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In 1889 he initiated a movement to preserve the [[sequoias]] in the Yosemite Valley and the surrounding area. His efforts influenced Congress to pass the Yosemite National Park bill (1890), which established the Yosemite and Sequoia national parks. He also influenced President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] to set aside national monuments, national forest reserves, and national parks.

In 1889 he initiated a movement to preserve the [[sequoias]] in the Yosemite Valley and the surrounding area. His efforts influenced Congress to pass the Yosemite National Park bill (1890), which established the Yosemite and Sequoia national parks. He also influenced President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] to set aside national monuments, national forest reserves, and national parks.

In 1897 President Grover Cleveland created thirteen forest reservations comprising more than twenty-one million acres; lumber companies immediately nullify the reserves by congressional action. Muir fought a holy battle against the lumberman, portraying it as a contest "between landscape righteousness and the devil." In two brilliant magazine articles, one in ''Harper's Weekly'' (June 5, 1897), entitled "Forest Reservations and National Parks," the other in the ''Atlantic Monthly'' (August 1897) on "The American Forests,"<ref>[ http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABK2934-0080-19 Muir, "The American Forests," online]</ref> Muir turned the tide of public sentiment. Muir's style rose to the impassioned oratory of a Hebrew prophet arraigning wickedness in high places and preaching the sacred duty of so using the country we live in that we may not leave it ravished by greed and ignorance, but may pass it on to future generations undiminished in richness and beauty. Muir had now become the acknowledged leader of the environmental movement in the United States.

In 1897 President Grover Cleveland created thirteen forest reservations comprising more than twenty-one million acres; lumber companies immediately nullify the reserves by congressional action. Muir fought a holy battle against the lumberman, portraying it as a contest "between landscape righteousness and the devil." In two brilliant magazine articles, one in ''Harper's Weekly'' (June 5, 1897), entitled "Forest Reservations and National Parks," the other in the ''Atlantic Monthly'' (August 1897) on "The American Forests,"<ref>[http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABK2934-0080-19 Muir, "The American Forests," online]</ref> Muir turned the tide of public sentiment. Muir's style rose to the impassioned oratory of a Hebrew prophet arraigning wickedness in high places and preaching the sacred duty of so using the country we live in that we may not leave it ravished by greed and ignorance, but may pass it on to future generations undiminished in richness and beauty. Muir had now become the acknowledged leader of the environmental movement in the United States.

Muir was a bitter enemy of the Hetch Hetchy dam, but was overruled by Roosevelt. Although it supplies most of San Francisco's water supply, the Sierra Club proposed to dynamite it.

Muir was a bitter enemy of the Hetch Hetchy dam, but was overruled by Roosevelt. Although it supplies most of San Francisco's water supply, the Sierra Club proposed to dynamite it.