Talk:Yosemite National Park

Vernal Fall
This old photograph of "Vernal Fall" might interest someone. Is it the same sight as the one pictured in the article? This angle isn't quite as dramatic. Also, the area looks more cleared out in recent photographs? Park service? Fire? Just the angle?

Candleabracadabra (talk) 17:57, 1 May 2014 (UTC)

Website links in infobox
Currently, the infobox contains three links. Even assuming they all belong in the EL section, I believe the Infobox should only contain the URL to the official http://www.nps.gov/yose/index.htm per the usage guidance at Template:Infobox protected area as well as per WP:ELOFFICIAL. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 02:58, 15 March 2015 (UTC)
 * I agree 100% and have removed the websites of Yosemite Conservancy (which I support financially myself) and Delaware North (whose facilities I have patronized many times). I have no problem including them as external links. Cullen328  Let's discuss it  03:29, 15 March 2015 (UTC)

Yosemite as part of Northern California
To avoid the issue of edit-warring, let's discuss this debate here. As our own article on Northern California notes, the counties encompassing Yosemite National Park are commonly referred to as being part of Northern California, and the park is commonly referred to in external publications as being in Northern California. For example, "Wild Northern California," a guidebook to designated wilderness in the region, includes and describes the Yosemite Wilderness. . This is likely because while Yosemite may be closer to the "geographic center" than the northern extremity, in common practice California is roughly geographically divided in half rather than in thirds. NorthBySouthBaranof (talk) 04:00, 9 June 2015 (UTC)

Controlled use of fire by Ahwahneechee Native American Indians in Yosemite
I think somewhere this view should be mentioned, that the Ahwahneechee before they were killed or driven from the park would manage it with controlled fires and that many of the problems with wild fires are due to this absence of the resident humans who used to be part of the ecosystem there. Perhaps a short summary of this article could be a starting point for it?

Fire Over Ahwahnee: John Muir and the Decline of Yosemite

Robert Walker (talk) 23:33, 5 September 2015 (UTC)

Confusing redirects
The Yosemite Park and Curry Company redirect is targeted at this page, whereas the effectively identical Yosemite Park & Curry Company is redirected to the Ahwahnee Hotel. Could someone who knows about this sort out that mess? (I'm posting an identical note in the talk section of the latter page, too.) MrRedwood (talk) 23:39, 15 January 2016 (UTC)


 * Meanwhile, Curry Company doesn't even have a page, and isn't a redirect to anything. — Preceding unsigned comment added by MrRedwood (talk • contribs) 23:43, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

History: "first to tour the area"
"In 1855, entrepreneur James Mason Hutchings, artist Thomas Ayres and two others were the first to tour the area." This needs clarification, because indigenous people clearly "tour[ed] the area" long before any Europeans entered N America. Acwilson9 (talk) 04:29, 25 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Not necessarily.
 * If the reader doesn't know that, besides parts of the polar regions, there aren't many places on the planet that hadn't seen a human by 1855 (and most of them remote islands), the preceding section begins: "Yosemite Valley has been inhabited for nearly 3,000 years, although humans may have first visited the area as long as 8,000 to 10,000 years ago."
 * Nobody would say that Native Americans "toured the area". They didn't "tour" anything.
 * How best to clarify? "First Europeans"? Hutchings had apparently been an American citizen since 1848, and Ayres was born in New Jersey. "First people of European descent"? "First white people"? "First non-natives"? In any case, strict adherence to WP:V would require source support, and the cited source, being a book, is not easily accessible. So you'd have to go find a copy of the book or another reliable source that says what you want the article to say.
 * There is such a thing as "over-accuracy" – i.e., accuracy that is unnecessary and tends to hinder reading comprehension. &#8213; Mandruss   &#9742;  02:35, 29 October 2019 (UTC)

Superintendent
Any interest in a having a sentence mention the national park's superintendent? Cindy Muldoon was named yesterday as the park's new superintendent, becoming just the second woman to hold the position. I think it's worthy of inclusion, and I'm happy to post it if there's consensus. https://www.sfchronicle.com/nation/article/Yosemite-gets-new-superintendent-in-bid-for-15678961.php Pistongrinder (talk) 19:18, 28 October 2020 (UTC)

