Yosemite Feels the Pressure: Ostrander Hut temporarily Reopened for 95-96

Couloir, Volume VIII-I


Thanks to pressure from backcountry skiers --- and a few key politicians --- Yosemite National Park's popular Ostrander Ski Hut will be reopened this year for "temporary operation." But local hut supporters are concerned that park officials may never come up with an affordable permanent solution to the hut's sewage disposal problems. The hut has been closed since last October, when former park superintendent Mike Finley and a group of volunteer scientists determined its sanitation system was unhealthy. The closure caused a furor among backcountry skiers, many of whom feared Ostrander would never reopen once the park's "bumbling government bureaucrats" got involved in developing a sophisticated new composting system. Couloir jumped into the fracas, encouraging readers of our "Access" column to write letters to incoming superintendent B. J. Griffin --- or better yet, send money to the Yosemite Association, which manages the hut as part of a cooperative agreement with Yosemite National Park.
Then in June, park engineers missed a critical deadline on the system design. When it looked like the hut would be closed for another year, congressional aides for U. S. Representative George Radanovitch and U. S. Senator Barbara Boxer marched into Griffin's office demanding action. The pressure may have paid off. Griffin and Chief of Maintenance Kevin Cann asked the Yosemite Association to come up with an interim solution. Then, last month, Griffin announced that the Park would fund approximately half the cost of a permanent composting system, or about $40,000 of the estimated $80,000 tab. In the meantime, the Yosemite Association will be asking hut users to dispose of human waste in waterproof 10-gallon "ammunition cans." These will be removed from the site in the springtime by mule or sled.
This interim solution may sound primitive, but it's the permanent solution that has critics worried. Many consider the Park's proposed composting system a case of classic overkill that doesn't stand a chance of being fully funded. "It's fundamentally ridiculous to spend $80,000 to deal with 50 pounds of waste," says hut caretaker Howard Weamer, who supports a simple tank/leachfield system.
The Yosemite Association and Yosemite Winter Club have raised several thousand dollars to help fund a permanent solution. But members aren't convinced it would be spent wisely. "We'd love to provide some money," says Yosemite Winter Club director Don Pitts, "as long as it goes directly to the hut and not down the bureaucratic drain."
It's fun for people to sit back and say what 'bumbling bureaucrats' we are," Cann responded. "But I have to deal with reality --- like the people living downstream from Ostrander Lake who have fecal coliform in their water. Not to mention the constant triage of other problems I deal with on a daily basis."
Readers are encouraged to donate funds or volunteer for Ostrander maintenance projects. For more information, contact Steve Medley, Yosemite Association P.O. Box 230 El Portal CA 95318, 209-379-2646