the american forests john muir summary

They cannot run away; and if they could, they would still be destroyedchased and hunted down as long as fun or a dollar could be got out of their bark hides, branching horns, or magnificent bole backbones It took more than three thousand years to make some of the trees in these Western woodstrees that are still standing in perfect strength and beauty, waving and singing in the mighty forests of the Sierra. So they appeared a few centuries ago when they were rejoicing in wildness. The redwood is one of the few conifers that sprout from the stump and roots, and it declares itself willing to begin immediately to repair the damage of the lumberman and also that of the forest-burner. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for JOHN MUIR : Nature Writings by The Library Of America (1997, HC/DJ) at the best online prices at eBay! Its a mighty good business, and youre your own boss, and the whole things fun.. And when he was tired wading in the sloughs and touched with rheumatiz, he just knocked off on ducks, and went to the Contra Costa hills for dove and quail. It took more than three thousand years to make some of the trees in these Western woods, trees that are still standing in perfect strength and beauty, waving and singing in the mighty forests of the Sierra. Basically, Muir's essay is a moment by moment account of one of his outings in the California . But when the steel axe of the white man rang out in the startled air their doom was sealed. 234. The gigantea attains a greater girth, and is heavier, more noble in port, and more sublimely beautiful. The sempervirens is certainly the taller of the two. O ver 150 years ago, John Muir set out on a thousand mile journey across the US, from Indiana to the Gulf of Mexico, on foot. All sorts of local laws and regulations have been tried and found wanting, and the costly lessons of our own experience, as well as that of every civilized nation, show conclusively that the fate of the remnant of our forests is in the hands of the federal government, and that if the remnant is to be saved at all, it must be saved quickly. Thence still westward swept the forests to right and left around grassy plains and deserts a thousand miles wide: irrepressible hosts of spruce and pine, aspen and willow, nut-pine and juniper, cactus and yucca, caring nothing for drought, extending undaunted from mountain to mountain, over mesa and desert, to join the darkening multitudes of pines that covered the high Rocky ranges and the glorious forests along the coast of the moist and balmy Pacific, where new species of pine, giant cedars and spruces, silver firs and sequoias, kings of their race, growing close together like grass in a meadow, poised their brave domes and spires in the sky three hundred feet above the ferns and the lilies that enameled the ground; towering serene through the long centuries, preaching Gods forestry fresh from heaven. Carter argues that it is the duty of everyone to preserve the Arctic Refuge rather than dig holes in it to extract oil. Once, in a company of this kind, I heard a man say, as he peacefully smoked his pipe: Boys, as soon as this jobs done Im goin into the duck business. Muir served as the club's president until his death in 1914, and today, the Sierra Club boasts more than 3 . There was some virtuous effort made with a view to limit the operations of the act by requiring that the purchaser should make affidavit that he was entering the land exclusively for his own use, and by not allowing any association to enter more than one hundred and sixty acres. The feudal lords valued the woodlands, and enacted vigorous protective laws; and when, in the latest civil war, the Mikado government destroyed the feudal system, it declared the forests that had belonged to the feudal lords to be the property of the state, promulgated a forest law binding on the whole kingdom, and founded a school of forestry in Tokio. Few that fell trees plant them; nor would planting avail much towards getting back anything like the noble primeval forests. Under the timber and stone act, of the same date, land in the Pacific States and Nevada, valuable mainly for timber, and unfit for cultivation if the timber is removed, can be purchased for two dollars and a half an acre, under certain restrictions. During heavy rainfalls and while the winter accumulations of snow were melting, the larger streams would swell into destructive torrents; cutting deep, rugged-edged gullies, carrying away the fertile humus and soil as well as sand and rocks, filling up and overflowing their lower channels, and covering the lowland fields with raw detritus. But as this groundbreaking book demonstrates, what Muir was really seeing when he admired the grand vistas of Yosemite and the gold and purple flowers carpeting the Central Valley were the fertile gardens of the Sierra Miwok and Valley . That a change from robbery and ruin to a permanent rational policy is urgently needed nobody with the slightest knowledge of American forests will deny. It is a compilation of his own accounts of his travels and journeys, and his explorations and examinations, of the mountain ranges of California, in particular the Sierra Nevada, during the late 1860s to the early 1870s, a time when the wild places in the State where . 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. 