The Battle over Hetch Hetchy: America’s Most Controversial Dam and the Birth of Modern Environmentalism
by Robert W. Righter
277 pages, hardover $30: Oxford University press, 2005

Robert Righter, a history professor at Southern Methodist University, chronicles the damming of the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park. Although the water needs of San Francisco won out over preservation of the valley, the loss galvanized environmentalists to battle other dams. “It constantly reminds many Americans that the sanctity of our national parks and scenic lands cannot necessarily be taken for granted,” writes Righter.

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The Battle over Hetch Hetchy: America’s Most
Controversial Dam and the Birth of Modern
Environmentalism

by Staff, High Country News
August 8, 2005

<h1>The Battle over Hetch Hetchy: America’s Most<br /> Controversial Dam and the Birth of Modern<br /> Environmentalism</h1> <p class="byline">by Staff, High Country News <br />August 8, 2005</p> <p><i>The Battle over Hetch Hetchy: America’s Most<br /> Controversial Dam and the Birth of Modern<br /> Environmentalism</i><br /> by Robert W. Righter<br /> 277 pages, hardover $30: Oxford University press, 2005 </p> <p>Robert Righter, a history professor at Southern Methodist<br /> University, chronicles the damming of the Hetch Hetchy Valley in<br /> Yosemite National Park. Although the water needs of San Francisco<br /> won out over preservation of the valley, the loss galvanized<br /> environmentalists to battle other dams. “It constantly reminds many<br /> Americans that the sanctity of our national parks and scenic lands<br /> cannot necessarily be taken for granted,” writes Righter.</p> <div class="wp-block-group hcn-print-edition-box"> <p>This article appeared in the <a href="/?p=189028">print edition of the magazine</a> with the headline <span class="hcn-magtitle">The Battle over Hetch Hetchy: America's Most<br /> Controversial Dam and the Birth of Modern<br /> Environmentalism</span>.</p> </p></div> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/issue-303/the-battle-over-hetch-hetchy-americas-mostcontroversial-dam-and-the-birth-of-modernenvironmentalism/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info Country News&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/cropped-HCN_Logo-Monogram_White_Sq-2.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;quality=100&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=111461&amp;amp;ga4=G-0NS3WVPPTN&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/issue-303/the-battle-over-hetch-hetchy-americas-mostcontroversial-dam-and-the-birth-of-modernenvironmentalism/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/hcn.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;</p> Copy to Clipboard

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