About seventy million acres it still owns, enough for all the country, if wisely used. In Switzerland, after many laws like our own had been found wanting, the Swiss forest school was established in 1865, and soon after the Federal Forest Law was enacted, which is binding over nearly two thirds of the country. Born April 21, 1838, Muir has become America's most famous naturalist and conservationist. Basically, Muir's essay is a moment by moment account of one of his outings in the California . Even Japan is ahead of us in the management of her forests. Muir ended his life living in the care of his Chinese employees. Conservation generally refers to the act of consciously and efficiently using land and/or its natural resources. An extension of this law by the passage of the act of March 2, 1831, provided that if any person should cut live-oak or red cedar trees or other timber from the lands of the United States for any other purpose than the construction of the navy, such person should pay a fine not less than triple the value of the timber cut, and be imprisoned for a period not exceeding twelve months. Rachel Carson, The Obligation to Endure. He closes his long essay with his now-famous statements: "Any fool can destroy trees. Its focus is the general geology and characteristics of the Sierra Nevada. He was 29. The ground will be glad to feed them, and the pines will come down from the mountains for their homes as willingly as the cedars came from Lebanon for Solomons temple. John Muir was one of the countrys most famous naturalist and conservationist and Muir Woods, part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area, is named in his honor. My First Summer in the Sierra, John Muir's reverent acclamation of the beauty of the wilderness and particularly the Yosemite Valley in California, is a dated journal account of . Many of the miners find that timber is already becoming scarce and dear on the denuded hills around their mills, and they too are asking for protection of forests, at least against fire. The most significant battle that Muir and the Sierra Club ever fought was over the damming of Yosemites Hetch Hetchy Valley. By such methods have our magnificent redwoods and much of the sugar-pine forests of the Sierra Nevada been absorbed by foreign and resident capitalists. Abstract. But the felled timber is not worked up into firewood for the engines and into lumber for the companys use; it is left lying in vulgar confusion, and is fired from time to time by sparks from locomotives or by the workmen camping along the line. Muir served as the club's president until his death in 1914, and today, the Sierra Club boasts more than 3 . Free shipping for many products! World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future: From One Earth to One World (Brundtland Report) Though far less abundant than the redwood, it is, fortunately, less accessible, extending along the western flank of the Sierra in a partially interrupted belt about two hundred and fifty miles long, at a height of from four to eight thousand feet above the sea. His family did not have enough money to send him to school, so after completing his daily farm chores, Muir spent his spare time teaching himself algebra and geometry. In 1892, Muir and other private citizens banded together and established the Sierra Club to increase awareness about the potential destruction of the countrys wilderness. "A wind-storm in the forests" by American naturalist/environmentalist John Muir (1838-1914) was the first Library of America (LOA) story of the week that I ever reviewed here. He concluded that all life forms have inherent significance and the right to exist. Theres big money in it, and your grub costs nothing. The Yellowstone National Park 3. In the settlement and civilization of the country, bread more than timber or beauty was wanted; and in the blindness of hunger, the early settlers, claiming Heaven as their guide, regarded Gods trees as only a larger kind of pernicious weeds, extremely hard to get rid of. Nevertheless the Andes and the South American forests continued to fascinate his imagination, as his letters show, for many years after he came to California. In decrying the destruction of woodlands by loggers, settlers, and industrialists, Muir, the father of Americas conservation movement, advanced the notion that natural resources ought to be preservedan idea that spawned vast new parks as well as the creation of the U.S. Forest Service. Notwithstanding all the waste and use which have been going on unchecked like a storm for more than two centuries, it is not yet too late, though it is high time, for the government to begin a rational administration of its forests. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The Russian government passed a law in 1888, declaring that clearing is forbidden in protection forests, and is allowed in others only when its effects will not be to disturb the suitable relations which should exist between forest and agricultural lands.. They have disappeared in lumber and smoke, mostly smoke, and the government got not one cent for them; only the land they were growing on was considered valuable, and two and a half dollars an acre was charged for it. In France no government forests have been sold since 1870. He is best known for his work as a conservationist, particularly his role in the establishment of Yosemite National Park in California. The sempervirens is certainly the taller of the two. Had he gone West he would have found out that the sky was not safe; for all through the summer months, over most of the mountain regions, the smoke of mill and forest fires is so thick and black that no sunbeam can pierce it. 