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John Muir (/ m jʊər / MURE; April 21, 1838 – December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was a Scottish-born American: 42 naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States.
- Overview
- Early life and travels
- Role in conservation and preservation
- Lasting contributions
John Muir (born April 21, 1838, Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland—died December 24, 1914, Los Angeles, California, U.S.) Scottish-born American naturalist, writer, and advocate of U.S. forest conservation, who was largely responsible for the establishment of Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park, which are located in California. He and othe...
Muir emigrated from Scotland with his family to a farm near Portage, Wisconsin, in 1849. In 1860 he traveled the short distance south to Madison, where he subsequently attended the University of Wisconsin until 1863. After leaving Madison, Muir worked on mechanical inventions, but in 1867, when an industrial accident nearly cost him an eye, he aban...
As early as 1876, Muir urged the federal government to adopt a forest conservation policy. He became a central figure in the debate over land use, advocating on behalf of land preservation primarily through articles published in popular periodicals, such as Atlantic Monthly, The Century Magazine, and Harper’s New Monthly Magazine (now Harper’s Magazine). Although initially finding common ground in the ideas of forest protection put forth by Gifford Pinchot, a pioneer of U.S. forestry and conservation, Muir’s views ultimately diverged. Whereas Pinchot supported the sustainable use of resources within national forests, Muir believed that national parks and forests should be preserved in their entirety, meaning that their resources should be rendered off-limits to industrial interests. Although Sequoia and Yosemite national parks were established in 1890, representing a victory for environmental protection, the debate between Pinchot’s utilitarian approach to forestry and Muir’s preservationist approach was far from over.
On May 28, 1892, Muir founded the Sierra Club, an organization devoted to protecting the environment. He served as its first president, a position he held until his death in 1914. The Sierra Club Bulletin, a publication for the organization’s members, provided a vital outlet for Muir, enabling him through his writing to raise awareness of environmental issues.
Muir’s enduring contributions to the conservation and preservation of America’s wilderness have been far-reaching. His conviction that wilderness areas should be federally protected as national parks has given generations of U.S. citizens and tourists an opportunity to appreciate America’s landscapes as they exist in the absence of human industrial influence. Muir’s writings continue to serve as sources of inspiration for naturalists and conservationists in the United States and worldwide. The Mountains of California (1894), Our National Parks (1901), and The Yosemite (1912), as well as books published posthumously, including Travels in Alaska (1915), A Thousand-Mile Walk (1916), and The Cruise of the Corwin: Journal of the Arctic Expedition of 1881 in Search of De Long and the Jeannette (1917), remain important works in the body of literature on America’s natural history.
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Despite his legacy as a towering figure in American environmental conservation, it must be noted that Muir’s deeply harmful attitudes toward Black and Indigenous peoples have also had a lasting impact on the Sierra Club and the broader conservation movement. Drawing on racist stereotypes, Muir maligned native peoples and African Americans as “dirty and lazy.” Instead of showing empathy for their plight at the hands of white settlers or recognition of their vital stewardship and ownership of the lands he so loved, he felt that the continued presence of Native Americans in the Sierra Nevadas was a blight. His actions and writings contributed to an American land ethic that has long romanticized and idealized the heroic white man alone and at peace in the wilderness, leaving little room for Indigenous relationships with their ancestral lands or for the participation of other minorities in conservation efforts. Muir was also close friends with a number of other prominent scientists and Sierra Club members, including Henry Fairfield Osborn and David Starr Jordan, who were well known for their white supremacy. The organization was originally founded in such a way that membership could only be granted through sponsorship from existing members, which allowed for the effective screening of applicants of colour.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Apr 2, 2014 · Famous Activists. Famous British People. John Muir. Naturalist, writer and advocate of U.S. forest conservation, John Muir founded the Sierra Club and helped establish Sequoia and Yosemite...
John Muir was one of the country’s most famous naturalist and conservationist and Muir Woods, part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area, is named in his honor. Muir is credited with both the creation of the National Park System and the establishment of the Sierra Club.
Discover more about John Muir – conservationist, activist, writer, explorer, campaigner for wild places. We take our name from John Muir (1838-1914), the Scots-born founder of the modern conservation movement. Muir was passionate about wild places.
Oct 3, 2023 · John Muir, in his beloved Sierra Nevada, sparks dialogue leading to the creation of Yosemite National Park in 1890. John Muir has inspired Yosemite’s travelers to see under the surface through his poetic imagery: “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
John Muir, (born April 21, 1838, Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland—died December 24, 1914, Los Angeles, California, U.S.), Scottish-born American naturalist, writer, and advocate of U.S. forest conservation, who was largely responsible for the establishment of Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park, which are located in California.
