"Drought Alters Familiar Landscape in Yosemite National Park"

"Yosemite National Park is bracing for its driest year on record, with visitor bureaus downplaying the allure of the park's most famous waterfall and instead touting the park as a destination for hiking, bicycling and photography.

Yosemite Falls will probably go dry in June - two months earlier than usual, parks officials say. The Merced River, which powers the spectacular Nevada and Vernal falls before meandering across the Yosemite Valley floor, will probably slow to a shallow stream about the same time.

And with the drought enabling western pine bark beetles to kill large areas of forest, the park is preparing for a bad fire season."

Louis Sahagun reports for the Los Angeles Times March 31, 2015.