John Muir's Influence
John Muir has had a huge impact on society. His ideals of preservation have shaped many attitudes towards nature, and additionally shaped many people's careers and pursuits throughout their lives. As a result of his influence and leadership, he has inspired many to follow in his footsteps of preservation.
Stephen Mather (1867 - 1930) was the founding Director of the U.S. National Parks Service. He fulfilled Muir’s idea that there needed to be a national agency overseeing the management of the parks. |
James Harkin (1875 -1955) served as Canada’s first Commissioner of National Parks. (1911-1936).
"He was deeply influenced by the writings of the American conservationist John Muir, and he believed fervently in the recreational, aesthetic, and spiritual values of unspoiled wilderness."
-A Passion for Wildlife: The History of the Canadian Wildlife Service (By J. Alexander Burnett, 2011.)
With this influence, Harkin established standards for preservation, he created an agency to administer the parks, and helped draft the National Parks Act of 1930.
"He was deeply influenced by the writings of the American conservationist John Muir, and he believed fervently in the recreational, aesthetic, and spiritual values of unspoiled wilderness."
-A Passion for Wildlife: The History of the Canadian Wildlife Service (By J. Alexander Burnett, 2011.)
With this influence, Harkin established standards for preservation, he created an agency to administer the parks, and helped draft the National Parks Act of 1930.
"The day will come when the population of Canada will be ten times as great as it is now but the national parks ensure that every Canadian ... will still have free access to vast areas possessing some of the finest scenery in Canada, in which the beauty of the landscape is protected from profanation, the natural wild animals, plants preserved, and the peace and solitude of primeval nature retained."
-James B Harkin (circa 1920) from A Passion for Wildlife: The History of the Canadian Wildlife Service By J. Alexander Burnett, 2011
-James B Harkin (circa 1920) from A Passion for Wildlife: The History of the Canadian Wildlife Service By J. Alexander Burnett, 2011
David Brower (1912 - 2000) served as the first Executive Director of the Sierra Club. Following Muir’s legacy to protect special natural areas, Brower led the campaigns to keep dams out of Dinosaur National Monument and the Grand Canyon, to establish the Wilderness Act of 1964, and Redwood and North Cascades National Parks. He was also a founding board member of Restore Hetch Hetchy, a campaign organization urging the restoration of the valley that Muir fought a losing campaign to save.
“Brower has been more closely associated with the Sierra Nevada than anyone since the Sierra Club’s famous founder, John Muir.”
-John de Graaf, Earth Island News, For Peak’s Sake: Honoring David Brower, Spring 2009 issue.
On his death in 2000, Dave Phillips, Executive Director of Earth Island Institute, said, "Dave Brower is a latter-day John Muir."
“Brower has been more closely associated with the Sierra Nevada than anyone since the Sierra Club’s famous founder, John Muir.”
-John de Graaf, Earth Island News, For Peak’s Sake: Honoring David Brower, Spring 2009 issue.
On his death in 2000, Dave Phillips, Executive Director of Earth Island Institute, said, "Dave Brower is a latter-day John Muir."
Joe Fontaine (1933 - present) was the Sierra Club president from 1980-82. Joe Fontaine again represents activism in the name of nature. After seeing a clearcut that looked like “a war zone”, first he got angry, then he got involved. He’s never let up the pressure to protect his beloved forest. He has been awarded the “John Muir Award” in 1995 for his long career working to protect the southern Nevada, Mojave desert, the giant Sequoias, and other California wilderness areas.
"I have spent the last 40 years working on the goals Muir set for the Sierra Club when he played the key role in founding the organization in 1892. His writing and ideas have been an inspiration to me during that time. He has truly been an inspiration to me personally and to all of the members of the Sierra Club which has grown to over 750,000 strong. Furthermore John Muir was one of the primary founders of the environmental movement in the United States which has become quite effective here as well as in the rest of the world. In short John Muir is regarded as one of the greatest men in American history."
-Joe Fontaine “Giant Sequoias and the Sierra Club” by Joe Fontaine, 2004.
"I have spent the last 40 years working on the goals Muir set for the Sierra Club when he played the key role in founding the organization in 1892. His writing and ideas have been an inspiration to me during that time. He has truly been an inspiration to me personally and to all of the members of the Sierra Club which has grown to over 750,000 strong. Furthermore John Muir was one of the primary founders of the environmental movement in the United States which has become quite effective here as well as in the rest of the world. In short John Muir is regarded as one of the greatest men in American history."
-Joe Fontaine “Giant Sequoias and the Sierra Club” by Joe Fontaine, 2004.