AP Environmental Science

Hetch Hetchy Debate

This simulation is intended to stimulate each participant to delve deeply into the facts of the issue and develop articulate and persuasive ways of presenting the information. Although this particular simulation is based on an historic event, the arguments are still raging in many states, including California, Alaska, Utah, Colorado, Washington, Maine, & Wyoming, as well as in other nations. Ultimately, as with the Raker Act, the final decision hinges on the perception of greatest public benefit.

Attached is information describing the viewpoints of the six special interest groups involved in the Raker debate. The class will be divided into six groups, with each group consisting of 5 - 8 students (approximately). Each group will represent one of the special interest groups: The City of San Francisco, The San Joaquin Valley Farmers, The Spring Valley Water Company, The Preservationists, The Conservationists, and The Army Corps of Engineers.

Your Tasks:

You and your fellow special interest group members are to prepare an oral presentation in which you support the position of your interest group to the best of your ability. You will make your group presentation in front of class. Although you may have tow or three students who do most of the speaking, every group member must be involved in the presentation and must actively contribute to the presentation. Visual aids are mandatory - posters, signs, banners, maps, diagram, pictures, etc.

Each group presentation must last 5 to 6 minutes. During the 5 - 6 minute time, no questions will be fielded. Following all 6 special interest group presentations, each group will return to the front of the room for: (1) a brief (30 - 60 seconds) rebuttal period to address comments made during the presentations, and (2) to field questions from "the People" (We will limit this to a 2 - minute time period).

The Vote

Participants will cast a secret vote according to your real personal viewpoint/judgment based on what you have witnessed/heard during the debate.

Assorted Information

1. Hetch Hetchy Valley was once a deep, flat-bottomed valley of lush meadows, with stands of oak and pine.

2. The valley was visited by the Awahneechee and Paiute natives in order to gather acorns & grind them in bedrock mortars.

3. It is very similar to Yosemite Valley, rock formations, and waterfalls.

4. The Valley's name comes from a Native American word, "Atch Atchie", for a grain mix made with a variety of grasses and edible seeds.

5. In 1840's, Nate or Joe Screech (depending on who you ask/source you read) encountered/viewed the Hetch Hetchy Valley but was unable to get down to the valley floor.

6. Several years later. Screech & Company made it into the valley, using it for grazing land.

7. In 1870, John Muir first entered Hetch Hetchy Valley.

8. In 1901, San Francisco Mayor James 0. Phelan made the first filing with the Department of Interior for the use of Hetch Hetchy as a reservoir for the municipal water supply of the city. The request was turned down.

9. The Sierra Club, with Muir as president, works to prevent the use of Hetch Hetchy as a reservoir.

10. In 1908, Department of Interior Secretary grants the City the right to use Hetch Hetchy but the battle for Hetch Hetchy continues for 5 more years.

11. President Taft visits Yosemite in 1909. Muir and Taft see "eye-to-eye" and agree, along with Interior Secretary Richard Bollinger.

12. From 1910 to 1913, a series of hearings were held to examine the City's need for Hetch Hetchy as a water reservoir when other sites (at least 12 were "looked at").

13. Congressman John E. Raker, with the aid of others, pushed a bill through Congress - The Raker Act - authorizing the use of Hetch Hetchy as a municipal water source.

14. President Woodrow Wilson signed the bill on December 19, 1913.

15. In 1919, construction begins on the O'Shaughnessy Dam, named after Chief Engineer M. M. O'Shaughnessy. The dam was completed in 1923.

16. Over 390,000 cubic yards of concrete and 6 million board feet of lumber were used in construction of the dam. Wood from within the park was used.

17. Water from the reservoir starts flowing into San Francisco in 1934.

18. The Tuolumne River flows into Hetch Hetchy.

Interest Group / Support for Interest Group / Clarity of Speech / Visual Aids / Overall Organization
City of San Francisco
Total Points ______/ 1 2 3 4 5 / 1 2 3 4 5 / 1 2 3 4 5 / 1 2 3 4 5
Spring Valley Water Company
Total Points ______/ 1 2 3 4 5 / 1 2 3 4 5 / 1 2 3 4 5 / 1 2 3 4 5
Army Corps of Engineers
Total Points ______/ 1 2 3 4 5 / 1 2 3 4 5 / 1 2 3 4 5 / 1 2 3 4 5
San Joaquin Valley Farmers
Total Points ______/ 1 2 3 4 5 / 1 2 3 4 5 / 1 2 3 4 5 / 1 2 3 4 5
Conservationists
Total Points ______/ 1 2 3 4 5 / 1 2 3 4 5 / 1 2 3 4 5 / 1 2 3 4 5
Preservationists
Total Points ______/ 1 2 3 4 5 / 1 2 3 4 5 / 1 2 3 4 5 / 1 2 3 4 5

Double above scores (Total Points) to make assignment out of 40 points.