Yosemite-Mariposa-Tuolumne "John Muir Highway" for Geotourism!
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Updates & events
More information is currently available about all aspects of the Historic John Muir Route from a dedicated web site for the John Muir Highway Geotourism Project -- www.johnmuirhighway.net . Event, news and schedule information for the Annual John Muir Highway Festival will be updated and posted there as well details about the Geotourism Project expansion. It will also have a graphic site map linked to places of interest, scheduled events and community involvement for the project underway to gain approval for a legislative amendment to have California State Highway 132 named as John Muir Highway from the Highway 99 interchange in Modesto to the connection with Highway 120 at Smith Station Road. This is a citizen initiated project with written letters of support from the following organizations listed below in addition to the numerous organizations, government leaders, tourism experts, individuals and admirers of John Muir and his legacy in the Sierra Foothills who have voiced their interest in the success of this proposal.
Yosemite/Mariposa Tourism Bureau
Mariposa County Chamber of Commerce
Mariposa Economic Development Corporation
Bill Hanna, Executor of the Muir-Hanna Estate ( www.muir-hanna.com )
Northern Yosemite Corridor Partners ( http://www.nycpi.info/index.html )
Yosemite Chamber of Commerce
Mariposa Board of Supervisors ( Oct 20, 2009)
Tuolumne County Visitor Bureau
Tuolumne Board of Supervisors (April 6, 2010)
Links to related events leading up to the creation of the Historic John Muir Route...
John Muir Symposium
Hosted by the John Muir Center at the University of the Pacific April 23-24, 2010 - Professor Swagerty, Shan Sutton & the talented team at the University of the Pacific put together a superb roster of speakers. Networking with botanists, Muir family & scholars and the Sierra Club web/education expert will lead to expanded cooperation for preserving the ecosystems, communities and cultural heritage benefits of a geotourism trip to Yosemite Valley along the John Muir Highway.
Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors approved the naming of John Muir Highway for the continuation from the Mariposa County line to Highway 120 on April 6, 2010. See Motherlode for report.
John Muir Highway Ribbon Cutting & Festival is set for June 5th starting from Coulterville, CA. For times and event details keep an eye on the Yosemite-Mariposa County Tourism site and the National Geographic Sierra Nevada Geotourism site for John Muir Highway.
On February 10, 2010
Meeting with Tuolumne Supervisor John Gray & Mariposa Supervior Lyle Turpin seeking Tuolumne BOS support to join in the ribbon cutting ceremony and John Muir Highway Festival by designating the remainder of J132 for John Muir Highway to Smith Station Road. Tuolumne County Visitor Bureau has voted unanimously in support of seeking acceptance of this proposed naming.
On October 24, 2009
The nomination to include the recently designated John Muir Highway segment on the National Geographic Geotourism site for Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada is now posted at the following url ( add your supporting comments to be sure this nomination is approved for the online and printed map to be created soon ).
Geotourism Nomination Site for John Muir Highway
On October 20, 2009
At a meeting held in the Greeley Hill Community Club Center, Approval of J132 for the John Muir Highway designation from Coulterville to the Mariposa County line was unanimously passed by the Board of Supervisors.
On September 29, 2009
Meeting with District Office Managers for Assemblyman Berryhill, State Senator Cogdill and Congressman Radanovich's office seeking guidance on the feasibility of John Muir Highway proposal. Necessary steps to gaining support from the legislature included 1) Approval of J132 as John Muir Highway designation from Coulterville to the Mariposa County line by the Board of Supervisors; and, 2) a vote of support for the corridor proposal by Tuolumne County BOS for the portion of Hwy 132 in Tuolumne County. Both of these steps seeking approval are being pursued.
On September 27, 2009
Ken Burn's The National Parks: America's Best Idea series premiered on PBS last night --- www.pbs.org/nationalparks/ --- and featured much of the history of America's and the world's conservation movement that was so heavily influenced by the Yosemite Valley. Lincoln, Roosevelt, Olmstead and especially John Muir were chronicled in this first segment that included the reference to Muir's first walk "into the wild" when he left San Francisco and headed through our area and up to Yosemite for the first time. It is encouraging to see Burn's acknowledging the vision of Jefferson about America, the individual and freedom intertwined with Muir's awe of God's natual creation. The rest is history and we look forward to watching Burn's chronicle it in his much acclaimed documentary film.
