People from Around the USA
Inspired by John Muir

• John Phillips of Stockton, California, is a university professor who volunteers every year as a host at the LeConte Memorial Lodge in Yosemite Valley. He serves on the Sierra Club's Leconte Memorial Committee. Phillips is a steady, loyal member of Restore Hetch Hetchy. Phillips says that what he most appreciates about about Muir is that "Muir was so very energetic in his exploration of the mountains, and the whole world. He sought to enjoy nature, to understand it and to share his love and knowledge with whoever was willing to listen--and some who were NOT willing to listen!"

• Robert Morgan, of Bishop California, is an Outfitter and Guide in the High Sierra. Robert says, "I learned all about John Muir as a child growing up at Whitney Portal. I patterned my life after him and am a naturalist after him today. John Muir is a great person and made the kind of sacrifice for his love of the Sierra Nevada that inspires all of us today."

• Gregory J. Reis of Lee Vining, California is a mountaineer, naturalist, and information and Web and computer specialist. Reis has read most of Muir's books and journals and frequented many places Muir had traveled. He has duplicated Muir's first ascent of the Mountaineer's Route on Mt. Whitney, starting and finishing in the town of Independence. He aspires to duplicate some of Muir's other adventures, such as floating down the Sacramento River from Chico to Sacramento and climbing the Sutter Buttes on the way. Reis worked full time for the Mono Lake Committee. He once aintained a website dedicated to the Sustainable Use and Restoration of California's Natural Environments which included some of his favorite John Muir quotes.

• Timothy Farley of Nalcrest, Florida, says that Muir is important to him because of the Sierra Club, which he says "made me an environmentalist, informed me,educated me and inspired me....[offering] a chance to be part of a great group of thinking adults who want to leave the planet in, as close at they can, same or better shape they found it."

• Elizabeth Wasserman of Anchor Point, Alaska, is an Interpretive Ranger for Lake Clark, Kenai Fjords and Katmai National Parks. In preparing her public programs on glaciers, volcanoes, and bears, she frequently uses quotes from John Muir in her programs. Her favorite is "the world, though made, is yet being made." Wasserman says, "I am constantly amazed at Muir's ability to describe Nature with such accuracy and grace. It can only have come from his intimate relationship with it."

• David Acuff of San Diego, CA is a Professor of Environmental Studies. John Muir's biggest influence on Acuff was "The exuberance with which John Muir embraced all aspects of the wild." Acuff was a Sierra Club volunteer in the 1960's with Claire Dedrick in the San Francisco Bay area, working to establish the California Coastal Commission and the Bay Conservation Development Commission, and he designed and lobbied for the successful passage of SB 545 that provided state funding to purchase land for hiking trails linking San Francisco and Santa Cruz Counties through San Mateo County.

• Mark Miller, of Monona, Wisconsin, is a state legislator appointed for the term commencing in 2007 as chair of the Wisconsin State Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee. In commenting on the challenges his committee will be facing, Miller commented, "As heirs to the legacy of Wisconsin environmental leaders John Muir, Aldo Leopold, Warren Knowles, and Gaylord Nelson, we accept responsibility as environmental stewards to pass on a clean and healthy environment for current and future generations to enjoy."

• Steven Koehler, of Ogden, Utah, is a volunteer for Sierra Club who attributes the biggest influence of John Muir on him a strong desire to stop global warming and get Congress to pass legislation on alternative fuels. Steven says what he most appreciates about Muir is "his love of nature and God's hand in it."

• Andy Bratz from Wisconsin learned about John Muir from a park close to where he lives named after him. Inspired by Muir, Andy is a conservationist and naturalist. What he most appreciates about about Muir: "Conserving the earth and its bounty, protecting flora from overpopulating fauna."

• Mark Weber from California once lived in Pleasant Hill, California, when he first visited John Muir's home and grave site in 1975. He finally visited the beautiful Yosemite National Park for the first time in 1995, and he is grateful that John Muir fought for and saved Yosemite.

• Louis Chris Cashiola of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, has been greatly influenced by Muir's love and respect for the natural world. Muir's understanding of our relationship and direct connection to Nature has been the biggest influence of Muir on Mr. Cashiola. Cashiola, a retired attorney from the Army Judge Advocate Corps, says, "I am planning a walk to Crazy Horse Monument in South Dakota. I am calling it the "Spirit of North America Walk." I hope to bring attention to our need to return to a more harmonious relationship with Nature. John Muir has been one of the inspirations for this walk."

• Bob Hare of Elk Grove, California, is an artist, photographer and writer focusing on Yosemite, Redwoods, and the Sierra Nevada. At the age of fifteen Bob purchased the newly-minted 1964 U.S. postage stamp commemorating John Muir and immediately recognized a kindred soul and mentor in the picture of Muir holding a hiking staff while standing in a sunlit redwood forest. Over 40 years later, Bob is still exploring and gleaning lessons and inspiration from Muir's writings and life. Muir taught Bob to express deeply in writing and in art how he feel about wilderness. Bob worked as an interpreter for the National Park Service and California State Parks and led many adult and childrens' groups on Sierra Club outings. Bob planned and co-created many educational exhibits in California's State Parks and exhibited his art in numerous exhibits and galleries. Bob hopes he has passed on his love for the natural world to the adults and children who were on his outdoor trips and tours. Bob most appreciates Muir's "wonderful integration of his spiritual unity with nature and his mystical vision with his practical educational, organizational and political championing of nature."

• Scott Michael Graves of New Haven, CT is a Science and Environmental Educator, Geologist, Oceanographer, Naturalist, and university professor. His godmother was noted Yosemite author and Muir historian Shirley Sargent.As a child Graves visited her small log cabin home numerous summers, where "she would lead us (in her old fashion wheelchair) to special Yosemite haunts - Little Nelly Falls and other secret places... She knew all of Yosemite's rangers and was an authority on the park's history. She often spoke of John Muir and instilled in me a certain sense of awe and reverence for nature, especially an appreciation for the grandeur of the wild Sierra." Graves is inspired to live his life with the values of John Muir, who "blended an aesthetic, scientific, poetic appreciation with a deep rooted humility, and desire to preserve nature as "divine" creation." What Graves most appreciates about about Muir is "his own words - 'a poetico-trampo-geologist-botanist and ornithologist-naturalist, etc, etc!' He led by example and led many of us back into the mountains to learn again in nature's workshops."

• Christopher Chavez of Whittier, California is a substitute teacher, musician, and singer/songwriter. Christopher says that since he learned abou John Muir, "my life has never been the same." Muir has influenced Christopher "To conserve nature; To live in the wild; and to know that it's damn ok to have a beard." He most appreciates Muir's views and thoughts on such things as religion and nature. You can learn more about Christopher's music and interests on his MySpace page.

• Living People John Muir Influenced
• Famous People John Muir Influenced
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• People Important to John Muir Home

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