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. For years, the conservationists, who wanted to protect the awesome valley in its natural setting, were pitted against the Californians who wanted to dam the valley to create a new and reliable drinking water reservoir. The Forests of the Yosemite Park . The making of the far-famed New York Central Park was opposed by even good men, with misguided pluck, perseverance, and ingenuity; but straight right won its way, and now that park is appreciated. By looking at their views and uses of language we can gain a better understanding of the environmental movement both during their lifetimes and as it . These two sequoias are all that are known to exist in the world, though in former geological times the genus was common and had many species. But there is not a single specimen of the redwood in any national park. John Muir, (born April 21, 1838, Dunbar, East Lothian, Scot.died Dec. 24, 1914, Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.), U.S. naturalist and conservationist. To show the results of the timber-planting act, it need only be stated that of the 38,000,000 acres entered under it, less than 1,000,000 acres have been patented. Savage's men fired indiscriminately into the Ahwahneechee camp, a people who had called this valley their home for centuries. In "The American Forests", John Muir's purpose is to reveal the disloyalty that Americans have towards their agriculture. Here the forests reached their highest development. These forests were composed of about five hundred species of trees, all of them in some way useful to man, ranging in size from twenty-five feet in height and less than one foot in diameter at the ground to four hundred feet in height and more than twenty feet in diameter, lordly monarchs proclaiming the gospel of beauty like apostles. Type the abstract of the document here. The Wild Parks and Forest Reservations of the West, chapter 1 of 'Our National Parks' by John Muir (1901). John Muir, in The American Forests, speaks fondly of the American forests, calling them the "glory of the world." He discusses the genera of each coast, and describes the vast diversity between species, size, and some wildlife. The axe and saw are insanely busy, chips are flying thick as snowflakes, and every summer thousands of acres of priceless forests, with their underbrush, soil, springs, climate, scenery, and religion, are vanishing away in clouds of smoke, while, except in the national parks, not one forest guard is employed. The week that followed Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination was revolutionaryso why was it nearly forgotten? Nor will the woods be the worse for this use, or their benign influences be diminished any more than the sun is diminished by shining. 234, Muir describes the beauty of trees in the many varied regions across America as "they appeared a few centuries ago when they were rejoicing in wildness." He educated Americans about the value of the countrys wilderness, inspiring generations of wilderness advocates. Thoreau, when contemplating the destruction of the forests on the east side of the continent, said that soon the country would be so bald that every man would have to grow whiskers to hide its nakedness, but he thanked God that at least the sky was safe. The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest and most influential conservation organization in the United States. Now it is plain that the forests are not inexhaustible, and that quick measures must be taken if ruin is to be avoided. The passage of the Wilderness Act was an historically important event in American environmental politics, which tied the fate of much of America's public lands to disputes over the meaning of wilderness. Word Count: 490. He also realized how fragile nature was; how peoples impact on the land, through grazing, lumbering and commercial developments, was slowly destroying all the beauty in the wilderness. They went to the woods to escape aspects of. John Muir (1838-1914), the great naturalist and founder of the Sierra Club, has long been a favorite of mine. In Luke 12 Jesus says, "I've come to bring fire on earth." Katherine S. Talmadge. Muir's conservation efforts saved many forests and natural areas for all of us. Every train rolls on through dismal smoke and barbarous melancholy ruins; and the companies might well cry in their advertisements: Come! This tree is one of the most variable and most widely distributed of American pines. Drifting adventurers in California, after harvest and threshing are over, oftentimes meet to discuss their plans for the winter, and their talk is interesting. So they appeared a few centuries ago when they were rejoicing in wildness. The Pantheon Press, Nashville, Tennessee, 1959. As soon as a redwood is cut down or burned it sends up a crowd of eager, hopeful shoots, which, if allowed to grow, would in a few decades attain a height of a hundred feet, and the strongest of them would finally become giants as great as the original tree. By the act of March 3, 1875, all land-grant and right-of-way railroads are authorized to take timber from the public lands adjacent to their lines for construction purposes; and they have taken it with a vengeance, destroying a hundred times more than they have used, mostly by allowing fires to run into the woods. He shared his love of the outdoors through writing and inspired people to protect our country's wild places like Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Sequoia & King's Canyon . Another of the company, a bushy-bearded fellow, with a trace of brag in his voice, drawled out: Bird business is well enough for some, but bear is my game, with a deer and a California lion thrown in now and then for change. . Muir enumerates the forest regulations of the principal countries of the world, and then reviews the abuses this country has allowed, detailing the fraudulent methods used by the timber thieves to gain title to thousands of forested acres. Only the forests of the West are significant in size and value, and these, although still great, are rapidly vanishing. President Theodore Roosevelt & John Muir. Most notably, this was John Muir's first published essay (1871). Muir Inlet and Muir Glacier are both named for him. FAQ | Read more from, Butterfield & Co.: In Two Parts. After the Atlantic coast from Maine to Georgia had been mostly cleared and scorched into melancholy ruins, the overflowing multitude of bread and money seekers poured over the Alleghanies into the fertile middle West, spreading ruthless devastation ever wider and farther over the rich valley of the Mississippi and the vast shadowy pine region about the Great Lakes. On the contrary, all the brains, religion, and superstition of the neighborhood are brought into play to prevent a new growth. But when the steel axe of the white man rang out in the startled air their doom was sealed. The volume is from the press of Houghton . The special land agents employed by the General Land Office to protect the public domain from timber depredations are supposed to collect testimony to sustain prosecution, and to superintend such prosecution on behalf of the government, which is