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. While in Alaska, I saw the loveliest forests and scenery I've ever seen. Through his book Travels in Alaska, I learned about the formation of Glacier Bay and Muir's exploration of that twinned body of water I called home for two summers. Every other civilized nation in the world has been compelled to care for its forests, and so must we if waste and destruction are not to go on to the bitter end, leaving America as barren as Palestine or Spain. With the exception of the timber culture act, under which, in consideration of planting a few acres of seedlings, settlers on the treeless plains got 160 acres each, the above is the only legislation aiming to protect and promote the planting of forests. > This paper looks at the roles that language had in the writings of John Muir, the father of American national parks and Gifford Pinchot, the father of American forest conservation. Armed with a plant-press and a blank notebook, Muir wandered for weeks at a time, through the mountains that would later be Yosemite National Park. It grows sturdily on all kinds of soil and rocks, and, protected by a mail of . As is shown by Mr. E. A. Bowers, formerly Inspector of the Public Land Service, the foundation of our protective policy, which has never protected, is an act passed March 1, 1817, which authorized the Secretary of the Navy to reserve lands producing live-oak and cedar, for the sole purpose of supplying timber for the navy of the United States. John Muir in the Sierra Nevada mountains 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. Under the act of June 3, 1878, settlers in Colorado and the Territories were allowed to cut timber for mining and agricultural purposes from mineral land, which in the practical West means both cutting and burning anywhere and everywhere, for any purpose, on any sort of public land. Land commissioners and Secretaries of the Interior have repeatedly called attention to this ruinous state of affairs, and asked Congress to enact the requisite legislation for reasonable reform. John Muir was born on April 21, 1838 in the small rural town of Dunbar, Scotland. Upon this old law, as Mr. Bowers points out, having the construction of a wooden navy in view, the United States government has to-day chiefly to rely in protecting its timber throughout the arid regions of the West, where none of the naval timber which the law had in mind is to be found. No other route on this continent so fully illustrates the abomination of desolation. Such a claim would be reasonable, as each seems the worst, whatever route you chance to take. John Muir remains worthy of honor and respect as a person who studied, recorded, and shared the natural areas of the United States and the world, and the role of humans within the environment. The Civil War had just ended. John Muir (1838 - 1914) was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. About seventy million acres it still owns, enough for all the country, if wisely used. On the contrary, all the brains, religion, and superstition of the neighborhood are brought into play to prevent a new growth. The Arctic Refuge is a crucial refuge as it is one of the few left in the Arctic and around the world. Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Muir Woods National Monument, Download the official NPS app before your next visit. But the state woodlands are not allowed to lie idle. An exception would seem to be found in the case of our forests, which have been mismanaged rather long, and now come desperately near being like smashed eggs and spilt milk. The two most fascinating questions about extraterrestrial life are where it is found and what it is like. Muir Inlet and Muir Glacier are both named for him. 1971. President Theodore Roosevelt was one of the most powerful voices in the history of American conservation. In any case, it will be hard to teach the pioneers that it is wrong to steal government timber. 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. A proprietor who has cleared his forest without permission is subject to heavy fine, and in addition may be made to replant the cleared area. "The forests of America, however slighted by man, must have been a great delight to God; for they were the best he ever planted." He described trees with a diameter of twenty feet as "lordly. Rachel Carson, The Obligation to Endure. 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. Even the fires of the Indians and the fierce shattering lightning seemed to work together only for good in clearing spots here and there for smooth garden prairies, and openings for sunflowers seeking the light. Then he goes to work sawing and splitting for the market, tying the shakes in bundles of fifty or a hundred. John Muir, Naturalist: A Concise Biography of the Great Naturalist. 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. They went to the woods to escape aspects of. The people will not always be deceived by selfish opposition, whether from lumber and mining corporations or from sheepmen and prospectors, however cunningly brought forward underneath fables and gold. Selecting a favorable spot for a cabin near a meadow with a stream, he unpacks his animal and stakes it out on the meadow. In the East and along the northern Pacific coast, where the rainfall is abundant, comparatively few care keenly what becomes of the trees as long as fuel and lumber are not noticeably dear. Conservation in the United States can be traced back to the 19th century with the formation of the first National Park. 14 minutes. Merely what belongs to all alike is reserved, and every acre that is left should be held together under the federal government as a basis for a general policy of administration for the public good. 