Yosemite Gets $15 Million For Hiking Trails, Grove Upgrades

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) - Rebuilding hiking trails and restoring the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias are among nearly three dozen projects being funded by a $15 million donation to Yosemite National Park.

The Yosemite Conservancy is funding the projects.

The project to protect the Mariposa Grove will improve natural water flows, re-establish sequoia habitat and create accessible trails.

Conservancy donors are also funding work to restore the meadow habitat of pollinators, such as bees, butterflies and hummingbirds, which play an essential role in healthy ecosystems. Several major trails will be improved, including stretches of the John Muir Trail along the Tuolumne River, the Matterhorn Canyon section of the Pacific Crest Trail, and the Yosemite Falls Trail.

Funding will also restore populations of rare frogs and turtles, and protect the Sierra Nevada red fox, great gray and spotted owls and black bears.