Up next, on a second look, remembering two environmental champion, john muir and Rachel Carson. All straight ahead on a second look. Good evening and a welcome, i am julie haner. Tonight we remember two environmentalist, and Rachel Carsons book silent spring and john muir bfs books book the yosemite and wat an watson brought us this history in 2000 of yosemite. Molding and carving yosemite. The signature on this sculpture was written by a 60 long glacier that chisels its way leaving Yosemite Valley in its wake. Half dome, and all this right here in this small valley is almost too much to take in. It is enormous and about the size of the state of rhode island. Almost 4 Million People visited last year and you might be tempted to ask are we loving yosemite to death . Greedy ravages of man have been the big threat. What we have here in yosemite, we have the best of the best and the worst of the wours. We have the scenery and the water falls and 800 miles of hiking trails. But we have hoards and hoards of people coming. So i think john muir never advocated keeping people out. The limits of transportation kept people out of yosemites harm. By there start of the 20th century, progress was pushing its heavy shoulder in yosemite. I think it was the train, it build a line up the river and it was the first time people could come in the winter. Soon it would be the automobiles turn, but not right away. In 1906 harry benison was the superintendent and wrote a letter saying the valley reminded him of coney island and he wanted changes and the first one was banning automobiles and that lasted till 1913. Even john muir supported lifting the ban. He felt the more people that saw it, the more that would want to preserve it. It created a lot of the problems and none of them understood john muir. He was a strong supporter of the automobile and believing it opened the park to the common man. In 1962 he oversaw the construction of the hotel that would be beyond the reach of most. Critics said it was better than the landscape. And it is as though the manmade elegance has been absorbed. And getting there was more of an issue than getting to the hotel. They need today build a new road, but a mountain of granite stood in the way and they tunneled through it. You could drive through and come out at inspiration point. You see the same incredible vista the indians gazed upon when they first made yosemite their home. You can see the two working together at mirror lake. A parking lot allowed people to drive up to the lake, but today it is gone. It is slowing drying up because nature declares it to be so. It survives to bear out the seemingly there that to see yosemite is to love it. The ongoing debate about this and why it is filled with water and why some want it drained. And the battle to get ddt out of San Francisco. tonight we are remembering Rachel Carson and john muir, whose effort was to stand up for yosemite. He failed and in 1923, a twin was transformed into a lake. And in 2000, bob mckensy brought us the story. Reporter for most of us, what we know about this is it supplies bay area cities with drinking water. But before this, there was a beautiful place that looked so much like yosemite it was called the counter part of yosemite. It was a public treasure like its sister valley. City officials felt San Francisco was paying too much and when they announced the plan to turn this in a water supply, john muir was outraged. No denying San Francisco needs water, but you dont need to destroy a national park. They saw nothing wrong this and neither did San Franciscos mayor. The environmentalist lost the battle and work began on the railroad that would take the supplies there. And they worked on a system to bring the water in to San Francisco. It is an impressive system looked at today. This is just a portion of the eightmile spanning. It relies on gravity, going through a tenmile tunnel through a drop into the pipe and into the first of two power plants. The big drop turns the turbine and the water going back to make a big drop and generates more at the power plant and then on the to big city. Never does the water have to be pumped. It goes through tunnels cut into granite. Ken cooper showed me a ton tunnel like the ones that carry the water. This country is solid rock. When you look at the valley you understand why people think that filling it up with water must have lost something pretty special here. I can understand that. At the same time, a lot of people gained something special. A loss to the beauty, but there was a beauty gained, too. It could be another Yosemite Valley with parking lots and burger stands. They say it could be different, a place as beautiful as yosemite without the cars and the burger stands. The dam should be remove and the valley allowed to regenerate itself. The valley would be half way to recovery in 50years. San francisco Officials Say moving the water wouldnt be pure and it would raise the cost. The person who uses the water for drinking in San Francisco and throughout the bay area, you have a different sense of what is best for water. What they think people shouldnt be deciding on land that belongs to the people. If you look at the people that flock and realize there is a parallel valley that no one knows about because it is lost to our memory, if we could restore that, it would be a