Politics Isn't Perfection

 Years ago our family visited Sequoia National Park and viewed the giant redwoods there, so wide.
This month we walked through Muir Woods National Monument, showcasing coastal redwoods, think: TALL.

While there we heard an amazing Ranger talk from Ranger Dan, and I've heard a lot over the years, about the founding of Muir Woods. This forest has never been milled, chiefly because of its location and geography, a large hill making it hard for primitive wagon transport to carry out trees. Natural limits protected it for centuries.

In 1905 William Kent spent $45,000, the equivalent of 1.26 million today, to purchase this forest and conserve its beauty. His wife Elizabeth Thatcher Kent, a committed suffragist, was not convinced the effort was worthwhile. He said it was worth his entire fortune to preserve.

The following year San Francisco suffered an earthquake and fire which destroyed the majority of the city. In their efforts to rebuild, the huge trees so close by seemed the perfect solution. The city sued Kent via eminent domain to take the land. Kent sees that he can’t win this fight, so he gives the land to the federal government. Teddy Roosevelt makes the space national monument. A national park designation requires the approval of Congress, but a president can create a national monument. The woods are saved!

Roosevelt wanted to name the space Kent Woods. I've never heard of this man, but he certainly deserved these woods he fought single-handedly to preserve to be named after him. However Kent insisted the woods be named after his friend John Muir, the father of the conservation movement. He thought it improper to name it after himself, as if he were purchasing a legacy for himself. So his name slides into obscurity, except when park visitors stop to listen to Ranger Dan.

Here's the twist in the story. William Kent ran for political office on an anti-immigration stand. For many people today, someone so pro-environment would attract their vote, but they would be put off by his stand against immigration. Others would want to vote for his anti-immigration stand, but be frustrated that he championed public lands and conservation.

Years later in 1945 when the United Nations delegation met in the United States to organize, they visited Muir Woods.  They honored the memory of Frankin Roosevelt, who had died a month before, and who believed that the principles of conserving natural resources contributed to world peace.

Few politicians agree fully with our preferences, we have to make hard choices. I am grateful for the
choices William Kent made to preserve such a beautiful place as Muir Woods, where the very air breathes peace.