FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Yosemite National Park (/joʊˈsɛm.ɪ.ti/ yoh-SEM-ih-tee) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an area of 759,620 acres (1,187 sq mi; 3,074 km²) and sits in four counties: centered in Tuolumne and Mariposa, extending north and east to Mono and south to Madera County. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, giant sequoia groves, lakes, mountains, meadows, glaciers, and biological diversity. Almost 95% of the park is designated wilderness.

Yosemite is one of the largest and least fragmented habitat blocks in the Sierra Nevada, and the park supports a diversity of plants and animals. The park has an elevation range from 2,127 to 13,114 feet (648 to 3,997 m) and contains five major vegetation zones: chaparral and oak woodland, lower montane forest, upper montane forest, subalpine zone, and alpine. Of California’s 7,000 plant species, approximately 50% occur in the Sierra Nevada and more than 20% are within Yosemite. The park contains suitable habitat for more than 160 rare plants, with rare local geologic formations and unique soils characterizing the restricted ranges many of these plants occupy.

The geology of the Yosemite area is characterized by granitic rocks and remnants of older rock. About 10 million years ago, the Sierra Nevada was uplifted and then tilted to form its relatively gentle western slopes and the more dramatic eastern slopes. The uplift increased the steepness of stream and river beds, resulting in the formation of deep, narrow canyons. About one million years ago, snow and ice accumulated, forming glaciers at the higher alpine meadows that moved down the river valleys. Ice thickness in Yosemite Valley may have reached 4,000 feet (1,200 m) during the early glacial episode. The downslope movement of the ice masses cut and sculpted the U-shaped valley that attracts so many visitors to its scenic vistas today.

Yosemite was central to the development of the national park idea. Galen Clark and others lobbied to protect Yosemite Valley from development, ultimately leading to President Abraham Lincoln‘s signing the Yosemite Grant in 1864. John Muir led a successful movement to have Congress establish a larger national park by 1890, one which encompassed the valley and its surrounding mountains and forests, paving the way for the National Park System. Yosemite now draws about four million visitors each year, and most visitors spend the majority of their time in the seven square miles (18 km²) of Yosemite Valley. The park set a visitation record in 2016, surpassing five million visitors for the first time in its history. The park began requiring reservations to access the park during peak periods starting in 2020 as a response to the rise in visitors.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

1510s

• 1513: VASCO NÚÑEZ DE BALBOA CROSSED ISTHMUS OF PANAMA AND SIGHTED THE PACIFIC OCEAN

1590s

• BORN 1599: FRANCESCO BORROMINI (ARCHITECT)

1640s

• BORN 1644: OLE ROEMER (ASTRONOMER)

1690s

• 1690: PUBLICK OCCURRENCES BECAME THE FIRST NEWSPAPER IN THE “UNITED STATES”

1840s

• 1846: ZACHARY TAYLOR’S TROOPS CAPTURED THE MEXICAN CITY OF MONTERREY

1860s

• BORN 1866: THOMAS HUNT MORGAN (GENETICIST)

1890s

• 1890: CONGRESS ESTABLISHED YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK IN CALIFORNIA
• BORN 1897: WILLIAM FAULKNER (AUTHOR)
• BORN 1898: ROBERT BRACKMAN (ARTIST)

1900s

• DIED 1900: FELIX-GABRIEL MARCHAND (QUEBEC PREMIER)
• BORN 1903: MARL ROTHKO (ARTIST)

1930s

• BORN 1930: SHEL SILVERSTEIN (AUTHOR, HUMORIST)
• BORN 1931: BARBARA WALTERS (NEWSCASTER)
• BORN 1936: JULIET PROWSE (ACTRESS)

1940s

• BORN 1944: MICHAEL DOUGLAS (ACTOR)
• BORN 1947: CHERYL TIEGS (MODEL)

1950s

• BORN 1951: MARK HAMILL (ACTOR)
• BORN 1952: CHRISTOPHER REEVE (ACTOR)
• 1956: TAT-1 FIRST TRANSATLANTIC TELEPHONE CABLE TO LINK NORTH AMERICA AND U.K.

1960s

• BORN 1961: HEATHER LOCKLEAR (ACTRESS)
• BORN 1968: WILL SMITH (ACTOR)
• BORN 1969: CATHERINE ZETA JONES (ACTRESS)

1970s

• BORN 1975: MATTHEW HASSELBECK (FOOTBALL PLAYER)

1980s

• 1981: SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR WAS SWORN IN AS AN ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, THE FIRST WOMAN TO HOLD THE OFFICE
• DIED 1987: MARY ASTOR (ACTRESS)

2000s

• DIED 2003: GEORGE PLIMPTON (WRITER)
• 2005: AN EARTHQUAKE WITH A MAGNITUDE OF 7.5 HIT NORTHERN PERU
• DIED 2005: DON ADAMS (ACTOR)

2010s

• 2010: A 3.4-MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE SHOOK NEW HAMPSHIRE ABOUT 10 MILES NORTH OF THE CAPITAL CITY OF CONCORD
• 2010: A 20-FOOT WIDE, 3,699-POUND PUMPKIN PIE WAS BAKED AND PRESENTED AT THE NEW BREMEN, OHIO, ANNUAL PUMPKINFEST. IT WAS CERTIFIED AS THE WORLD’S LARGEST PUMPKIN PIE.
• DIED 2012: ANDY WILLIAMS (SINGER)

COURTESY www.almanac.com