Sierra Club

Sierra Club, organization dedicated to protecting the natural environment and wildlife in the United States and throughout the world. The group educates people on how to conserve Earth’s ecosystems and resources to prevent wastefulness or destruction; lobbies for more legislation to preserve the environment; organizes conservation programs and hiking trips in many countries; and publishes books, calendars, and Sierra, a bimonthly magazine.

The Sierra Club has been instrumental in the designation and protection of several United States national parks and preserves, public land set aside by the Congress of the United States that has special scenic, historical, or scientific value, such as Yosemite National Park in California and Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. The organization has chapters throughout the United States and Canada.

The Sierra Club was founded in 1892 by a group of outdoor enthusiasts led by John Muir, a Scottish-American explorer, writer, and naturalist. In the early 1880s Muir published a series of articles in Century magazine, calling attention to the destruction that livestock caused to the meadows and forests of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in northern California. Muir and Robert Underwood Johnson, the associate editor of Century, proposed the designation of a national park to preserve part of the region. In response, the U.S. Congress created Yosemite National Park in 1890. Two years later Muir and other conservationists formed the Sierra Club to protect Yosemite and to promote preservation of America’s natural heritage. Muir served as president of the organization until 1914.