Warszawski: Names can change, but scenic wonders of Yosemite remain

Last week, I spent a glorious day cross-country skiing in Yosemite National Park.

It is still called that, right?

These days, you can never be too sure, not after the National Park Service announced it was changing the names of Yosemite’s best-known man-made landmarks, the latest counterpunch in a trademark dispute with ousted concessionaire Delaware North.

The Ahwahnee hotel, with its cathedral-sized dining room and stone fireplaces roomy enough for a poker game, will be renamed the Majestic Yosemite Hotel. The cluster of cabins known as Curry Village will become Half Dome Village. California’s oldest ski resort, Badger Pass, will become Yosemite Ski & Snowboard Area. And so on.

Because millions of us have an emotional connection to Yosemite, the decision to change those beloved names, some of which have been around more than a century, caused an uproar.

Which is exactly what the park service intended.

By tipping sentiment against Delaware North, which went about trademarking those names while federal officials were none the wiser, the park service is blatantly putting the screws to its 23-year business partner in Yosemite.

“Oh, so you think those intellectual property rights you goosed behind our backs are worth $51 million?

“Well, now they’re worth zip. Buh-bye. Don’t let El Capitan hit you on the way out.”

The strategy seems to be working – check the comments section of any online story for boycott calls and petitions – because Delaware North makes for an easy culprit.

After all, what gives a private company headquartered in Buffalo, N.Y., the right to trademark names that are supposed to belong to the American public? That’s the very foundation on which the national park system is built.

Next, the Delaware North folks will tell us they own the name “Yosemite National Park” as well. (Oh, wait. They are.) It’s corporate greed at its finest.

But the Park Service bears some culpability, too. Clearly, federal officials were asleep at the wheel while Delaware North went about trademarking those names.

And what about our elected representatives, our congressmen and senators, who are supposed to protect the public interest? Either out to lunch or greased to look the other way.

While currently at odds, the Park Service and Delaware North used to be chummier than two marmots sunning on a rock.

Yosemite visitors spend an estimated $2 billion each year on hotel rooms, food and drinks, gift shop purchases and fee-based activities such as ice skating and guided climbing. During the past three years, Delaware North’s gross revenue averaged $31.5 million.

The Park Service received a 10 percent cut of those profits, a sum it was evidently tickled about.

How can I make that assumption? Because DNC Parks and Resorts at Yosemite Inc. (the official name of the subsidiary operating in the park) consistently received favorable reviews on evaluation reports. Also, the original contract was extended several times without being reopened for competitive bidding.

Not until 2014, when Delaware North informed the Park Service that it owned the intellectual property rights to those names, did fissures in their partnership begin to form.

You’d like to think the Park Service (and higher-ups in the Department of the Interior) would show a little more spine in this matter. But perhaps they’re being shrewd.

The new monikers that have been bestowed on The Ahwahnee, Curry Village, Badger Pass, Yosemite Lodge at the Falls (Yosemite Valley Lodge) and the Wawona Hotel (Big Trees Lodge) are either so terrible or so generic that it assures no one will ever use them.

The Majestic, seriously? The Ahwahnee certainly is majestic, but it will always and forever be The Ahwahnee.

While I detest the name changes as much as anyone, maybe we’re making too big a deal out of this. Maybe we’re being too emotional.

I’ve had the good fortune of dining at The Ahwahnee a few times (including once during Chefs’ Holidays), and nothing will alter my memories of the sumptuous food or grandiose setting.

The reason 4 million people visit Yosemite every year is because of the scenery: towering granite cliffs and sheer waterfalls that dazzle our senses and bring us closer to nature.

Slapping new names on a few hotels, a cluster of tent cabins and a ski hill shouldn’t change that, no matter how familiar and comforting the old ones.

The wonders of Yosemite exist in our hearts and minds. That was true during John Muir’s day just as it is now, even in an era when the public interest runs subservient to corporate profit.

If all else fails, remember the words of Shakespeare: “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

Same goes for the view of Half Dome from the skating rink at Curry Village – or whatever they’re calling it next.

This story was originally published January 16, 2016 at 5:38 PM with the headline "Warszawski: Names can change, but scenic wonders of Yosemite remain."