[NAFEX] Fwd: [CalRareFruit] Fw: Preserving rare apples in Yosemite National Park

Lon J. Rombough lonrom at hevanet.com
Sun Apr 5 16:23:35 EDT 2009


Cross posting that fits NAFEX perfectly.


Begin forwarded message:

From: "William A. Grimes" <wagrimes at sonic.net>
Date: April 5, 2009 12:20:37 PM PDT
To: <all-chapters at crfg.org>
Cc: <goldengatecrfg at yahoogroups.com>, <CalRareFruit at yahoogroups.com>, 
<info at crfg.org>
Subject: [CalRareFruit] Fw: Preserving rare apples in Yosemite National 
Park
Reply-To: CalRareFruit at yahoogroups.com

If there is any interest, please contact Scott at 
sntipton at san.rr.com and me.
 
Bill Grimes

From: Scott Tipton
Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 7:43 AM
To: info at crfg.org
Subject: Preserving rare apples in Yosemite National Park

Greetings,
 
My wife and I visited Yosemite National Park last spring, as we do 
every year.  We just happened to be there on Earth Day.  There were a 
lot of activities, presentations and discussions about what each and 
every person that visits Yosemite can do to help preserve and conserve 
natural resources.
 
I had known for years that Yosemite as a National Park policy removes 
non-native and invasive plants to keep the park as close to its natural 
and historic condition as possible.  I also knew that there are 
orchards of fruit trees, mainly apples, that are allowed to grow and 
not considered as qualifying for removal as non-native plants.  They 
just grow, unattended or cared for, where they were planted by early 
settlers in Yosemite Valley and environs from as early as 1855.
 
Since it was Earth Day, there were representatives from the different 
departments of the National Park Service that work in Yosemite at 
kiosks available to answer questions about park preservation.  One of 
the kiosks was from representatives from the History, Architecture & 
Landscape Branch.  They had displays and information about historic 
structures and landmarks, but they also had information about the 
removal of the non-native plant species and how to get involved in that 
program.
 
I asked one of the ladies at the kiosk why the Park Service was so 
concerned about removing invasive weeds, grasses, shrubs trees, etc. 
but the old fruit groves and orchards were left to grow wild.  Why 
weren’t the fruit trees being removed?  The answer surprised me.
 
Almost all of these non-native fruit trees, mostly apples and pears, 
are historic, heirloom, rare, antique and obscure varieties there are 
now not found anywhere else but in Yosemite National Park.  If the 
trees were to be removed, they would then be extinct varieties.  
Therefore, the trees are left alone.
 
I asked why there weren’t efforts being made to preserve these rare 
varieties for future generations in case something happened that would 
cause the trees to be killed by some natural means or if one of these 
varieties could solve agricultural needs or prevent other fruit 
grower’s problems.  Her answer was that there were not sufficient funds 
for such a project to save seeds, make cuttings for grafting or any 
other collecting and storing of specimens, and even if there were 
funds, other projects for the park made that sort of endeavor a lower 
priority.
 
That is the reason that I am contacting your organization.   There are 
dozens of apple and pear varieties that are now found nowhere else but 
in Yosemite National Park and there is nothing being done to save and 
preserve these fruit trees that may be of great agricultural importance 
now and in the future.
 
If you would be interested in being somehow involved with the 
preservation of these last known varieties of apples and pears, please 
contact me and I will provide you with the contact information for the 
National Park Service staff in Yosemite who would dearly love to see 
these trees saved for future generations.  It would be great, if when I 
am in Yosemite again next month, that I could have some good news for 
these hard working and concerned park employees that don’t have the 
means or government funds or support to do the preservation work 
themselves, but there are others that are willing to provide some kind 
of help.
 
I thank you very much for your time and attention to this matter.
 
Yours,
 
Scott Tipton
1438 Hornblend St.
San Diego, CA 92109
(858) 581-6847
sntipton at san.rr.com   -or-  sntipton at everythingyosemite.com


__._,_.___


Not a member of CRFG? Learn more here: http://www.crfg.org/

  Subscribe to Fruit Gardener magazine and join CRFG here: 
http://www.crfg.org/



-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/enriched
Size: 6781 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/private/nafex/attachments/20090405/2c5d7c9b/attachment.bin 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: serv.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 43 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/private/nafex/attachments/20090405/2c5d7c9b/attachment.gif 
-------------- next part --------------


  Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
  Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to 
Fully Featured
  Visit Your Group  | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use  | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/enriched
Size: 1380 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/private/nafex/attachments/20090405/2c5d7c9b/attachment-0001.bin 


More information about the nafex mailing list