represented by the district attorneys. The two most fascinating questions about extraterrestrial life are where it is found and what it is like. > The first few thousands he sells or trades at the nearest mill or store, getting provisions in exchange. President Roosevelt's concern for the environment was influenced by American naturalists, such as John Muir, and by his own political appointees, including Gifford Pinchot, Chief of Forestry. > The enormous logs, too heavy to handle, are blasted into manageable dimensions with gunpowder. A part of the John Muir Exhibit, by Harold Wood and Harvey Chinn. The prospector deliberately sets fires to clear off the woods just where they are densest, to lay the rocks bare and make the discovery of mines easier. Tule Joe made five hundred dollars last winter on mallard and teal. Twenty-First Century Books, New York, New York. Muir emigrated from Scotland with his family to Wisconsin in 1849. The disappearance of the forests in the first place, it is claimed, may be traced in most cases directly to mountain pasturage. Shot em on the Joaquin, tied em in dozens by the neck, and shipped em to San Francisco. Muir believes the forests must have been a delight to God, for "they were the best he ever planted" (145). A large portion of the best timber is thus shattered and destroyed, and, with the huge knotty tops, is left in ruins for tremendous fires that kill every tree within their range, great and small. Muir, John, "The American Forests" (1897). He closes his long essay with his now-famous statements: "Any fool can destroy trees. This magazine has been fully digitized as a part of The Atlantic's archive. Over nearly all of the more accessible slopes of the Sierra and Cascade mountains in southern Oregon, at a height of from three to six thousand feet above the sea, and for a distance of about six hundred miles, this waste and confusion extends. Year by year the remnant is growing smaller before the axe and fire, while the laws in existence provide neither for the protection of the timber from destruction nor for its use where it is most needed. It grows sturdily on all kinds of soil and rocks, and, protected by a mail of . Since then, critics both international and domestic, but mostly from within the environmental movement, have criticized the idea of wilderness. The American Forests John Muir ALDO LEOPOLD'S LAND ETHIC IN FORESTRY; 5. The plan was usually as follows: A mill company desirous of getting title to a large body of redwood or sugar-pine land first blurred the eyes and ears of the land agents, and then hired men to enter the land they wanted, and immediately deed it to the company after a nominal compliance with the law; false swearing in the wilderness against the government being held of no account. Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Muir Woods National Monument, Download the official NPS app before your next visit. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document. I suppose we need not go mourning the buffaloes. John Muir, Wilderness Protector. . I was consequently keen to read his short essay "Save the redwoods" when it popped up as an LOA story-of-the-week three weeks ago. The whole continent was a garden, and from the beginning it seemed to be favored above all the other wild parks and gardens of the globe. Here, in The Mountains of California, is the first time the phrase Range . Home In one case which came under the observation of Mr. Bowers, it was the practice of a lumber company to hire the entire crew of every vessel which might happen to touch at any port in the redwood belt, to enter one hundred and sixty acres each and immediately deed the land to the company, in consideration of the company's paying all expenses and giving the jolly sailors fifty dollars apiece for their trouble. -John Muir The forests of America, however slighted by man, must have been a great delight to God; for they were the best he ever planted. Visit Muir Woods National Monument, located in Marin County, just north of San Francisco. The Indians with stone axes could do them no more harm than could gnawing beavers and browsing moose. 341, v. 6, pp. John Muirthe surprise star of Ken Burns's recent PBS documentary, The National Parks is most remembered for founding the Sierra Club in 1911 and for the preservation of Yosemite, but another of his great legacies is his prose, which introduced a new vocabulary to the genre of nature writing. Only by gift or purchase, so far as I know, can the government get back into its possession a single acre of this wonderful forest. The Wild Parks and Forest Reservations of the West 2. To prepare the ground, it was rolled and sifted in seas with infinite loving deliberation and forethought, lifted into the light, submerged and warmed over and over again, pressed and crumpled into folds and ridges, mountains and hills, subsoiled with heaving volcanic fires, ploughed and ground and sculptured into scenery and soil with glaciers and rivers, very feature growing and changing from beauty to beauty, higher and higher. Muir, John, 1838-1914 Publication date 1901 Topics National parks and reserves -- United States, Yosemite National Park (Calif.) Publisher Boston, New York : Houghton, Mifflin and Company Collection cdl; americana Digitizing sponsor MSN Contributor University of California Libraries Language English He was a Scottish-American environmentalist, naturalist, and writer who is best known as the founder of the Sierra Club and one of the earliest promotors of the national parks. Anyhow, these vigorous, almost immortal trees are killed at last, and black stumps are now their only monuments over most of the chopped and burned areas. Then he goes to work sawing and splitting for the market, tying the shakes in bundles of fifty or a hundred. Muir's nature was a pristine refuge from the city. The whole continent was a garden, and from the beginning it seemed to be favored above all the other wild parks and gardens of the globe. Everyone needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike - John Muir, 1869. Then he chops into one after another of the pines, until he finds one that he feels sure will split freely, cuts this down, saws off a section four feet long, splits it, and from this first cut, perhaps seven feet in diameter, he gets shakes enough for a cabin and its furniture, walls, roof, door, bedstead, table, and stool. 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