Muir Fights for the Future

John Muir was a mild-mannered guy but he had a passion - protecting natural resources for future generations.  He called the battle one between "landscape righteousness and the devil."  He wrote for Harper's Weekly and the Atlantic Monthly to educate the public.  In 1898, the forest reservation policy was in jeopardy.  Muir was recognized as the leader of the drive to save America's forests and wilderness areas.

In 1903 he went on a camping trip with President Theodore Roosevelt, who shared Muir's concerns.  President Roosevelt set aside 100 million acres of government timberland as a forest reserve, and established five national parks.  Roosevelt also designated 16 historic areas as national monuments under the Antiquities Act of 1906.  The Petrified Forest and the Grand Canyon were designated as national monuments in 1906 and 1908, but since have become national parks.

John Muir founded the Sierra Club in 1892 and kept an eye on the nation's forests.  He brought attention to the giant redwoods which were being used for everything from caskets to shingles to cigar boxes.  With conservationists he was able to save some of the redwood groves.  It wasn't until 1968 that the Redwood National Forest was established to protect these trees.

Muir died in 1914 but in his last decade he wrote journals where he recorded, "the forests of America, however slighted by man, must have been a great delight to God, because they were the best He ever planted."  We could use some John Muir today before our protected parks are sold off to private individuals and lost forever.

Next time...Farewell Frontier
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On December 17, 1903, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first successful flight in history of a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft. Orville piloted the gasoline-powered, propeller-driven biplane, which stayed aloft for 12 seconds and covered 120 feet on its inaugural flight.