It is billed as the first major change in Yosemite National Park under the Yosemite Valley Plan, a long-term blueprint intended to relieve traffic congestion and restore some of the park's most popular attractions.

Work begins next month on some of the trails and smaller footbridges in the 56-acre Yosemite Falls restoration area. Most of the major construction is planned for late in the 2003 season. Visitors will continue to have access to the falls, park officials said.

The project is a joint effort by the National Park Service and nonprofit Yosemite Fund.

Officials disclosed details Monday in San Francisco, where a fund-raising effort was announced to collect the last $2.5 million of the project's total cost. The first $10 million was raised from private foundations and federal funds.

The renovation plan was prepared by landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, whose credits include the FDR Memorial in Washington, D.C., and Levi Plaza and Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco.

Yosemite Falls, at 2,400 feet from the lower base to the top of the upper falls, ranks as the fifth-highest waterfall in the world. It draws about 3 million visitors annually, and park officials say the wear clearly shows in degraded facilities and overcrowded trails.

"The human-built area around the falls is a mess," said Chip Jenkins, assistant park superintendent, citing degraded trails, jammed parking and overcrowded bathroom facilities. "The natural beauty is iconic, but the approach is not worthy of it."

A face-lift has been needed for more a decade, said Bob Hansen, president of the nonprofit Yosemite Fund.

"Right now, the bathroom facility and a lot of the infrastructure around the falls is so beaten up and ugly it makes your heart sick to look at it," he said.

The restoration includes removal of a parking lot that accommodates about 35 tour buses and 35 cars. Parking will be available instead at a central facility served by shuttle buses, about one-quarter mile from the falls. Plans also call for larger rest rooms, improved viewing areas, better access for the disabled, a restored loop trail and renovation of six bridges. For more information, see www.yosemitefund.org.

E-mail Carl Hall at carlhall@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle