Muir wanted his readers to appreciate the wonders of the American wilderness and then to join him in the fight for their preservation in a system of national parks that would provide sources of inner renewal for future generations. In the process Muir made important contributions to knowledge in botany, glaciology, and geomorphology--making links between them that anticipated what is now known as the science of ecology. He also, first as a diarist of Yosemite Valley and much later as a writer of books, brought urban audiences on both the East and West coasts in touch with the remarkable natural processes to be observed in wildness at a time when the American frontier had been declared closed. Muir's notion that the most distinctive wild landscapes should be protected from commercial exploitation as "parks" for the nation's future recreation has often been described as one of America's gifts to the world. The campaigning purpose of Muir's writing, together with his formation of the Sierra Club to endorse and monitor the new Yosemite National Park, has led to his being widely regarded as the founding father of the American conservation movement.
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