John Muir Newsletter, Winter 1993

John Muir Newsletter winter 1993 university of the pacific volume 3, number 1 THE 1992 JOHN MUIR WRITING CONTEST A GLORIOUS »3 \J v^ \s JtL/»J»3 Last year we launched our own writer\u27s contest for Muir aficionados, hoping not only to promote Muir\u27s environmental message but also to have some fun trying to emulate his evocative writing style. The results exceeded our expectations. Out of nearly two dozen entries, our panel of judges from the English Department at UOP awarded four prizes, one from the Young Sequoia (young adult) category and three from the Old Yosemite (adult) division. The winners and their entries are produced below. Each received a special certificate and a one- year subscription to the John Muir Newsletter. We congratulate them for their achievement, and we encourage them to continue to cultivate their writing talents. Hopefully you will see more of their work in future issues of this Newsletter. If you think this contest worthwhile, we would appreciate hearing from you. Should this become an annual event? Send your thoughts to Sally M. Miller, editor, in care of the John Muir Center for Regional Studies, UOP. SIERRA SPRING by Marilyn B. Atkinson, Grass Valley (First Place winner, Adult Category) As one wakens in the early morning to the sweet smell of the newly blossomed wild roses, it is difficult to imagine Heaven being any more perfect than this. The nearby waterfall tumbles down, singing as it goes, inviting one to indulge in the luxury of its glorious shower. The roses are a pageant of unsurpassed beauty ... some dark rose and some light pink and the lovely mountain spiraea is wakening, its blossoms beginning to open. The modest little Creamberry is showing promise of what will soon be a carpet of cream, looking for all the world as if some ungainly giant had spilled a huge cream pitcher over the woodlands. From a mountain meadow far below us comes the faint music of distant cow bells and from the tree above us comes the merry music of squirrels chattering. Adding to this harmonious chorus is the sweet, melodious song of the mountain chickadee. Sierra Spring is the loveliest of all times and places. The pine thicket where I had blissfully slept is still full of wonderfully spicy odors. Though I know the beauty I will discover in my travels today will equal that which I am now leaving, I still find it difficult to leave this lovely mountain bower. As I go on my way, headed for the big trees, my eagerness at once again seeing these mighty monarchs of the forest grows. As I travel I am once again struck by the never-ending diversity of this Sierra Nevada wonderland. How lucky I am to be able to live it and love it for what it is ... Mother Nature\u27s masterpiece. VIRGIN FOREST by Val Chappel, Martinez, CA (Second Place winner, Adult Category) I stand alone in the heart of Prairie Creek Redwood State Park...a cathedral of worshipping giants, their upper arms outstretched so high I barely see them lacy against blue sky. A diversity of ferns greet me as I walk — bracken, silvery glade and false lilies, creeping ground cover. Redwood violets climb striated tree trunks, while rhododendron and vine maples reach ever higher under the graceful canopy provided by postured virgins holding up their vessels to be filled with light. For a thousand years they have kept their vigil, suffering every blow of nature: fires, violent storms from the sea, flooding waters eating at their base. Aptly named sequoia sempervirens , they survive, sprouting new growth from old wounds ... I quietly accept their wisdom. This is hallowed ground, hushed and still. The silence is magnified by moss-cushioned huge broken stumps from whose heart may sprout different trees and forest plants, like flowers from a pot. I step inside one old hulk of bark, long ago fire-gutted, and looking up, see the sky through its chimney. But listen! Is it the falling of a leaf? A soft rustle under a bush where some small unseen creature seeks a deeper shade, from which to watch us unobserved? The faint breath of a sea breeze moving through the tree-tops? These tiny sounds from the stillness are like whispers from God, inviting us to listen. by Kimberly Ingals Borrowdale, Goleta, CA (Third Place winner, Adult category) Morning; October. On the beach near the east end of Goleta Slough, not far from where the slough pours into the Pacific. I am about six feet away from the water of the slough, which is perhaps thirty feet across at this point. On the other side a large dead branch sticks horizontally out of the cliff face, about ten feet above the level of the water. On the branch are five Brown Pelicans. They mostly just sit with their bills pointed down, slowly moving their heads back and forth. I assume they are looking for fish because every few minutes one dives, beak first, wings up and back, into the slough, and comes out with his head thrown back, looking like he\u27s trying to swallow. Then he takes off, his feet skipping through the water for a few wing beats, and flies a lazy circle to land back on the branch. He carefully keeps his wings extended while he clumsily turns around on the branch to look back into the water—large webbed feet are not the best for perching. The branch dips and sways each time one of the pelicans lands, gently bouncing the others. They try to groom themselves with their long beaks, and make little clacking noises, and balance themselves carefully to scratch their heads with their giant feet. Their wingbeats are loud, and their feathers rustle when they spread their wings for balance when hopping from the upper fork of the branch to the lower. Once in a while one of them makes a dive close enough to me and facing me that I can see a flash of silver that is the fish, and water being expelled from the end and sides of the bill. NEW ENVIRONMENTAL DIRECTORY NOW AVAILABLE California Environmental Directory: a Guide to Organizatons and Resources. 