Community disappointed with news of Yosemite name changes

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Yosemite as we know it, is changing.

The National Park Service has decided to re-name historic landmarks, including hotels and a ski area to avoid paying millions of dollars. The history of Yosemite reaches far beyond the boundaries of the park. You can find it miles down the road in the people who love it.

Thomas Pond who lives in Oakhurst said, "I worked up there for 22 years, for the park up there...I went through three different changes."

Through all the years, the names of the iconic places he worked always stayed the same but they will change soon. The National Park Service has decided to re-name them and the one that hurts the most, Pond says is Curry Village. "The Curry family is a staple for Yosemite, they started concessions in Yosemite, to take that away is to act like it never existed," Pond said.

In March, Curry Village will become Half Dome Village.

The Yosemite Lodge at the Falls will become Yosemite Valley Lodge.

The Awhwanhee hotel will become the Majestic Yosemite Hotel

Curry Village will become Half Dome Village

Wawona Hotel will be known as the Big Trees Lodge

and Badger Pass Ski area will become the Yosemite Ski & Snowboard Area

Rhonda Salisbury who is with the Yosemite Sierra Visitors Bureau in Oakhurst isn't excited about it and she says the website will have to be updated accordingly. "There are so many families that come in here and say we grew up there, our parents took us there, their parents took them there," Salisbury added, "so I think that is very sentimental."

The change is due to a legal battle with Delaware North - the company claiming to own the names and at the same time, demanding $51 Million for the park to use them.

"Cuts to the core of what the parks are all about," said Colby Brokvist who is the general manager for Southern Yosemite Mountain Guides, "names like the Ahwahnee reach back to the Native Americans and all of those names existed before Delaware North was here."

Many are sad to see the names go and they're hoping it's just temporary.