Priceless Gift to america. When you make a deal with nature, it could be a good trade or a bad one. Whether this was a good one or bad one is matter that cant be settled with numbers. When we come back, the ongoing struggle to remove ddt from San Francisco bay. And an island of red trees in the suburbian sprawl. This is the 50th an vrsversey of silent string and spring and the book helped lead to the 1972 ban of ddt in the United States, but it is still a problem here in the bay area. You got it . Yeah. He is on there. Talk to those who frequently fish the bay. Halibut. And you will find many who keep and cook the catch, but it is best to limit the amount you consume. There is a spot where no fish are fit to eat. Here the ran thing is ddt. We want the communities to be aware of the dont eat advisory. He met this woman at the united heckform. The plant is long oregon gone, long gone, but the company left a legacy of toxins that threaten the environment. It is much higher than in the rest of the richmond harbor and the San Francisco bay area. They were first detected at high levels in 1960. Ddt was once considered safe. It can be seen here widely spread to kill pest and even directly on people as a delysing agent. It is known cancer causing agent now. And they began a nineyear, 12 million clean up removing cubic soil highly con taminature contaminated. The level went back up after the year. It is scheduled to be cleaned up again in 2015. The epa says it is somewhat isolated and no indication the ddt there is making its way out into the bay. But birds and fish are exposed and until a second clean up is completed, fisherman are advice today avoid the area. They dont break down and build up in fish and then in humans. Services has aided the state in posting warning signs about fishing in the harbor, signs that go ignored. The people in the bay are at risk because fish here provide substunance. The Pacific Network says warning people are comp licattedlicated by the language barri rerbgsr. The epas message to all, if a fish is caught in the harbor, though it back. And that is worth following until the contamination is finely cleaned up. The environmental professional agency has still seen high levels of ddt in that area of richmond. The same levels of ddt now as in 1994, despite numerous clean up projects. The epa has launched a threeyear campaign to find the source and clean it up. The story of how these red woods were threatened by the big earthquake of 1902. [ singing Christmas Carols ] mmmm. [ female announcer ] make new traditions with pillsbury grands cinnamon rolls. Thats been wrapped in a flaky crust stuffed with a gooey center toasted up all golden brown then given a delicious design . A toaster strudel. Pillsbury toaster strudel. So delicious. So fun. In the mist of this county lays these red trees named after john muir. Lets look at this look of muir woods. This suggest a path born before thoughts could be made into the words. Here is this ancient place, the elderly among these trees are more than a thousand years old and the young ones a mere 2300. John muir said any fool can destroy a tree and even if they could run and hide, the same fools would hunt them down to make a dollar from their bark. There is a sense of irony in that a man would come from california to save the forest. Setting about the task of preserving the land of this canyon. In 1903, kent perchasedt purchased 60 600 acres. He encouraged the railroad to put in a spur line that would bring people in and he build the inn. They would last for years, but soon after kent purchased the land, a nearby Natural Disaster put it at risk. The 1906 earthquake and fire leveled most of the city. And they turned their eyes on the forest. He asked for president of the United States for help and he made an offer they couldnt refuse. He offered to donate the land to the federal government and this is the first time an individual had done that. The president acted quickly setting aside the land. He strongly urged that the new monument be named kent woods. He said that was not right and instead lets name this beautiful grove of coast red woods after john muir. Of course, the president had long standing ties with john muir and agreed. So by a gift of william kent to the United States became a monument. And it was up to the United States to keep it from crumbling under the wait. Cab sites and dogs and picnicking were no longer welcome. The trampled part of the floor was part of the vertigo affect. You watch kim novack wondering through a forest that is only red woods. There is no plants or ferns growing and no habitat for the animals. In a letter to william kent written more than 90years ago, john muir expressed gratitude. This is the most godly behavior i have heard of since my forrest trampling began. It made a deep impression on him what was important for the soul. He is represented by this environment, with great big trees and this beauty that he enjoyed so much. And that is it for this weeks second look. Thank you for watching. Well, well, well. Growing up, we didnt have uverse. We couldnt record four shows at the same time. In my day, you were lucky if you could record two shows. And if mom was recording her dumb show and dad was recording his dumb show then, by george, thats all we watched. And we liked it todays kids got it so good