5th edition. A systematic, detailed guide to governmental agencies, university programs, and major associations. Nearly 1,000 entries. ISBN 0-912102-98-5. Regular price: $40.00. Special price for public, academic, and governmental libraries and public-interest groups: $25.00. Order from the Caifornia Institute of Public Affairs, 517 19th Street, P.O. Box 189040, Sacramento, CA 95818. JOHN Mum. ivn, waL*n,i mR VOL. Ill, #1 (NEW SERIES) WINTER, 1993 Published quarterly by the John Muir Center for Regional Studies, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA 95211 Editor Center Director Staff © Sally M. Miller R.H. Limbaugh This Newsletter is printed on recycled paper. MUIR IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST Northwest Passages: From the Pen of John Muir in California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska, introduction by Scott Lankford. Palo Alto, CA: Tioga Publishing Company, 1988. (Order from Tioga Publishing Co., P.O. Box 50490, Palo Alto, CA 94303.) Reviewed by Abraham Hoffman, Book Editor, The Californians What better way to introduce someone to John Muir than by presenting him or her with a gift of selections from John Muir\u27s writings, reasonably priced in a hard-backed edition and illustrated with the woodcuts of graphic designer Andrea Hendrick? Add to this a knowledgeable introduction by Muir scholar Scott Lankford, and you have the makings, with some limitations, of a sense of the timelessness of Muir\u27s descriptions of mountains, woods, and glaciers. Lankford\u27s introduction argues for the significance of 1888 as a watershed year in Muir\u27s life. Having become husband, father, and property owner, by the late 1880s Muir had gone stale. Even his health had declined. Louie Muir, John\u27 wife, was astute enough to understand the problem. Lankford credits Mrs. Muir with literally ordering her husband out of the house and onto a prolonged trip through the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. This was the trip that renewed Muir\u27s dedication to wilderness, set his pen flowing again, and energized him into becoming an environmental activist in the years that followed. THE ERNESS LIFE by Sarah C. Grant, Grass Valley, CA (First Place winner, Young Adult category) The looming cliff rises silently, as if it had once been a toy block, left over from a gigantic child\u27s playtime. Rugged and beautiful, the cliff stands above a shadow-filled forest, seeming to mock all those around it. Inside the forest, trees rustle and sway gently in the autumn breeze. Already their leaves are changing with the season\u27s delightful kiss. An array of orange, red and yellow hues float lightly to the moist ground. A deer springs softly over the brown meadow and disappears into the forest foliage. Not far behind is her fawn, flashing his white tail in ecstasy. I watch this, hardly daring to breathe, knowing that an outsider such as myself could very easily disturb Mother Nature\u27s beauty. I glance down into the slow- moving stream before me, and I am just in time to see a silvery fish jump to catch a flying insect. The ripples made by its sudden movement cause the reflected trees to dance a slow waltz. The trout sinks back into the cool water, the sun flashing off its iridescent skin. This wilderness of life beckons to me, calls to me to come inside and enjoy. I want to, but I dare not. For I am a human, and some places should not be touched by human hands. So I will go now, and leave this place to those who own it. The trees, the cliff, the stream, the deer, the fish—they belong there, I do not. Quietly I walk away, back to my home, back to civilization. Muir\u27s writings on California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska appear here as brief excerpts, the longest of which is his description of his climb of Mt. Rainier. These writings are presented as fine printing on 70 lb. paper with numerous attractive woodcuts by Hendrick. However attractive the format, there are, as noted, some problems with this volume. One may get the impression from the introduction that the writings all stem from Muir\u27s 1888 journey. This isn\u27t true as most of the excerpts come from books published years later, even posthumously. No attribution is given to specific passages other than a general section label of the name of the state. So a reader interested in following up on the excerpts faces quite a chore in locating their sources. Some passages are so short as to be quotations rather than excerpts. The book is unpaginated, giving it a suspicious resemblance to those Hallmark love/poetry books which lovers buy for each other. The book may therefore be a nice gift from one lover of Muir to another, as an expression of love. Best to read the excerpts to each other aloud in front of a fire on a cold winter\u27s night. NATIVE AMERICAN AWARD ESTABLISHED A Risling Intertribal Award has been established at the University of California, Davis, in honor of David Risling, Jr. (Hupa, Yurok, Karok). A