Yosemite Conservancy

Fall might not be classic wildflower season, but it’s a great time for planting next year’s blooms! This month, Yosemite National Park is working with CHIPS (Calaveras Health Impact Product Solutions) crews to plant native plants in Ahwahnee Meadow, as part of an ongoing effort to improve habitat for monarch butterflies and other pollinators. Learn more about CHIPS at calaveraschips.org, and read our blog for more info about the pollinators project: yosemite.org/planting-for-...pollinators/ Thanks to our donors for supporting this project and other habitat restoration work in the park! : Yosemite Conservancy/Ryan Kelly

Absolutely thrilled about today's news from Yosemite National Park! Congratulations Cicely, and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership.

Ostrander Ski Hut in Yosemite National Park will not open this winter due to the health hazards posed by COVID-19. We share this news with heavy hearts, but the decision was made with the safety of visitors, hut keepers and the hut itself in mind. Read our full message at http://createsend.com/t/j-C60B6D12C39363762540EF23F30FEDED #ICYMI #Yosemite #COVID19

"No matter how sophisticated you may be, a large granite mountain cannot be denied - it speaks in silence to the very core of your being." . Quote: Ansel Adams Photo: Vashishtha Jogi

Yosemite National Park became part of my life at the moment of my birth in the parking lot of Lewis Memorial Hospital at 7:00 pm on a cold evening in 1952. My mother and father, both 26 years old, had been avid backpackers for three years. In June, my father decided that he wanted to ascend Mt. Hoffman. The plan was that my mother, 9 months pregnant at the time, would hang out in camp at May Lake. We piled into my parent’s 37 Chevrolet, headed out the Caldecott Tunn...el from Oakland and endured the then 7-hour trip. Going through Mariposa and Arch Rock, they got to May Lake parking lot on the old Tioga Road before sun down, then ambled up the mile-plus long trail to May Lake and pitched camp. My mother was not moving too fast and someone else carried her pack and gear. I was her sole burden. Long story short, my mother went into labor at May Lake while the rest of the group was hiking. They made a mad dash back down to the parking lot, jumped into the car, and drove recklessly. My mother’s water broke along the way. Somehow, I hung on until medical staff bounded out of Lewis Memorial Hospital with a gurney. I held on right up to that point but sensed that the gurney meant I needed to make my move. Apparently, it worked out. My mother and I stayed at the hospital for four nights. The doctor expressed extreme displeasure with my father for having a 9-month pregnant woman at a remote area. My father and the two other hikers left that night to get to work on Monday morning. On Friday evening, my father returned, gathered us into the Chevy, puttered up to Glacier Point and spent three nights up there in a tent. It snowed again. I was okay with all that. True story! We love hearing your most memorable Yosemite moments. Tag us @YosemiteConservancy and include #YosemiteMemory for the chance to be featured. : Matt Artz on Unsplash See more

Wait, what day is it? This post is a bit belated, but we thought you'd still enjoy our October photo of the month, shot by Lindsay K. Add your photos to our Flickr group for the chance to be featured: https://www.flickr.com/groups/yosemiteconservancy/ #yosemite #yosemiteconnect #nationalpark #findyourpark

We need your help to support important wildlife research in the park! As their wild habitat disappears throughout the state, mountain lions depend on places like Yosemite National Park to survive. But did you know that the park's ecosystems also depend on mountain lions? These predators control prey populations, such as deer, and influence the movements of other predators, including coyotes and bears.... Donor support helped fund a three-year study to determine how many mountain lions are in Yosemite and which parts of the park they use. To collect clues, the team is using highly trained scat-detecting dogs (shoutout to our friends at Rogue Detection Teams), genetic analysis and remote cameras. The data will help scientists identify individual lions and protect Yosemite’s population of lions and their habitat. The team recently reported back on last season’s remote-camera images, and the results are exciting: Mountain lions appeared at 8 of the 42 cameras deployed for the study, revealing that the wild felines are well distributed throughout the park. The lions were photographed more than 700 times more often than all but two other native Yosemite species: mule deer and black bear. The study’s cameras photographed about 40 other wildlife species, from bobcat and gray fox to the sooty grouse and northern saw-whet owl. Donate today to help study & protect important species like mountain lions! #wildlifewednesday #yosemite #findyourpark : Priscilla Du Preez, NPS See more

Today's #SundaySoundtrack is brought to you by @TravelsWithCarolyn (find her on Instagram), shot at Fern Spring in #YosemiteValley in October 2019. Hope your day is as relaxing as this video

The moon rising over the eastern Sierra Nevada, from Tioga Road near Dana Meadows. : @TravelsWithCarolyn (find her on Instagram), October 2017 #fanphotofriday #yosemite #findyourpark

"If we do a consistent job of managing human food and making it largely unavailable to black bears, we can live with them. They're exciting, they're handsome, they're fascinating to watch, and I think we can live with them very well in national parks." -wildlife biologist David Graber Please be especially diligent about storing your food in bear-proof lockers or canisters in #Yosemite this time of year, when bears like these are bulking up (sometimes eating as many as 20,000 calories a day!) to prepare for hibernation. Watch the Black Bears edition of Yosemite Nature Notes to learn more about these amazing creatures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqIoFA8SMkI : @TravelsWithCarolyn (find her on Instagram), October 2020

Great question from Yosemite National Park - what (literal and figurative) reflections have you found on your adventures in the park?

That feeling when you pull out your winter coat & realize summer has officially come to an end... Until next year, : Tom Berry, September 2019

"When the sun is shining I can do anything; no mountain is too high, no trouble too difficult to overcome." -Wilma Rudolph Wilma Rudolph was the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympic Games at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. She quickly became an international star and role model for Black and female athletes. Rudolph was a runner, but we'd bet many of the climbers who tackle Yosemite's El Cap would identify with her determination. : Adam Kool on... Unsplash #ElCapitan #Yosemite #FindYourPark

If you'll be in #Yosemite this Saturday, or next Saturday, or the following Saturday, or either of the Saturdays after that...join us for stargazing! These new October evening programs take place in the Valley from 6:30-7:30 pm. You'll move a short distance on flat, accessible terrain as your naturalist guide points out constellations, crepuscular & nocturnal wildlife, and if you're lucky, a Draconid or Orionid meteor! Learn more and find out how to register in our new blog post - link in profile. (https://yosemite.org/starry-nights-in-the-sierra/)