Facts -1838-1914 - He was originally from Dunbar, Scotland and moved to the U.S. at the age of 11. - He helped to create several National Parks, including Yosemite, Sequoia, Mount Rainier, Petrified Forest, and Grand Canyon National Park. - Founded the Sierra Club - Self - taught as a young boy and later went to college - He liked to invent things and as a young boy created an early rising machine to help him get up early.  This was so he could read and study before doing his daily chores. - Working in a factory he lost his eyesight temporarily in an accident.  While blind, he made a promise to devote his life to studying nature if his eyesight ever returned.  It did, and he spent the rest of his life with nature. - He wrote many many books.  Many are taken from the journals he kept in the wild. - John Muir has been so influential he has been named Californian of the Year several times.  Even California's new state quarter coming out in the 2005 will feature him on it.

From an early age, Muir loved the outdoors, but hard work gave him little opportunity to spend much time in the natural world. A serious injury at the age of 29 caused Muir to turn to nature. He walked a thousand miles from the Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico. From there, he sailed, walked and rode through much of Central America and California. Ultimately, it was the Sierra Nevada and Yosemite that became his spiritual home. He once called the Sierra "the most divinely beautiful of all the mountain chains I have ever seen."

Throughout his life, Muir traveled and wrote extensively on what he saw. His focus was not just on the beauty of the wonderful places he visited, but also on the risk of their destruction. A series of articles pointed out the losses caused by unrestrained grazing, logging and overuse.

His writings and beliefs ultimately reached the eyes and ears of decision makers. Muir became a major proponent and ultimately the "father of the National Park system," with a personal hand in the creation of Yosemite, Sequoia, Mount Rainier, Petrified Forest and Grand Canyon National Parks. In 1892, he joined with friends to form the Sierra Club, now one of America's largest environmental groups. He invited President Theodore Roosevelt to tour Yosemite with him and encouraged Roosevelt to protect additional parks, forests and wildlife refuges.

Today, as much as when legislation was passed to create Yosemite, we need to remember Muir's call to protect wild places. He profoundly believed that preserving natural areas nurtured the human spirit as well. I hope you will join me in celebrating the birth and legacy of the American visionary, John Muir."

--Senator Barbara Boxer

*taken from the John Muir Project website