nationally-known Indian rights activist and educator, Risling is retiring from the Native American Studies Program on the Davis campus. The award, to be funded by private contributions, will be used for scholarships to help Native American students. Donations are urgently needed. Send your contributions, payable to the Regents of the University of California, to Dr. Jack D. Forbes, Director, Native American Studies, University of California, Davis, 95616- 8667. GORE\u27 S BOOK AND THE CLINTON WHITE HOUSE Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit. Boston:Houghton-Mifflin Company, 1992. Reviewed by Harlan Hague Vice President Al Gore\u27s Earth in the Balance is the most important book on the environment to date, and it could be one of the most important books of the century. This is an impassioned plea for the land, written by a well- informed lifelong environmentalist. A professional politician, Gore lays much of the blame for what has gone wrong at the feet of politicians. He faults Congress for failing to make intelligent, long-term choices and particularly castigates former President Bush for his failure to lead. Gore also blames environmental degradation on the yardsticks by which we measure what is good for us. In Balance at Risk, the first of three parts, Gore tells what is wrong: overpopulation, global-warming, pollution, deforestation, solid waste, and the decline of germplasm stocks. Woven throughout this section is the specter of global warming, which Gore calls the most serious threat that we have ever faced. In Part II, The Search for Balance, the author analyzes the problems identified in Part I and tells what needs to be done to restore balance. His analysis is thoughtful, although sometimes convoluted. He makes a compelling case for a new economic system which reflects the effects of our actions of the environment. The GNP, or example, must include not only the value of a wheat crop, but also negative values assigned to erosion of the wheat field, silting of nearby streams, and the cumulative poisoning of the field by pesticides. Gore places man within nature, although obsessed to control it. He rejects the views of the Deep Ecologists that man is apart from nature, a cancer that threatens the earth. He also disputes the claim that the Judeo-Christian tradition is at the root of our misuse of the land. That interpretation, he argues, misreads the scripture and overlooks the biblical emphasis on stewardship. He holds that most religions indeed have shown great reverence for the earth. Part III, Striking the Balance, is the heart of the book, for here Gore describes bis plan for saving the global environment. He argues that Americans have shown before how vigorously they can fight for freedom and human dignity, as in the crusades against Naziism and communism. Gore sees the struggle to save the environment as an extension of that spirit. The Vice President proposes a Global Marshall Plan. Rational, revolutionary, and mind-boggling, the plan consists of six parts. First, stabilization of world population through literacy and educational programs. Second, development of environmentally appropriate technologies to be shared among all nations. Japan is already taking the lead here, using technologies developed in the United States, but ignored by American government and industry. Third, creation of an economic system that assigns value to ecological consequences of actions. The new system would involve creditor nations forgiving debt in return for enforceable agreements by debtor nations to preserve their environments in some specified manner. Forth, negotiation of international agreements to make the global plan work. Fifth, development of a cooperative plan for educating the world\u27s peoples about the global environment. And, sixth, establishment of political and social conditions necessary for the creation of sustainable national societies. The Global Marshall Plan which Gore sketches would be similar in intent and structure to the original Marshall Plan, but immeasurably more critical. Unlike the original plan, the global plan could not be financed principally by the United States, but by Japan, Europe, and the affluent oil-rich nations. Gore urges the United Nations immediately to set up a Stewardship Council to deal with threats to the global environment, much as the Security Council deals with threats to peace. President Clinton has his blueprint for an environmental policy. It remains to be seen whether this clear, rational plan to save the global environment will survive the inevitable head-on clash with political and economic demands, the limited imagination of small men and women, and the furies of a troubled world. Al Gore has written a classic. Those who cherish the land will hope more books and more action will follow. RETRACING MUIRS ALASKA TRAVELS Stalking the Ice Dragon: An Alaskan Journey, by Susan Zwinger. