[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
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