Date: June 27, 2013
Contact: Jim MacDonald, 925-228-8860 ext. 6621
Starting in May, the National Park Service began hosting a series of guest speakers to explore John Muir’s modern legacy. The series continues on Sunday, July 14, 2013 with special guest Anthony Garvin, who will screen his documentary film In Search of John Muir at 2 PM at the John Muir National Historic Site (NHS) Visitor Center. In addition to showing the hour-long film, Garvin will speak about his experience following in Muir’s footsteps while creating the documentary.
The film traces the life and legacy of John Muir, America’s most famous naturalist and conservationist. Narrator and producer Garvin blends footage of Scotland, the Sierra Nevadas and Alaska with historic photographs and images of Muir’s writings and sketches.
Muir’s significance is described through interviews of rangers from John Muir NHS and Yosemite National Park; the curator of the John Muir papers from the Holt-Atherton Collection at the University of the Pacific; the curator of the Jepson Herbarium; and Bonnie Gisel, Ph.D, a nationally recognized author, Muir historian, and curator of the Sierra Club Le Conte Lodge in Yosemite.
Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest amid the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges, Garvin developed a close affinity for wilderness in his youth, which is embodied in his films and landscape photography. Garvin has worked as an environmental attorney for the EPA, the University of California, and in private practice for more than 40 years.
An avid traveler, Garvin has hiked and photographed in national parks in the U.S. and in Argentina, Canada, Chile, Nepal, and New Zealand. Through his films and photographs, Garvin strives to convey the awe he feels when surrounded by wilderness. Garvin has spent the last 36 years in California, where he enjoys hiking and backpacking.
Created in 1964, John Muir NHS preserves the home, landscapes, and gravesite of conservationist and national park advocate John Muir. Mt. Wanda preserves 326 acres of grasslands and oak woods that Muir set aside more than a century ago. John Muir NHS, located at 4202 Alhambra Avenue, Martinez, CA 94553, is open five days a week, Wednesday through Sunday, from 10 AM to 5 PM. Admission to the site and this event are free of charge. For more information, please visit the park website at www.nps.gov/jomu or call (925) 228-8860.
