The national parks preceded the National Park Service, but the first great natural park was a state park. Californiaâs Yosemite State Park was established in 1864, by a federal cession approved by President Abraham Lincoln, and on October 21, 1880, President Rutherford B. Hayes toured Californiaâs Yosemite in an open carriage.
In fact, humans have been capturing the energy of moving water for thousands of years. Today, harnessing the power of moving water to generate electricity, known as hydroelectric power, is the largest source of emissions-free, renewable electricity in the United States and worldwide.
Environmental Protection Agency. Water-related energy use in California also consumes approximately 20 percent of the stateâs electricity, and 30 percent of the stateâs non-power plant natural gas (i.e. natural gas not used to produce electricity). In 2000, thermoelectric facilities used 195,000 million gallons of water a day.