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. Home | Here and there in the Southern States there are still considerable areas of timbered government land, but these are comparatively unimportant. In its reading, one must keep in mind that compared with today, very little was known about glacial activity. The whole sky, with clouds, sun, moon, and stars, is simply blotted out. The American Forests by John Muir (1901) . Still, in the long run the world does not move backward Light is surely coming, and the friends of destruction will preach and bewail in vain. American forester, the first Chief of the US Forest Service and his family was the financial backer for the country's first forestry school (at Yale University), so there can be no doubt where the profession of forestry locates itself in the Muir-Pinchot debate. The fires, whether accidental or set, are allowed to run into the woods as far as they may, thus assuring comprehensive destruction. 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. 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. 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. 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. In India systematic forest management was begun about forty years ago, under difficulties presented by the character of the country, the prevalence of running fires, opposition from lumbermen, settlers, etc. Home John W. Winkley, M.A., D.D. 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. The same thing is true of the mines, which consume and destroy indirectly immense quantities of timber with their innumerable fires, accidental or set to make open ways, and often without regard to how far they run. Not a mountain is left in the landscape. He closes his long essay with his now-famous statements: "Any fool can destroy trees. The Yellowstone National Park 3. Muir fell in love with the immense beauty of the mountain landscape. They might run into the adjacent forests and burn the timber from hundreds of square miles; not a man in the State would care to spend an hour in fighting them, as long as his own fences and buildings were not threatened. Back at the turn of the 20th Century Gifford Pinchot and John Muir had radically contrasting views of how to manage . According to the everlasting laws of righteousness, even the fraudful buyers at less than one per cent of its value are making little or nothing, on account of fierce competition. Muir became politically active to protect Yosemite from being threatened by commercial developments. Posted on February 26, 2013 by Nathaniel Cowper. About. But there is not a single specimen of the redwood in any national park. American forests! To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately, No traveler, whether a tree lover or not, will ever forget his first walk in a sugar-pine forest. America is one of the wealthiest Continue reading Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged John Muir, The American Forests | 1 Comment Our National Parks, by John Muir (1901, c. (1901)) - John Muir Writings . Bright seas made its border with wave embroidery and icebergs; gray deserts were outspread in the middle of it, mossy tundras on the north, savannas on the south, and blooming prairies and plains; while lakes and rivers shone through all the vast forests and openings, and happy birds and beasts gave delightful animation. Every place is made better by them. Its focus is the general geology and characteristics of the Sierra Nevada. Well, it didn't happen by accident or guesswork. How strong a voice that metal has! Lerner Publications Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1992. Honest citizens see that only the rights of the government are being trampled, not those of the settlers. In 1913, Congress passed a law that approved the construction of the dam in Hetch Hetchy Valley. The Land Ethic Aldo Leopold Part II: Two Philosophical Issues in Forestry Ethics MULTIPLE VALUES IN FORESTS . So they appeared a few centuries ago when they were rejoicing in wildness. The disappearance of the forests in the first place, it is claimed, may be traced in most cases directly to mountain pasturage. 1) The Sierra Nevada. He was 29. 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. The Indians with stone axes could do them no more harm than could gnawing beavers and browsing moose. Then he advertises, in whatever way he can, that he has excellent sugar-pine shakes for sale, easy of access and cheap. Starting in the i87os, Muir made exploring wilderness and extoling its values a way of life. Gold, gold, gold! > It has been planted and is flourishing over a great part of Europe, and magnificent sections of the aboriginal forests have been reserved as national and state parks, the Mariposa Sequoia Grove, near Yosemite, managed by the State of California, and the General Grant and Sequoia national parks on the Kings, the Kaweah, and Tule rivers, efficiently guarded by a small troop of United States cavalry under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior. It is not a book of forestry, but the forest is the most . See All test questions. Yet the dawn of a new day in forestry is breaking. 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. 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. Accessibility Statement, John Muir: A Reading Bibliography by Kimes, Holt-Atherton Special Collections homepage. But not one denuded acre in a hundred is allowed to raise a new forest growth. Ginger Wadsworth. Trees go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far! 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. Restless to explore more of the country, he left school for what he would call "the University of the Wilderness. President Theodore Roosevelt & John Muir. John Muir. Listen to the trailer for. 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