"Any fool can destroy trees. They cannot run away; and if they could, they would still be destroyed-- chased and hunted down as long as fun or a dollar could be got out of their bark hides, branching horns, or magnificent bole backbones- In this quote John Muir portrays trees as animals and makes the reader acknowledge that trees and thus nature will soon become instinct. The comparison above makes people from different society statures equally understand what it is to destroy nature and how important it is to preserve it. "American Forests", an essay by John Muir, led President Cleveland to immediate action. As a result President Cleveland created 13 Forest Reserves and established what is now: the United States Forest Service.
John Muir influenced the large-scale conservation program that was initiated by President Theodore Roosevelt, who in 1903 accompanied Muir on a camping trip to the Yosemite region. While camping with John Muir, President Roosevelt noted "I was interested and a little surprised to find that, unlike John Burroughs, John Muir cared little for birds or bird songs, and knew little about them. The hermit-thrushes meant nothing to him, the trees and flowers and the cliffs everything". During the camping trip in Yosemite territory with John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt acknowledged the true lust, appreciation, and respect that John Muir has for nature. After John Muir's death President Theodore Roosevelt made reflections in his admiration on John Muir in a piece called "An Appreciation". In this piece of writing the President recognized the significance of John Muir's work and the change that he brought upon the nation.
"He was emphatically a good citizen. Not only are his books delightful, not only is he the author to whom all men turn when they think of the Sierras and northern glaciers, and the giant trees of the California slope, but he was also - what few nature lovers are - a man able to influence contemporary thought and action on the subjects to which he had devoted his life.