This Name is Your Name: Public Landmarks, Private Trademarks, and Our National Parks

To generations of Americans, Yosemite National Park and its landmarks have symbolized the core democratic ideals of the United States—spaces truly owned by the people and open to all. For those who created our national parks, “[t]he purpose of preserving this land was to cultivate a kind of rare experience [they] saw as endangered by a social world that turned every thing, moment, and human being to profit.” It is striking, then, that Yosemite, one of the nation’s first national parks, has become the focus of a battle over whether our landmarks and their names belong to us all or to a select few. In 2016, several Yosemite National Park landmarks were renamed due to an ongoing trademark dispute between a concessions company and the National Park Service (NPS). At the end of its contract with the park, the departing concessions company demanded compensation for the trademarks to the words “The Ahwahnee,” “Wawona,” “Badger Pass,” “Curry Village,” and perhaps most shockingly, “Yosemite National Park” itself. During its contractual relationship with the NPS—and apparently unbeknownst to NPS administrators—the concessions company filed for and received trademarks for use of these landmark names in hospitality and merchandising contexts. Allowing short-term concessionaires to trademark the names of publicly owned and culturally treasured assets implicates key trademark principles in several ways. The oft-recited aims of trademark law are providing information to the consumer, promoting competition, and avoiding dilution of brands by protecting accrued goodwill. Allowing short-term concessionaires to register national park landmark names conflicts with each of these aims, as this Note explains. A limited contractual relationship fits poorly with the enduring cultural value of well-known landmarks and raises complex questions about business operations and intellectual property in the national park context. This Note contends that principles of trademark law and policy are undermined if federal contractors can establish long term proprietary rights over national park landmark names. To provide a comprehensive picture of the Yosemite case, Part I will further explore the facts surrounding the trademarks and landmarks in question, as well as the contractual relationship between DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite, Inc. (DNCY) and the NPS. Part II considers the NPS’s claims for cancellation of the Yosemite-linked trademarks under existing U.S. trademark law. Part III argues that concessionaire registrations are inconsistent with the baseline goals of trademark law. Finally, Part IV suggests that legislation, similar to a statute recently enacted in California, represents a possible solution to the issues surrounding private trademarking of public landmark names. This Note asserts that the purposes of trademark law support taking the names of national parks and landmarks off the bargaining table and out of would-be profiteers’ reach, and that providing our national park landmark names with statutory protection from commercial interests fits perfectly within the American tradition of preserving the parks themselves

Finding Yosemite: a reflection on conservation

Yosemite National Park has always been a National treasure of natural beauty, making it a popular tourist attraction by providing protection for unique geological formations, wildlife, and land of historic value. The parks mission is to provide recreation while educating and preserving the history and environment in which the park resides on. Recently, the mission of Yosemite National Park has been threatened by an increase in the number of people who visit the park annually and budget cuts that have a direct effect on the amount of resources the park has available to counteract the environmental impact of the rise of visitors. Each year, the number of visitors who attend Yosemite National Park rises dramatically, with the increase of attendance comes the increase of pollution, environmental degradation and overcrowding within the park. Finding Yosemite was created as a tool of communication to help educate potential visitors about the increasing environmental problems that currently jeopardize the environment of the park. Through interactivity and imagery, the goal of this online resource is to improve the public’s awareness of Yosemite’s environmental conservation initiative while still encouraging positive visitation. With this knowledge, park visitors will be able to make environmentally smart decisions that have a direct impact on the parks ecosystem. Visitors can learn about specific conservational issues and protection policies that the park is currently implementing. By exploring a map of the park, users can Learn about conservational issues in the topics of wildlife, geology and vegetation. Learn the ecological importance of specific wildlife, plants and geological features and how their survival impacts the parks ecosystem. Learn about current and future protection policies that the park is implementing View photos about each conservational topic Learn about the founding of Yosemite National Park and it’s conservational history Keywords: Conservation, Ecosystem threats, Glaciated landscape, Interactive Multimedia, National Parks Service, Pollution, Technology enhanced teaching, Topography, Yosemite National Par

Yosemite & Zion National Park

This map displays exciting color gradients representing the variation of the elevation in both Yosemite and Zion National Parks. It was created utilizing United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Map 3DEP 1/3rd arc-second Digital Elevation Models and Adobe Photoshop

Hippies in the Park: Yosemite and the Counterculture in the Sixties American West

For many visitors, Yosemite\u27s park boundaries symbolize a division between nature and civilization. On a busy day in Yosemite Valley, however, that divide seems nonexistent. Cars slither by, glinting in the sun. The valley echoes with camera clicks. Tourists stream into grocery stores and souvenir shops. The post office sorts mail and the dentist cleans teeth. In short, Yosemite Valley is little different than a small town. The American West is defined by wilderness but dominated by cities. Yosemite Valley, the park\u27s population center, exemplifies the tension between the two. My research examines this ideological conflict through the lens of youth counterculture. Like many other places, Yosemite experienced some form of turmoil during the late 1960s. Much of this was related to increased visitation. Expecting a refuge from urban life, visitors instead found traffic, noise, and air pollution. Worst of all, they found an influx of hippie visitors who irritated park rangers and visitors alike. That irritation boiled over on July 4, 1970, when hippies and park authorities clashed in Stoneman Meadow. As a result, the park began refusing entrance to youths, especially those with long hair or vans. In the words of the Berkeley Tribe weekly, Yosemite had become \u27an occupied zone. The Stoneman riot carries larger implications for the study of the American West. National park tourism is often viewed as a distinctive part of American identity, promoting self-sufficiency, ruggedness, and family values. Yet places like Yosemite also offered an escape from these norms. Although federally owned, national parks symbolized escape from the moral authority of civilization. Campgrounds allowed hippies to form and reform communal living situations overnight. Tourism is a pliable construct, capable of accommodating disparate moral and political factions. My research explores the role of national parks in highlighting--and mediating--conflicting visions of nature, family, and nation in the late 1960s

