John Muir: United States Forest Conservation Movement

John Muir describes the different trees react in the wind, and the music they make while the wind blows through the branches and leaves of the trees in that in the chapter “A Wind-Storm in the Forest” from his book The Mountains of California 1894. John Muir tells the audience that there is two kinds of trees in the Sierra forests that has never been blown over are the Juniper and the Dwarf Pine of the summit peaks. The trees have roots the grip the hillside giving them more support. He tells about the most beautiful storm in December 1874 while he was hiking. He heard trees falling every two or three minutes. He tells about the trees bowing to the ground. The music that is made from the sounds of the storm are the branches booming like a

On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the National Park Service to conserve natural land from being destroyed or messed with. This enabled it to be preserved for many generations to see rather than it be torn down and made into some lame houses or buildings.

In his speech, Conservation as a National Duty, Theodore Roosevelt asserts his passion for conservation and preservation onto a group of governors, statesmen, and conservationists. Throughout his message, he details several reasons for the nation to stop wasting natural resources and begin conserving them. He also states that the question of the conservation and use of the great fundamental sources of wealth, of this nation is second only to the question of morality.

Muir wrote many books, most about nature and some about his personal life and adventures. His

John Muir was a muckraker who protested against the expansion of people and animals that would ruin our soon to be national parks. Muir was a man that loved to explore natural formations in nature and traveled around the world to see as much natural land as possible. As he traveled around the world, he found out that California was his place to live. In California, his favorite places to explore and watch were the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Yosemite. As more and more settlers moved West, the land that Muir loved was soon to be destroyed by herds of animals and people looking for a place to build their homes. Muir wrote most of his 300 articles and 10 major books in Oakland, California. In Muir’s writings, he elegantly

It was John Muir one of the first advocates for the national park idea who developed the idea and also scientific theory that Yosemite Valley had been carved by glaciers. Muir was a very spiritual person coming from a religious family in which his father was a itinerant Presbyterian minister. John Muir had such a huge love and appreciation for nature, and being the religious man that he was he believed that “God is revealed

Muir was captivated by nature at an early age and he traveled to explore the environment. An early memory of a walk was with his grandfather. Muir heard a sound and “dug into the haystack until he uncovered a mother field mouse with half-dozen tiny babies clinging to her teats. In that moment the wondrous world of nature began to open for Johnnie Muir.” Ever since that walk with his grandfather, John Muir was

“We can be ethical only in relation to something we can see, feel, understand, love, or otherwise have faith in”- Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac (251)

John Muir is arguably the most influential conservationist in American history. He was an active member in the preservation of the American wilderness from the late 1800’s until he passed in 1914. Muir is often referred to as the “Father of the National Parks” because of his efforts in the establishment of several National Parks. One of the biggest flaws of American history textbooks in need of change is the fact that they do not include the conservationists who have preserved the environment so today the same beauty can be see the way that they saw it. John Muir was involved in many American conservation efforts including the co-founding of Yosemite National Park, founding of the Sierra Club, and his overall career as a

Henry David Thoreau once said, “It 's not what you look at that matters, it 's what you see.” William Wordsworth, the author of the poem I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, and John Muir, author of the essay The Calypso Borealis, have proved this in their works by looking at nature and portraying it differently but beautifully in each piece. They have been able to express their relationships with nature differently through choices about format, such as if a rhyme scheme will be used; their word choice, like choosing to give something a specific name; as well as through literary devices used, including tone, mood, and irony, but, even though they made many different choices, their works are both able to make nature seem beautiful and mysterious.

According to Janda, an important part of pluralism was that new interest groups form as a matter of course when the need arises (Janda 176). Such is the case with the Sierra Club. With the establishment of Yosemite National Park by the US Congress in 1890, the Club formed two years later in 1892 to lead a

Accessed 22 May 2017.)The role that John Muir played in the national park system was huge, he played one of the biggest roles. Theodore Roosevelt also played one of the biggest roles because he was the president he was the one who made it official. He also was capable of

The main purpose of the conservation ethic is maintaining the health of the environment. Preservation ethic was created to protect the environment. John Muir was associated with promoting preservation ethic. John Muir argued that the environment needs protection. The environment provides us oxygen, and with humans cutting down the trees using them for personal use affects the environment.

In Devoted to Nature: The Religious Roots of American Environmentalism, American University Professor of Philosophy and Religion Evan Berry writes, “The roots of environmentalism grew in religious soil.” This truth, while perhaps surprising to some, is made self-evident in the life and work of John Muir, California’s famous mountain man and naturalist who is better known today as “the father of American environmentalism.” In his environmental biography, The Young John Muir, author Steven J. Holmes writes, “For scholars and the general public alike, John Muir has come to stand as one of the patron saints of twentieth-century American environmental activity…” Since the 19th century, environmentalists have been following in Muir’s ecological footsteps, striving to preserve the beauty of America’s wilderness. Interestingly enough, however, the all-powerful driving force behind Muir’s concerted efforts was something that might come as a surprise to modern environmentalists—religion. For Muir, enlightenment was to be found in nature: in the cloudless azure sky, the golden light that filters through verdant forest canopies, the pastoral silence and midnight’s map of constellations.

Phrases such as “botanising in glorious freedom [...] wandering through innumerable tamarac and arbor-vitae swamps, and forests [...], rejoicing in their bound wealth and strength and beauty, climbing the trees, revelling in their flowers and fruit [...], glorying in the fresh cool beauty and charm of the bog [...] displayed in boundless profusion”, “rarest and most beautiful”, and “I was able to wander many a long wild fertile mile in the forests and bogs, free as the winds, gathering plants, and glorying in God's abounding inexhaustible spiritual beauty bread”, all show how Muir felt about nature and what nature meant to him. A key phrase that shows Muir’s attitude towards nature states, “Storms, thunderclouds, winds in the woods—were welcomed as friends”. These phrases, as well as the words mentioned above, are extremely positive and show the utmost joy Muir found in his surroundings. The long and detailed descriptions of Muir’s surroundings helps to reinforce his joy in nature. The words that Muir uses to describe nature shows that he is close to nature and feels a connection with it. These positive words also show how absolutely stunning Muir finds nature and how he finds peace and joy in the wild. All of this is also supported by one of Muir’s