JohnMuirand thenationalparks
Forhundred sofYl'arsland, water, tr eesandw ild
ani malsw en.'so plent iful inAmericath atpeople
th ou gh t they wouldneverrunout, It becamea
habit with Americans to usc natural reso u rces
carelesslyandwastefully.
AssettlersspreadacrossAmerica, allo f them -
farmers, miners, ran ch ers, lumberj acks-robbe d
th e land an ddestroyed its reso u rces. Trees were
felledinmillions.Ri vers and lak es werechokedby
w as tefromm ines and fac tories. Vast bu ffalo herds
were almost entirelydestroyed, as were man y
other w ildanimals,including wolves.sea orrcrs
andfurseals.
Naturalist s were alarnu..-d by this dest ruc tio n.
T heydemandedth atthegovernmen tandpeople
ofthe United Sta res should conser ve (save) the
nation's natural heritage, Oneofthe leadersof
these" conservat ionists" was John Muir. Muir,
w ho hadbeenbornin Scotland,traveledabout rhc
AmericanWc-ststudyingandd escribingits natural
wonders.l ieworkedhardtopersuadep eo ple to
p ro tectth es e wondersfor the benefit offuture
genera tions.
Largely because ofMuir's effo rts, b ig areasof
unspoiledla nd wer em adein topublicparks.Om'15 t'AIL\lINGTIll:GREATI'I.AINSofthese was Yosemite Park inC alifo rnia.The
heartofYosemiteI Sa beautifulvalleysurr o u nded
b y cliffsandmounta inpeaks.GiantSequoia trees
andother rareplantsgrowthere. In 18 <.K>Yosemite
becamea nationalparkc thar is,a parkbelo ngi ng
to th ewho lenation.
Yo semite wasno tth eUnitedStates"firs tn ational
park .ThatwasYello w sto nePark .T his is a3,45H
square-mileareao f volc an icro cksandfo res tin the
Ro ck yMou ntains andit becameanationa l park in
1872 ,
Yellowstoneisoneofth eworld'slargestw ildlife
sanctuaries.Bears ,mountainsheep, buffalo.m o ose
and mo reth antwohundredkindsofbirds make
theirhomesthere. Itsmostfamoussig ht, ho w -
ever, is"OldFaithful. " Thisis avolcan icgeyse r
whichevery hourshootsapproximately 10,000
gallo nsofwateralmost165 feetintoth e air.
WhenTheodoreRooseveltbecamePresident in
1901 he set upmorebignationalpark sandforests.
' In 1 916 Congresse-stablished theNationalParks
Serv icetoloo kafterthem.TheAmericansystem
ofnatjo na lparksbecameoneofth em o st adm ired
in thew o rld, It h asbeentak enas an exam pleby
llIanyother couumcs.l"tlloU'Jlom"
,\'d li" ".. 1 P..n,_
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