Yosemite launches new website

Yosemite National Park has launched a new website to commemorate the park’s 125th anniversary, according to a National Park Service press release.

The website, which can be found at www.nps.gov/yose/anniversary, provides a way for community members and interested parties to participate in the celebrations surrounding the anniversary that will take place throughout the 2015 calendar year.

“The events in the gateway communities were a huge part of the success of the 150th anniversary of the Yosemite Grant,” Don Neubacher, Yosemite National Park superintendent, said in the release. “We are looking forward to working closely with our gateway communities again as we celebrate this significant historical milestone.”

The website offers a calendar of all anniversary events, projects and commemorations that will take place throughout 2015. Visitors to the site will also be provided opportunities to share their Yosemite stories, read a timeline of Yosemite’s history, learn how to host and/or organize an anniversary event or activity and apply to use the anniversary logo on retail products, according to the release.

President Benjamin Harrison signed the legislation that established Yosemite National Park on Oct. 1, 1890, making Yosemite the nation’s third national park. The establishment of Yosemite National Park preserved more than 1,500 square miles of land including Tuolumne Meadows, the park’s high country, Hetch Hetchy and lands surrounding Yosemite Valley.

The National Park Service on June 30 commemorated the 150th anniversary signing of the Yosemite Grant. The 1864 legislation preserved and protected Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias, thus paving the way for the conservation of public lands across the country and around the globe.

The National Park Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior, was established on Aug. 25, 1916. The National Park Service will celebrate 100 years of protecting America’s public lands in 2016.

To learn more about anniversary events and apply to host an event or use the logo, visit www.nps.gov/yose/anniversary.

This story was originally published December 2, 2014 at 5:42 PM with the headline "Yosemite launches new website."