease, and habitat degradation.  Trapping prior to

1946 also contributed to population decline.  Recently, road-kill has become a concern as several Pacific fisher have been found dead along the roadways in the park over the past decade after being hit by cars.

In order to promote continued fisher recovery, partnerships have developed between the NPS, the Yosemite Conservancy, U.C. Berkeley, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the California Department of Fish and Game.

This important recovery work has been made possible with support from Yosemite Conservancy, the Wilderness Society, and the Aspenwood Foundation.

For more information on Pacific fishers, please visit http://www.nps.gov/yose/naturescience/fishers.htm

For more on Yosemite National Park and California's Gateway to Yosemite, Madera County: visit www.YosemiteThisYear.com