Grades 9-12 Lesson Plan - Designing the Wilderness - The Hetch-Hetchy Reservoir

Map 9 Main Page

Core Map: [Tourist Map of the Yosemite District, 1936] in Plumb, Stanley, ed. The Four Seasons in Yosemite National Park. Yosemite Park and Curry Co., 1936. Newberry Library call number: Case folio F868 .Y6A33 1940 (Printable PDF version of the Core Map)

Resources related to Map 9.
Curator's Notes for Map 9.

Overview
John Muir fought against the construction of the Hetch Hetchy Dam and Reservoir in Yosemite National Park. The Hetch Hetchy Valley mirrored the Yosemite Valley, and he thought that it deserved equal consideration as a national treasure. But the City of San Francisco needed a reliable water source and proponents presented a convincing argument for the dam in that location. In this lesson students will study the controversy over building the dam and determine their points of view regarding the use of public lands.

Objectives
By the end of this lesson student are expected to:

1. analyze the core map for reasons that the Hetch Hetchy Valley was dammed.
2. compare points of view about damming the river.
3. assess what the mandate of the National Park System should be regarding the use of public lands.

Key Terms
reservoir

Materials
Computer image or overhead of the core map, copies of the core map, The Hetch Hetchy Valley, reading selections (see Resources)

Time
Three to four class periods, plus homework

Getting Started

1. Distribute copies of the core map and The Hetch Hetchy Valley text. Have students analyze the map while you, or a student, read The Hetch Hetchy Valley text to the class. Have students search the map to discover other reasons why the Hetch-Hetchy Valley was chosen for the dam.

Developing the Lesson

1. Group students into eight groups. Assign each group one of the following people to research. Students should individually research their personage. Research information should include the general life of the person and specifically the role or position of that person regarding the damming of the Hetch Hetchy Valley (see Resources).

   John Muir
   Gifford Pinchot, Division of Forestry
   President Theodore Roosevelt
   President William Taft
   William Keith, artist
   Mayor of San Francisco
   Robert Underwood Johnson, editor of Century magazine
   John P. Irish, Oakland politician
   J. Horace McFarland, president of American Civic Association
   Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allan Hitchcock
   Secretary of the Interior Richard A. Ballinger
   Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.
   Secretary Franklin K. Lane

   Each group should meet together to share information and to develop a first person oral narrative of the person and his point of view.

2. Re-organize students into three groups so that there is one student representing each of the eight people researched. Each student should give a first person oral narrative about who he is and something about himself, plus his perspective about the dam. Encourage students in each group to ask questions of other characters.

3. Discuss why different people had different points of view about the Hetch Hetchy Dam and why students think Congress voted for the installation of the dam.

4. Discuss the National Park Service's mandate (see Resources) to provide preservation, conservation, and recreational services to the nation's people and the concept of landscape architects to blend human use into the natural landscape. Refer to the core map and the Pictures of Yosemite (available from the menu on the core map or see Resources). How did the landscape architects listed above blend function and use with nature? Discuss whether public lands should be used "to their fullest potential."

5. In the late 1980s Secretary of Interior Donald Hodel (Reagan administration) stated that Congress should consider the removal of the Hetch Hetchy Dam. Have each student write a position paper about whether the Hetch Hetchy Dam should be removed and the landscape returned to its original state. Consider early philosophies and pros and cons to the idea. Consider the impacts, whether advocating removal or not. Encourage students to use the core map and other maps to support their positions.

Evaluation
Using a 1-4 scale (4=excellent, 3=good, 2= fair, 1=poor) assess student performance as follows:

For 4 points, the student participates in class and group discussions by contributing significant and insightful information. The first person narrative contains interesting information and states person's point of view supported by reasons. Student's position paper considers past and present philosophies about the Hetch Hetchy Dam in presenting the student's point of view. The student takes a position and considers the positive and negative impacts, offering evidence of research.

For 3 points, the student participates in class and group discussions by contributing significant information. The first person narrative contains interesting information and states person's point of view supported with some reasons. Student's position paper considers past and present philosophies about the Hetch Hetchy Dam in presenting the student's point of view. The student takes a position and considers the positive and negative impacts.

For 2 points, the student listens to class and group discussion. The first person narrative contains basic information and states person's point of view. Student's position paper presents the student's point of view with little supportive information.

For 1 point, the student does not participate in class or group discussions. The first person narrative states the person's point of view. The student's position paper presents the student's point of view with no supportive information.

Extensions

1. Have students prepare a debate about whether the Hetch Hetchy Dam should be removed and the valley restored to the original landscape.
2. Have students research current proposals to damming rivers around the world (Three Gorges Dam, Euphrates River in Turkey, etc.). Discuss why these dams are being built, controversy around them, and future impacts.
3. Have students research the building of the Aswan Dam in Egypt and consider the short and long term impacts.
4. Have students interview a National Park Service ranger about use of public lands. Find out about the newest philosophy about restoration of landscape to original use.