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1991. Reviewed by Ann Ronald, Dean of College of Arts and Science, University of Nevada-Reno. With an itinerary as broad as her imagination, and with a copy of John Muir\u27s Travels in Alaska near at hand, Susan Zwinger spent the late summer and early fall of 1987 exploring the Alaskan landscape. Stalking the Ice Dragon describes that journey, a journey taken alone through geological and psychological terrain that Muir, on the one hand, would have found intriguing and, on the other, a real puzzle. I follow Muir, Zwinger says, although someone reading them both would add but not in his footsteps. Some similarities are obvious. Ostensibly, Zwinger likes to travel alone. She pushes the outer limits of her capabilities, daring to drive solo along the often dangerous Haul Road or challenging the solitary heights of a glacier basin just before a September storm. Mountain-climbing is the process of constant revelation of those things higher, she writes in the midst of a fine descriptive passage. I know that Muir would have agreed. Zwinger\u27s intellectual interests coincide with Muir\u27s too. Geology fascinates her, so the reader learns a lot about glaciation, plate tectonics, vulcanism, and the rhythmic cycles of geologic evolution. She cares about environmental issues. Whether worrying about oil spills, or fretting about the impact of strip mining, or bemoaning the death of an ecosystem, she keeps her eye on the power of man to change the land. The planet is so small that we devour the world, she laments. Just as John Muir would have applauded her motives, he would have admired her directness and approved of her indignation. He would have appreciated her writing style, too, as when she characterizes her technique by saying, Journals act as rope bridges or, as in mine, a free rappel, over chasms. In the abstract, Susan Zwinger\u27s writing would have pleased John Muir enormously. In truth, though, I think that this book might have made him terribly uneasy. Its pace is fast, the gait of a twentieth- century tourist in a pickup truck. There are intellectual pauses, to be sure—descriptive passages, scientific data collection and interpretation, late-night contemplations. I learned a lot, but I learned it \u27on the move.\u27 People come and go as well. While Zwinger\u27s personal odyssey is a solitary one, she makes a special point of talking with people along the way. Her solitude, like her pace, is peculiarly twentieth century. She touches this place and that life much too hastily for a nineteenth-century wilderness traveller. John Muir, of course, would have found antithetical the whole idea of a single female sojourner. Much as he might admire her fortitude, Zwinger\u27s motivation would surely have escaped him. Nonetheless, I think he would have enjoyed her adventure. Indeed, anyone who appreciates today\u27s quite different generation of environmental writers will find pleasure in Stalking the Ice Dragon. Well-written, provocative, imaginative and perceptive, Susan Zwinger\u27s book takes us to a contemporary Alaska and an intrapersonal landscape that I find worth the visit. CELEBRATE MUIR DAY Once again, California public schools will be observing John Muir Day on April 21, the one-hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of his birth. If you are interested in publicizing John Muir Day, there are several possible activities you might pursue. First, you could write for a copy of the governor\u27s John Muir Day Proclamation which is suitable for display at schools, libraries, city halls, or other public places. Write to Governor Pete Wilson, State Capitol, Sacramento, CA 94109. As another activity, readers might ask their County Boards of Supervisors or City Councils or Mayors to issue a John Muir Day Proclamation locally. For sample forms, contact the Sierra Club Mineral King Group, % Environmental Education Committee, P.O. Box 3543, Visalia, CA 93278. As another possibility, readers might themselves arrange to sponsor a John Muir Day celebration at schools, libraries, community centers or other public places. Possible activities would include showing an appropriate video, putting on a skit about John Muir, or having a speaker on some environmentally- related subject. The possibilities are endless. Contact people for additional information are Mike Stone (209- 734-7362) and Harold Wood (209-739-8527). LUTHER BURBANK HOME TOURS The Burbank home and garden in Santa Rosa offers guided tours Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. from April 1 to October 31. For more information call (707) 524-5445. JOHN MUIR ON CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE Muir scholars may be unaware that Muir wrote extensively on California agriculture, for he published less than he wrote. One important unpublished manuscript is a revealing document that should not be overlooked. Simply titled California Agriculture, it can be found in the John Muir Papers (Microfilm reel 39 at frame 06679). Prepared in the late 1870s and later revised, it describes farm practices in California, with some remarks on agriculture in Utah and other parts of the Great Basin. Muir recognized that the great agricultural potential of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys rested on two vital resources: soil and water. The rich alluvial soil of the Central Valley was deep, relatively flat, and easily accessible by water and land transport. Even more important was the water supplied by the Sierra Nevada. Muir was one of the first regional observers to recognize the hydro- logical relationship between mountain and valley. He predicted a bounteous future for California farmers, provided they see to it that the forests on which the regular and manageable flow of the rivers depend are preserved. But he also recognized the need for large- scale irrigation projects, the kind later developed by the Bureau of Reclamation and the State of California. His essay encouraged the development of storage reservoirs... a