The Creation of the National Forests;
Part Two of a Two-session virtual course with Roundtable by the 92nd Street Y | NYC.
The second session follows the pair as they inspire the Forest Commission to create the National Forests, including Muir’s writing of his landmark story in The Atlantic, “The American Forest,” in which he makes a case to the nation to back the forestry plan. Muir and Johnson fight to consolidate the Yosemite State Park, created by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, with Yosemite National Park to create the park as we know it today. They then form a grass-roots movement to oppose the city of San Francisco’s attempts to seize a portion of the national park in the nation’s first national environmental battle. We will discuss how losing this battle led to a lasting environmental victory (the creation of the National Park Service) and how they came to influence President Theodore Roosevelt, our greatest preservationist president, setting the stage for the modern environmental movement.