FA criteria
There is significant unsourced content in the article, including no less than 27 citation needed tags. The article will need better referencing in order to remain a featured article. (t · c)  buidhe  21:44, 2 November 2020 (UTC)
 * , Mav is no longer editing, might you be interested in bringing this back to standard? Sandy Georgia (Talk)  00:00, 3 November 2020 (UTC)
 * I will have to put it in cue. Would like to see it updated but not sure I have time. I'll try.--MONGO (talk) 04:12, 3 November 2020 (UTC)
 * I like chasing down references. I'll take a crack at it. — hike395 (talk) 04:55, 3 November 2020 (UTC)
 * I'm willing to work on it too. Pistongrinder (talk) 19:30, 6 November 2020 (UTC)
 * @Hike395, @Pistongrinder, @MONGO: can I bring this to FAR, or do you still plan to work on this in the medium-term? FemkeMilene (talk) 18:05, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

Thanks for reminding me. I'll get back to work on it. — hike395 (talk) 00:54, 6 March 2021 (UTC)
 * still interested in working on this? Z1720 (talk) 22:05, 8 August 2021 (UTC)
 * I appreciate the reminder, @Z1720. I'll have some time next week to work on researching and adding appropriate citations to the article. Pistongrinder (talk) 16:53, 11 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Awesome. Feel free to ping me when improvements are complete and I will conduct a more thorough review. Z1720 (talk) 18:43, 11 August 2021 (UTC)
 * I've added several citations to the article over the last few weeks as you can see in the history section, but I'm not finished yet. There are still a dozen or so more tags to tackle. This is just an update to say that I'm still working on them. Pistongrinder (talk) 15:44, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

Disputing the origin of the name Yosemite and "grizzy bear"
In the Etymology section, it is stated that the name Yosemite "itself is from the Native American word 'uzumate,' which meant grizzly bear", which was taken from the source https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/travel/national-parks/the-origins-of-place-names-in-yosemite/

However, from another source http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/origin_of_word_yosemite.html, it is explained that this name was a mistake. The one who named the National Park, Mr. L. H. Bunnell, heard the story from Major James Savage, who had a conversation with Chief Ten-ei-ya and mistakenly interpreted Ten-ei-ya. It is further explained in http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/discovery_of_the_yosemite/04.html#page_63 that Ten-ei-ya was describing his band, which consisted of the outlaws and refugrees from other tribes, is called "grizzy bear", but not the area itself. The word "uzumate" (bear) and "yosemite" (killer), although sound similar to those who is not familiar with Miwok language, are totally distinct to native speaker in Miwok [1, 2].

Therefore it is not persuasive to use the explanation provided by the Hachette Book Group. I recommend a discussion and revision (if applicable) on this section.

BrainchildHo 🧠👶Ho   💬  08:40, 8 February 2021 (UTC)

1. Erwin G. Gudde, California Place Names, 1949, s.v.

2. Indiana University Publications in Anthropology and Linguistics, Memoir 6 of the International Journal of American Linguistics, 1951.

"Indigenous peoples' presence post war and since"
This section is rather garbled and is fundamentally incorrect in saying that there were four major evictions. In fact by 1969 only a few houses in the "Indian village" remained, solely occupied by park employees and their families who were relocated to other employee housing. The fundamental relationship in the National Park era between employment by the National Park and the right to reside the "Indian villages" is completely ignored. Eldomtom2 (talk) 15:05, 17 May 2023 (UTC)

Updating this article's European centric history
I noticed that much of this article's descriptions of the history of the region of Yosemite is focused on the history of the region with regards to European settlers. Where natives are mentioned it is often sparse and lacking sources. I plan to spend some time adjusting the language used in this article and expanding the history section to include more details about precolonial times.

I wanted to put this section here in the talk page in advance of those changes incase anyone whose interested in this page wanted to voice any concerns with this plan or wanted to help out throughout the process.

Cheers, Skoulikomirmigotripa (talk) 17:22, 15 May 2024 (UTC)
 * I think it's a great idea. No doubt, the article skews to a eurocentric context owing to the mainstream sourcing used (which is not a criticism of any previous editors). If you are able to find good sources covering the indigenous history of the area, I think it would be great to add. *But*, I would say that a more complete history of the area should be covered in History of the Yosemite area and even Yosemite Valley, while this article probably should be concerned, for the most part, on the park itself and the history since its formation. Cristiano Tomás (talk) 18:48, 15 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Yes, that's a great point! If I have the time/energy I may start the process of creating that page as well. For now though, I'll just plan on updating the history section of this page. Skoulikomirmigotripa (talk) 21:06, 15 May 2024 (UTC)