Bonnie Johanna Gisel

1948 -

Environmental Historian, Cultural/Religious/American Historian (nineteenth century), Environmental Educator. John Muir scholar and author.

Academic degrees: Ph.D. / M. Phil Drew University 1998/1994; M.Div. Harvard University 1991; M.F.A. Rochester Institute of Technology 1972; B.F.A. Daemen College 1970. Has served as adjunct or visiting professor at University of the Pacific, Drew University, and Green Mountain College.

Curator LeConte Memorial Lodge, (now the Yosemite Conservation Heritage Center) Sierra Club, Yosemite National Park - 2002 - present. In this capacity Bonnie created the following special programs, among others:
- Keeping a Nature Journal (PDF) by Bonnie Johanna Gisel, Ph.D. - Provides a template (PDF) for a simple 4-page (or 8 page) nature journal,
- Wilderness Quilt Project
- Words for Wilderness Around the World
- Green Shoes Project

Member Sierra Club John Muir Education Team , Sierra Club, 2001 - Present.

Interim Director of the John Muir Center for Environmental Studies, University of the Pacific, June 2000 - May 2001.

Coordinator, John Muir Conference, John Muir Family & Friends, University of the Pacific, Feather River Inn, May 2001.

Creator of John Muir Award, University of the Pacific, 2001, first awarded to Maymie B. Kimes.

2006 Recipient, John Muir Conservation Award, John Muir Association. Read Igor Skaradeoff's Introduction of Bonnie Gisel (illustrated) and her Acceptance Speech: Nature's Universal Abounding Glory. (off-site link to John Muir Global Network
In 2007, Bonnie appeared on the "California Gold" PBS television series"Yosemite's Buildings" by Huell Howser (off-site link)
In 2011, Bonnie was featured in an interview in the PBS documentary, John Muir in the New World. and was recognized in the Oakland Museum's special exhibition A Walk in the Wild: Continuing John Muir's Journey as a "Modern-Day-Muir."

Author:
- The Wilder Muir: The Curious Nature of John Muir (Yosemite Association, 2017), 23 writings by Muir, selected and introduced by Bonnie Gisel.
- Nature's Beloved Son: Rediscovering John Muir's Botanical Legacy wiith images by Stephen J. Joseph (Berkeley, Heyday Books, 2008).
- Kindred & Related Spirits: The Letters of John Muir and Jeanne C. Carr (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2001).
- LeConte Memorial Lodge: One Hundred Years of Public Service In Yosemite National Park by Bonnie Gisel. Presentation to California State Historic Resources Commission by Bonnie Johanna Gisel, Ph.D., Curator, LeConte Memorial Lodge, Sierra Club
- An Essay on John Muir's Phenomenal Science - in John Muir Newsletter (Fall-Winter 2011-2012).
- Meeting John Muir's Family, Friends, and Adventures: Between the Calypso borealis and the Araucaria imbricata: Introduction in John Muir: Family, Friends, and Adventures, eds. Sally M. Miller and Daryl Morrison (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2003).
- Acceptance Speech for 2006 John Muir Conservation Award: Nature's Universal Abounding Glory. (off-site link to John Muir Global Network
- "A Divine Wilderness Ramble: Jeanne Carr, John Muir, Tuolumne Canyon, the Sources of the Merced and San Joaquin: 1873," in John Muir: Family, Friends, and Adventures, eds. Sally M. Miller and Daryl Morrison (University of New Mexico Press, 2003).
- "Spiritual Intimacy: John Muir and Jeanne C. Carr," in John Muir in Historical Perspective, ed. Sally M. Miller (New York: Peter Lang, 1999).
- "Go to the Mountains! Helen Hunt Jackson," John Muir Newsletter (Fall 2002).
- "What Does Love Have To Do With It: Christian Propriety and Kindred Redemption," John Muir Newsletter 7 (Summer 1997).
- "Into the Sun: Jeanne C. Carr. A Woman's Experience in Nature and Wilderness in Nineteenth-Century America," Drew University, Ph.D. Dissertation, 1998.
- John Muir, the Sierra, Yosemite National Park & the Sierra Club by Bonnie J. Gisel, Ph.D., Curator, LeConte Memorial Lodge, A speech presented on the Occasion of the Sierra Club Resilient Habitats Campaign Retreat March 26 – 29, 2012, Clair Tappaan Lodge

For more information:
- Curator, LeConte Memorial Lodge
- LeConte Curator Raises Yosemite Visitors' "Environmental Quotient" by Karen Dusek
- LeConte Memorial Lodge: One Hundred Years of Public Service In Yosemite National Park - Presentation to California State Historic Resources Commission by Bonnie Johanna Gisel
- Living and Working in Yosemite with Green Shoes by Bonnie Gisel (from Sierra Club Stories
- John Muir's Botanical Travels - Radio Interview of Bonnie Gisel and Dean Taylor by Tom Ashbrok, On Point Radio (Boston NPR affiliate wbur.og)
- Bonnie Gisel Interview on Sierra Club Radio (mp3 (October 17, 2009) ) (15 MB)
- Bonnie Gisel Interview on View from the Pier by Meg Pier. (September, 2011)
- Alumni Profile, Bonnie Johanna Gisel ’70 - Daemen College Magazine - Bonnie credits the undergraduate college she attended for helping to nurture her artistic nature.

Photograph of Bonnie Gisel by Harold Wood

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