Park Superintendent Mike Tollefson began “Experience Your Yosemite” when he first arrived at the national park in 2003, and today, Halloween, is his last program before retiring at the end of January 2009.

“This is our largest group in the six years,” he tells the sixty participants who hail from the park’s neighboring gateway communities. “We thought some of you would be discouraged by the rain, but it looks like everyone is here.”

Tollefson counts “Experience Your Yosemite” as one of his many accomplishments during his 36 years with the National Park Service. His longest tenure was his last assignment, here where it all began in 1864. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant, creating the park, 52 years before Congress established the park service itself.

“Over 1,200 people have participated in the program,” which Tollefson uses to “help dispel the myths” about the park service’s plans for Yosemite. “It can be frustrating, the misinformation out there. Too often people are debating important topics without being fully informed.”

This group of Yosemite’s neighbors, mostly retirees who have settled in the surrounding communities, have squeezed into the Winter Room at the historic Ahwahnee Lodge in Yosemite Valley. Each person stands to offer a brief introduction. Almost half the group lives in Groveland, the gateway community on Yosemite’s northern border. “Is anyone left in Groveland?” a Mariposa resident inquires.

After the introductions, the superintendent opens the floor to questions.

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The California Air Resources Board presented its plan to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020 at a workshop in San Jose on August 8, 2008. The audience of about 100 came to offer comments on the AB 32 draft scoping plan, designed to implement the California Global Warming Solution Act, as much as to hear what the board proposes.

The State of California’s climate plan establishes an ambitious goal. It seeks to engage individuals, communities and businesses in strategies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and

“. . . make our cities healthier, our natural areas safer and our working landscapes more productive; that make our economy more resilient as we reduce our reliance on imported petroleum; and that pave the way for technologies that can make our state both more prosperous and more sustainable.”

The state’s $100 billion travel and hospitality industry, and the 900,000 travel-related jobs, are particularly vulnerable to climate change. During the 2008 fire season, over 2,000 wildfires scorched California, and uncontrolled blazes forced mass evacuations at some of the state’s cherished destinations–Big Sur, Santa Cruz, Yosemite, Shasta-Trinity, and the Northern Sierras.

Spring 2008, preceding the fires of summer, was the driest in a generation. The governor declared a water emergency and water districts across the state instituted mandatory water rationing, measures that affect California residents and tourists alike.

The shrinking Sierra snowpack could devastate the state’s ski resorts and affect outdoor recreation activities year-round. The state’s wineries are threatened by rising temperatures and changing weather patterns. California’s coastal communities face rising sea levels and warming waters, which could adversely affect these tourist destinations.

The Air Resources Board will consider comments on the plan, submitted in writing and at public hearings, when it writes its “Proposed Scoping Plan,” which will be released on October 3, 2008. The board will vote on the proposed plan at its November 20 meeting.

Keep reading for more about the Draft Scoping Plan; or

Read Climate Change Plan Gets Public Airing.

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It was standing-room only at the Santa Clara County auditorium on August 8, 2008, when representatives from the California Air Resources Board opened the public hearing on the state’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. The parking lot outside the auditorium was also full, since the board chose a locale for the hearing that was a good five miles from downtown San Jose, and away from the city’s street car lines.

Kevin Kennedy from the Air Resources Board spent the first hour describing the state’s plan to reduce GHG emissions by:

• Improving energy efficiency and expanding renewable energy production;
• Changing land use policy to encourage smart growth and mixed-use development, thus reducing sprawl and vehicle miles traveled;
• Enhancing public transportation and developing high-speed rail;
• Improving vehicle fuel efficiency and developing alternative, low-carbon fuels;
• Adopting green building standards; and
• Developing a carbon “Cap-and-Trade” program.

Then it was the public’s turn to address the critical issue of climate change.

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The Sierra Nevada Conservancy will distribute another $17 million in fiscal year 2009, to projects designed to protect or restore “rivers, lakes and streams, their watersheds and associated land, water and other natural resources.” The money was authorized by California voters in 2006 when they passed Proposition 84, the Clean Water, Parks and Coastal Protection Act.

The conservancy established two categories of grants for fiscal year 2009–

• Competitive grants: $7 million for land acquisition, conservation easements, and site restoration; individual grants can range from $250,000 to $1 million;
  Deadline: Sept. 15, 2008.

• Strategic opportunity grants: $10 million, including $1 million for each of the six subregions; individual grants can range from $5,000 to $500,000;
  Deadlines: Sept. 2, 2008 and Feb. 27, 2009.

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The June 8th travel section of the New York Times ran no less than three articles on different aspects of what National Geographic calls geo tourism. “Back to Nature and Ready for Guests,” featured birding in the Great Plains of North Dakota. No mind that the article also mentioned bison hunting, the article’s pull quote read, “Wildlife has made a comeback; bring on the eco-tourists.”

The “Choice Tables” article focused on Aspen’s food and wine festival, noting, “Chefs build menus on what the region’s farmers produce.” Another piece pictured kayakers passing through a mangrove tunnel in the Everglades.

Journalists are always looking for a good story, or a new hook to an old story. Heading into summer, it’s a good time to think about next winter. What might catch the attention of travel writers? Once you answer that question, let the California Travel and Tourism Commission help you reach journalists worldwide.

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Traffic congestion is bad for business, especially hospitality businesses. There is nothing hospitable about traffic jams, gridlock, and vehicle exhaust.

When tourists are stuck in traffic, they have less time to spend in local stores, restaurants, and destinations. Much of the serendipity of travel is lost when tourists are isolated from local people and local businesses by the isolating bubble of a car.

The hospitality industry has a large stake in the regional transportation plan for the San Francisco Bay Area, which the Metropolitan Transportation Commission is currently updating, as it does every four years. The plan will direct $122 billion in investments over the next 25 years, and for the first time, it will attempt to address climate change, smart growth, and transportation options, as well as gridlock.

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Eileen Fisher, the eco-friendly apparel company, provides grants to women-owned businesses. Deadline for its 2008 grants is May 30, 2008.

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Sustainable Travel International now offers businesses an affordable way to provide carbon offsets to their visitors. The nonprofit began to provide a carbon calculator–MyClimate–on its website in 2006.

Businesses participating in Sustainable Travel’s program can place a link to the carbon calculator directly on their sites, allowing their customers to estimate the CO2 emmissions associated with flying, driving and hotel stays and then make a donation to a project designed to offset these environmental costs.

Learn more about Carbon Offsets: reducing travel’s environmental impact.

Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell, a marketing and public relations agency that focuses on the travel and leisure industries, says it is “cautiously optimistic” about the prospects for the new year, despite a “volatile market.” In its December 2006 eNewsletter, YPB&R predicts:

• Leisure travel–especially family travel–will outpace business travel;
• Travelers will grow increasingly reliant on the Internet for travel planning and booking, and meta search engines, such as kayak.com and qixo.com,” take off; and
• Cruises and spas will continue to grow in popularity.

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Counties across California are revising their general plans, and a number of boards of supervisors are integrating “smart growth” principles in these plans.

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