INDIAN BASKETRY IN YOSEMITE VALLEY, 19th-20th Century: Gertrude “Cosie” Hutchings Mills, Tourists and the National Park Service

Basketry is the highest art form of Native Americans in California. I will focus on Yosemite Valley starting in the 1850s when Native Americans adapted progressively to contact with miners, settlers, and tourists. As a Research Associate at the Peabody Museum, Andover, Massachusetts, I inventoried the Native American Basket Collection. The unpublished Hutchings Mills Collection, acquired by Gertrude ‘Cosie’ Hutchings in Yosemite prior to 1900, caught my attention. In 1986, the Department of the Interior requested the collection be loaned, exchanged, or purchased as “the single most important assemblage from that period.” The collection did not leave Andover; however, one basket by Dulce, an activist whose signature appears on the Indian Petition of 1891, was published by the Yosemite Museum in 1991. James Mason Hutchings (1824-1902) was among the first settlers to remote Yosemite Valley and opened a hotel. His daughter, Gertrude ‘Cosie’ Hutchings (1867-1956) was born in the Yosemite Village and collected baskets. The Gertrude Hutchings Mills Collection of 53 baskets is significant because she acquired them from “friends and faithful allies of her family. Those from the Mono and Owens River country were packed mule-back across the Sierras to Yosemite by myself.” Some basket makers are identified by name and location; such record keeping was very rare. My timeline for Yosemite will include the following events: Proclamation as a state park, 1864; eviction of the Hutchings family, 1874; designation as a National Park, 1890; and the Indian Petition, 1891. In the 20th century, the National Park promoted non-traditional Indian events and featured demonstrations by basket makers until the Native American were gradually expelled. My presentation will contrast basket makers in contact with Hutchings and the National Park Service

Exceedingly Beautiful and Appropriate: the Library in Yosemite's LeConte Lodge

LeConte Memorial Lodge in Yosemite National Park houses a small, unique library. For 108 years, the tiny library has been informing and delighting visitors to the Yosemite Valley

Urban in Nature: Yosemite, Cars, and California\u27s Cities, 1913–1970

The impacts of national parks do not stop at their borders, and neither should their histories. Located less than a day’s drive from California’s biggest cities, Yosemite National Park remains a product of their combined influences. “Urban in Nature” is a relational history of the park and its nearby metropolitan areas like Merced (70 miles away), Berkeley (180), San Francisco (200), and Los Angeles (300). Since the advent of the automobile Yosemite has been a mirror of the state’s urban areas, rather than an escape from them. Passenger cars drove Yosemite’s urbanization in two interconnected ways. Firstly, increasing amounts of tourist traffic in the early 1900s forced National Park Service personnel to construct increasingly sophisticated built environment; this process is especially evident in Yosemite Valley, a spectacular chasm containing waterfalls, sheer cliffs, and—most importantly—tens of thousands of humans at any given time. Secondly, automobiles served as cross-pollinators between the park and urban California, facilitating a statewide exchange of ideas, architecture, and political allegiances. In both its physical form and its connections to other cities, Yosemite Valley became “urban in nature.” This study expands the political, economic, and cultural significance of areas that are often considered escapes from urban industrial society. I argue that, on the contrary, places like Yosemite are integral parts of the world outside their gates. It has become common to bemoan the level of development in America’s national parks, but I argue that we must acknowledge their connections with urban spaces in order to reach a more nuanced understanding of the interdependency between nature and civilization

Rock Strength: A Main Control of Yosemite\u27s Topography?

Although contrasts in rock strength correlate to variations in topography, the role of rock strength in shaping the landscape of Yosemite National Park is uncertain. Magmatic processes may create variations in mineralogy within a single plutonic unit, while tectonic processes may result in contrasts in joint density and foliation, all of which may lead to variations in rock strength. For this study, the relationship between differences in mineralogy, joint density, and foliation in Yosemite National Park is analyzed to determine the role of rock strength in shaping Yosemite’s topography. Modal mineral abundance and grain size are determined by analyzing cut rock samples, while joint density and foliation intensity are recorded at 83 sites. Also, a Schmidt hammer is used to compare rock strength readings to elevation at all 83 sites. This study finds that variations in joint density shape many topographic features, including Mount Hoffman, a topographic high point in Yosemite. High potassium feldspar and low plagioclase abundance may also be a factor in Mount Hoffman’s erosion resistance. No significant relationship between foliation and other factors is observed. Schmidt hammer readings typically increase with elevation, which is likely a result of weathering differences. Decreasing joint density across Yosemite National Park is found to be associated with decreased forestation. Overall, while few correlations are observed across the entire landscape, rock strength shapes the landscape of Yosemite at varying scales

HAN

August 31, 2012, 11:51 ESTCDCHAN-00326The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is working with the National Park Service and the California Department of Public Health on an investigation of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in people who stayed at Yosemite National Park during June through August 2012. The purpose of this HAN Advisory is to inform state health departments and health care providers to be alert to the possibility of HPS in patients who may have had recent exposure to rodents or a history of travel to Yosemite National Park during this period.2012Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, 2012VirusSin Nombre viru