Visit Tuolumne County And Yosemite Climbing Association Help Clean Up Park
Yosemite, CA– Yosemite National Park’s annual park-wide cleanup event, Yosemite Facelift, is celebrating its 20th anniversary, with expanded programming and partnerships. Founded in 2003 by Ken Yager, President of the Yosemite Climbing Association, Yosemite Facelift has grown into a week-long event, bringing together volunteers from around the world to contribute to the preservation of the park. Yosemite Facelift was conceived as a way for climbers to give back to Yosemite after each bustling summer tourist and climbing season.
The 20th-anniversary event is set to take place in Yosemite Valley from September 20th to 24th, with volunteer opportunities from as little as an hour to larger multi-day projects, plus daily giveaways, guest speakers, music, and celebrations. This initiative has inspired similar cleanups in over 20 additional locations across America, including the 2nd annual Groveland Facelift on September 9th and 10th. To participate in any Facelift event, interested individuals must pre-register at yosemiteclimbing.org.
The President & CEO of Visit Tuolumne County Lisa Mayo comments, “Being able to expand off of a large clean-up event is great to bring some attention to our Yosemite Gateway community, Groveland. Visit Tuolumne County is pleased to be a part of this event and support sustainability and stewardship in our County.”
During the event’s 16th year in 2019, nearly 3,000 dedicated volunteers participated, resulting in the collection of nearly 16,000 pounds of trash, a significant portion of which was recycled to keep it out of landfills. To date, the cumulative efforts of Yosemite Facelift have led to the removal of 1 million pounds of trash from Yosemite National Park