On August 19, 2009,
www.SierraNevadaGeotourism.org went live on August 19th, and nominations ( it looks like multiple recommendations are being accepted for individual nominations) can be submitted online here. Unfortunately, the current (9-26-09) map they are using does not show Highway 132 --- the future John Muir Highway --- unless you drill down almost to the street level of Coulterville. This is unacceptable because it deprives web and Yosemite visitors the view of how to follow Muir's My First Summer in the Sierra on that portion of the road passing through our region.
National Geographic Traveler Magazine's Geotourism ---
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/sustainable/about_geotourism.html
Alex McInturf's 2009 John Muir tribute by rewalking the route to Yosemite ---
http://muirwalk.blogspot.com/
On June 28th, 2009, Visited with Bill Hanna at the new Muir-Hanna Wine Tasting store in Murphy's. We had a chance to chat about the progress for the naming proposal and several aspects of interest from the biography of John Muir by Donald Worster.
On June 10th, 2009,, Attended the Geotourism planning meeting for the Yosemite National Park Gateway Partners hosted by Brad Cleveland to plan for the joint web site development project by National Geographic, the Sierra Business Council and the Sierra Nevada Conservancy. A mock up of how John Muir Highway and John Muir Trails that I have proposed to have integrated into that regional web site, currently in preliminary design phase discussions, will be provided at a later date under a separate tab labeled Geotourism as a subfolder of John Muir Highway updates.
On May 7th, 2009, Attended the Aurora Forum lecture series for Donald Worster's Passion for Nature: Exploring the Life of John Muir and found it much more than worth the drive down to Palo Alto from Birders Homestead. In reply to my email to Mr. Worster, he shared his perspectives on the John Muir Highway naming proposal and how the Highway 132 route appears to the traveler's eye on the way to Yosemite National Park, ---
"when it rises into the foothills, it gets better and better. I love that foothills landscape and hope that your highway designation project will do much to protect and preserve it in the future. For a state so overloaded with population, California remains a remarkably open, natural, and lovely state over much of its extent. You are fortunate to live where you are and admirable in your determination to bring others there to see and protect also."
On April 16 , 2009, Presented the John Muir Highway proposal to the Tuolumne County Visitors Bureau.
On March 25, 2009, Received a letter of support from the Yosemite Chamber of Commerce.
On March 10, 2009, Appointed as a voting member representing the Mariposa County Chamber of Commerce on the Mariposa County Agricultural Tourism Advisory Committee. Because the predominant classification for private land in Mariposa County is zoned AE (Agricultural Exclusive -- with the agritourism permitted use currently in a temporarily suspended status), this policy determination for tourism, agritourism and geotourism will be vital to the establishment of a regional geotourism strategy for the Yosemite National Park Gateway communities.
On March 6, 2009, Participated in the CTTC Sustainable Tourism Roundtable in Sacramento. Both regional geotourism and the John Muir Highway naming proposal were topics I discussed as a member of the Sustainable Tourism Roundtable.
On February 17, 2009, I delivered a presentation to the Tuolumne Board of Supervisors requesting a letter of support for the naming of Highway 132 as John Muir Highway. A brief summary appeared in the Motherlode online paper. I am currently working toward gaining statements of support from Tuolumne government, tourism and community organizations for this proposal.
http://mymotherlode.com/News/article/kvml/1234926957
On January 22, 2009, Met with fellow Yosemite National Park Gateway Partner members after a presentation requesting support for the naming of Highway 132 as John Muir Highway. Several organizations and individuals have endorsed this effort as a result.
On January 15 & 16, Introduced the John Muir Highway naming proposal during my participation in the CTTC Cultural Heritage Symposium held in Ventura, CA. The National Geographic Traveler Magazine discussion of geotourism was especially encouraging to hear. Honoring a founder of the world wide conservation movement, John Muir, while nurturing a geotourism approach to Yosemite regional tourism holds great potential.
On August 8, 2008, after a presentation on the value and merits of this naming Highway 132 ( from Modesto at the Hwy 99 Interchange through J 132 to Hwy 120 ) as John Muir Highway, the Mariposa Board of Supervisors voted in favor (5-0) of pursuing this concept for economic revitalization of the the Highway 132 corridor and Mariposa's North District. A report on this meeting can be found in the August issue of the Foothill Express at the following link --- http://www.foothillexpress.com/news/_news.shtml?2008/08508/08508-johnmuir.html
Since that meeting additional support has been garnered and the project is now seeking support from adjacent counties containing portions of Highway 132 as we proceed to petitioning for the state legislation to propose and approve the necessary amendment to the state highway code.
Additional information is provided in the promotional PDF under a separate subfolder tab listed in the main John Muir Highway update tab.
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