Profile of John Muir

John Muir.
By Francis M. Fritz on WikiCommons. 

When growing up, Muir found peace in being surrounded by the wildlife. He moved from Scotland to Wisconsin with his family where he then studied both botany and geology in college. After graduating, he lost his eyesight for a few months in a factory incident. Once his eyes recovered, he walked from Indiana to Florida where he sketched botany along the way. From there he sailed to California where he walked from San Francisco to the Sierra Nevada. He described his walk as his "unconditional surrender" to nature. This statement alone shows how committed to nature Muir truly was. From there he started working in the Yosemite Valley in a sawmill where he would roam the valley in his free time. His whole life he was surrounded by the outdoors believing that mankind is just one part of an interconnected natural world, not its master. He moved once again, got married, and started writing articles preaching his 'gospel of nature' which made him famous across the United States. While he was writing, he wanted to delve back into the wilderness so he traveled to the Glacier Bay in Alaska and Washington's Mount Rainier. His articles directly brought attention to these two places leading to them eventually becoming national parks (PBS). His writings also brought himself fame that went with him to the grave.

Hetch Hetchy.
By Isaiah West Taber on WikiCommons.

John Muir became America's most famous and influential preservationist, naturalist, and conservationist given the nickname of "Father of our National Parks", even today he is still an inspiration to environmental activists. His love for the wilderness brought forth many contributions to helping preserve scenery and spiritual places which are now known as wilderness. He founded the Sierra Club in 1892 to "make the mountains glad." Though the Sierra Club he helped establish new National Parks and the National Wilderness Preservation System (Wood). The purposes of the Sierra Club were recreation, conservation, and education. Muir wanted for the people coming back from trips into the wilderness to be inspired to fight for the preservation of that place (Prince). Muir loved the beauty of nature itself and that what motivated him to fight to preserve it. Muir's writings gained him the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt. They went on a camping trip together that became the most significant camping trip in conservation history. The trip led to Roosevelt signing Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove under federal protection as part of the Yosemite National Park (PBS).

Muir and Roosevelt at Yosemite Valley.
By Underwood & Underwood on WikiCommons.

Hetch Hetchy is another big controversial topic Muir was fighting against. Gifford Pinchot was head for the O'Shaunessy Dam to be built in Yosemite. Pinchot was a conservationist and First Chief of the United States Forest Services. His definition of conservation is "the wise use of the earth and itsresources for the lasting good of men" (A Legacy of Conservation). This conflicted with Muir's view of not wanting for the beauty of the place to be destroyed for the use of humans. Through the USFS, Pinchot worked with President Roosevelt to manage forests. Even though Roosevelt had worked with both men he ultimately sided with Pinchot and signed off on the approval of the dam for the use of the city of San Francisco for both water and electrical power.

Painting of Hetch Hetchy done by William Keith.

Hetch Hetchy was once one of the Earth's most beautiful places, a glacier carved valley filled with waterfalls and wildlife as shown in this painting done by William Keith. This painting represents what Muir was trying to keep alive which can now only seen through art pieces as it now lies underneath a reservoir of water to beforgotten. By creating the dam, the nature wildlife was disturbed by the heavy machinery needed to build it. This denied the original protection given to the area of protecting the wilderness within for itself, not human use. Hetch Hetchy brought up a lot of conservation and preservation issues to the eyes of the public. While the dam remains a scar on the national parks system, it brought more people into knowledge leading for Congress to pass the National Park Service Act to ensure that parts would be preserved and managed for the enjoyment of all (History of the Valley). Muir has had an immense impact on the environment and continues to this day. He inspired others to want to join in protecting the wilderness. He fought for something he loved and wanted for others for many, many years to come to be able to continue to enjoy.

Continuing after Muir's death, there was still opposition to the dam. In 1987, the Secretary of the Interior proposed for the restoration of the Hetch Hetchy Valley which the Sierra Club's Board of Directors agreed on. They wanted the valley to be restored to its natural condition to allow "one of nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples" for public enjoyment, scientific exploration and it its natural ecological and biological systems to be able to be restored. Since 1999, over 850 dams have been removed from rivers allowing for ecological restorations of the area (Hetch Hetchy). The fight still continues to this day on the attempt to remove the Hetch Hetchy dam and restore the area.