Conservation Crossroads
Lesson Two
Case Study: Should the Hetch Hetchy be Dammed?
In this lesson students will explore the controversy surrounding the
city of San Francisco's request to turn the Hetch Hetchy Valley into a
water reservoir to meet its increasing needs. (The Hetch Hetchy was a part
of Yosemite National Park.) Students will explore the divisions this
controversy exposed within the conservation movement by using teacher-selected
documents and text representative of both sides of the debate along with
actual records of the Congressional hearings held to decide the valley's
fate.
Objectives
By the end of this lesson, the students will:
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know the major purposes of and provisions of legislation establishing Yosemite
as a national park;
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possess a clear understanding of the controversy that Hetch Hetchy sparked
between "preservationists" and "conservationists;"
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have experience in analyzing and interpreting primary records of the congressional
debate over Hetch Hetchy;
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have experienced a simulation of the Hetch Hetchy debate.
Time Required
This lesson should take 4 - 5 50-minute class periods.
Recommended Grade Level
Grades 11-12 (could be adapted for grades 7-8).
Curriculum Fit
This lesson would fit with a unit on turn-of-the-century Progressivism,
U.S. history units dealing with the environment in a later period such
as the 1960s or 1970s, or in a U.S. government unit dealing with the role
of congressional committees or interest groups in the formation and passage
of legislation.
Standards
Civics
Standard 14. Understands issues concerning the disparities between ideals and reality in American political and social life
Geography
Standard 14. Understands how human actions modify the physical environment
Standard 16. Understands the changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution and importance of resources
Historical Understanding
Standard 2. Understands the historical perspective
Procedures
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Review what previous lesson activities have helped students discover concerning
the various reasons people supported conservation efforts.
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Introduce this lesson by informing students that they will be re-creating
a Congressional debate over the Hetch Hetchy Valley in California's Yosemite
National Park, which served to clarify the issues and divide the conservation
movement clearly into "preservationist" and "conservationist" camps.
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In full class discussion or interactive lecture, review the reasons for
setting aside Yosemite as a national park. Students should notice
during this review the mixture of reasons, some "preservationist" and some
"conservationist", adduced by various advocates. Use selections from
works and public acts concerning Yosemite from list of sources below.
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Form groups focused on the major interests of various parties involved
in the Hetch Hetchy controversy: the city of San Francisco, the Sierra
Club, Progressive conservationists such as Pinchot, Congressional representatives
from other states, and business interests. Each group should choose at
least one spokesperson to play the role of a leading figure (e.g. John
Muir for the Sierra Club or the chair of the House Committee on Public
Lands). Others in the group may adopt roles as appropriate as witnesses,
research assistants, publicists, lobbyists, or members of Congress.
Each group will develop a strategy for researching the resources listed
below to gain an understanding of the arguments advanced by their particular
interest group and to glean what they consider to be the best arguments
for their position in the public hearing.
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In the 3-4 day interval between the initial lesson and the mock hearing,
students will research their positions using online and print resources
below. The teacher will provide assistance as needed. Advocates
for the various positions may also engage in various forms of public advocacy
for their point of view, such as radio spots, print advertising, posters,
flyers, and short speeches.
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On the day of the mock hearing, all members of the class except those in
roles as spokespersons or witnesses will become members of the House Committee
on Public Lands, the committee which began holding hearings on the damming
of the Hetch Hetchy in 1908. Each spokesperson will be given an allotted
time to make a statement, after which s/he will stand for a minimum number
of questions from the committee. The time limit and number of questions
will depend on the number of persons testifying. At the close of
the hearing, the committee will vote on whether to send the Raker Bill
to the full House.
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The teacher will follow up the vote with a review of the principal arguments
advanced by each side, exploring the main differences that emerged between
preservationists and conservationists through the controversy over Hetch
Hetchy.
Resources Used
These links are to documents selected from "The Evolution of the Conservation
Movement, 1850-1920" regarding the establishment of Yosemite National Park
and the debate over damming the Hetch Hetchy Valley. The Editors
Comments, The Evolution of the Conservation Movement Collection Connection and Conservation
Timeline all contain valuable background information for teachers as
does the collection's Preface.
Conservation Writers
Congressional Debate
The resources below consist of transcripts of the committee hearings
and debate over two bills during the year 1913. By this time, battle
lines had been clearly drawn between "preservationists" and "conservationists"
and may be easily detected in the testimony.
Note: the links below will take you to a Library of Congress American Memory record for the documents. The actual documents appear on page images, which are linked from the record page.
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U.S.
Statutes at Large, Vol. 26, Chap. 1263, pp. 650-52. "An act to set apart
certain tracts of land in the State of California as forest reservations."
[H.R. 12187], 1890
Establishes the foundations of Yosemite National
Park, where the Hetch Hetchy Valley was located.
- U.S.,
Statutes at Large, Vol. 33, Part 1, Resolution No. 30, p. 1286. "Joint
Resolution Accepting the recession by the State of California of the Yosemite
Valley Grant and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove in the Yosemite National Park."
S.J.R. 115; Public Resolution No. 29, 1905
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N.H.
Egleston, Committee Report on Granting Use of Hetch Hetchy to the City
of San Francisco, 1909
Reports the 1909 hearings on the Hetch Hetchy
Grant.
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Statutes
at Large, Vol. 38, Part 1, Chap. 4, pp. 242-51. "An Act Granting to the
city and county of San Francisco
certain rights of way in, over, and through certain public lands, the Yosemite
National Park, and Stanislaus
National Forest, and certain lands in the Yosemite National Park, the Stanislaus
National Forest, and the
public lands in the State of California, and for other purposes." H.R.
7207; Public Act No. 41, 1913
The legislative outcome of the
Congressional hearings over Hetch Hetchy.
Extension
This lesson will involve students in extensive research
in collections specifically focusing on Yosemite and the Hetch Hetchy Valley. Student extension activities include:
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developing research further into
a formal essay on some aspect of the controversy;
- developing a comparison between the establishment of Yosemite and another
national park such as Yellowstone;
- exploring period photographs
and paintings for insights on the role of visual imagination in the controversy;
- identifying and developing a comparison with a more contemporary
controversy such as the Michigan debate during the summer of 1997 over
whether to permit angle drilling for oil along the shores of Lake Michigan;
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