2010 Yosemite America the Beautiful Quarter

Yosemite America the Beautiful Quarter Design Proposals

The 2010 Yosemite America the Beautiful Quarter will be the third release of the America the Beautiful Quarters Program. The release will take place some time during 2010, with the exact date still unknown. The design will feature Yosemite National Park in California, which was designated in 1890 and became a focal point for the development of the National Park System.

The design for the Yosemite National Park Quarter has not been selected in final. The proposed designs include views of the Half Dome granite cliff and Bridalveil Falls. These designs will be reviewed by the Commission of Fine Arts and the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee before the Secretary of the Treasury makes the final selection.

Yosemite National Park was previously featured on the California Quarter released during the State Quarter Program. The designed featured John Muir overlooking the Half Dome in Yosemite Valley.

Yosemite National Park

Native Americans known as the Ahwahneechee were the first to call the area that we now know as the Yosemite Valley their home.  It was not until the California gold rush of the 1850’s that non-native peoples had the pleasure of learning about this area’s stunning beauty and diversity. Word of the breathtaking scenery and wide open spaces brought those that would seek to preserve the wildness and splendor of the area. As early as 1855, a homesteader named Galen Clark had already discovered and dedicated his life to protecting the magnificent Giant Sequoia trees that exist in the Park, many of which are still standing today thanks to his activism.

As more and more people moved to the area, many conservationists and naturalists became concerned about the negative impact that development and human population was having on the delicate ecosystems of the valley. In 1890, two famous and influential protectors of natural spaces, John Muir and Robert Underwood Johnson launched a campaign that would eventually convince Congress that the area needed protection from the government.

On the first day of October in 1890, the two celebrated as Congress agreed to set aside over 1,500 square miles of forest land that would soon be referred to as the Yosemite National Park that we know and love today. It would not take the name until 1916, however, when the newly formed National Park Service took over protection of the park from the United States Cavalry.