A Value Beyond the Aesthetics
During that trip, he convinced the president to return Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove to federal protection as part of Yosemite National Park. The trip would have a lasting impact on the president. Roosevelt went on to declare five national parks; signed the landmark Antiquities Act and used its special provisions to create 18 national monuments, including the Grand Canyon unilaterally; set aside 51 federal bird sanctuaries, four national game refuges, and more than 100 million acres' worth of national forests.
John Muir's fear for the National Parks system was that "nothing dollarable is safe." He
