Protester Arrested at Yosemite

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK —  One protester was arrested in a Sierra Club demonstration against the cutting of trees for employee housing.

About 10 people picketed on Monday near the northwest entrance to the park along California 120, where the employee housing is planned, said Dee Bird, one of the demonstrators.

Yosemite officials said the housing is part of the park’s decade-old master plan.

David Orr, 33, of Davis, was arrested for unlawful assembly and failure to get a permit, said park spokesman Bob Clopine. He was released from the Yosemite Valley jail on $50 bail.

Protesters charged that 700 trees already had been chopped down for employee housing in the area around Hodgdon Meadow and that the National Park Service planned to cut down remaining old-growth trees Monday.

But ranger Kris Fister said no trees were cut down for this project before Monday. She said protesters may have counted trees that have been removed for safety because of last summer’s major forest fire.

Fifteen to 20 trees that are at least 30 inches in diameter were to be cut down for the employee housing, she said. An undetermined number of smaller trees also were to be removed.