About John Muir
John Muir (1838-1914) is the founder of the modern world conservation movement. Two hundred sites in the USA are named after him, including Muir Woods, Muir Beach, Muir Glacier and the John Muir Trail through the High Sierra.
Born in the fishing port of Dunbar, in East Lothian, Scotland, he developed an early awareness of the value of wild nature. At the age of eleven, he emigrated with his family to the wilds of Wisconsin in the American mid-west, where he spent his teenage years. Arriving in California at the age of 30, he achieved fame as a botanist, geologist and glaciologist, and pioneered what is now known as ecology. During his explorations of the High Sierra and Alaska (1870 - 1890), Muir became aware of the threats to such wild places, and was the first to clearly call for their conservation. He led the campaign for the protection of Yosemite, and deeply influenced Presidents Roosevelt and Wilson in designating over 50 areas and 200 national monuments. In order to campaign for wild places, Muir helped set up the Sierra Club which today is one of the leading environmental campaigning organisations in the world
