Why not conduct an extensive review of a more exact highway route replication aligned with My First Summer in the Sierra as the basis for creating John Muir Highway ?
This project is not focused on a detailed, academic committee agreement on the specific route John Muir took in his Journal, My First Summer in the Sierra. There are Muir scholars who are doing a tremendous job in undertaking that effort. The work of Peter and Donna Thomas provides a great example of what could become the basis for visitors doing walking tours that are exactly reconstructed on John Muir’s route.
I know John Muir came very close to our ranch. My wife and I live every day in a place that we know looks, feels and lives --- in many ways and most forms of life and natural systems --- much as he saw it when he traveled through here and wrote about it. We also live in a human community that is chronically impoverished. I do not like either human or natural inhabitants to be abused.
There is widespread poverty here that makes it difficult for people to raise families and that is abusive in my mind. Mariposa County has the second lowest average wages of any county in the State of California. In addition, the Highway 132 corridor does not have many of the higher paying county government jobs found in and around the Town of Mariposa. It is becoming more and more a divided community of retired folks and old timers. There is another sharp division between recently arriving, wealthier newcomers and longstanding ranchers/farmers/mountain people. What is missing is a healthy balance of families (with children) and people that are directly connected to working and living in harmony with the land. An oversimplification might describe the stark division as a breakdown into ecological elitists with income unrelated to their surroundings as well as no direct, real responsibility to care for or pay for maintenance of the viewscape they demand be retained as is and poor folk who resent changes and have led Mariposa ( especially the north district ) into a welfare haven. (Tim Duane's book, The Shaping of the Sierra, does a very good job putting this into detailed historical perspective ).
I am looking for a balance or a melding, 1) of Jefferson's strong preference for a nation that took the heart of its communal judgment from people ( "ploughmen" ) as he called them, who actually lived on and in harmony with the land itself; and, 2) Muir's elevated consciousness of first realizing and then preserving the natural systems we are blessed with from human abuse and encroachment. I do not consider myself a scholar in either of these great men's writings. Read them, yes. Esteem them, yes. Continuing my research, yes. Scholar, no.
The bottom line for me on this project is not theoretical environmental policy formulation nor is it precise attention to academic or historical detail. Those are worthy goals and I applaud those actively working in these areas. My goal, however, is to have a way for the environment, as it is now, and the people, as they reside and live in this environment ( Hwy 132 corridor ), come closer to a healthy coexistence. I believe that the people need to be helped in finding a way to make a living (obtaining wealth is not the goal but it is also not feared or regulated against ) while retaining as much of the natural condition of their ecosystems as possible. I am hoping the use of eco-, geo- and agri-tourism with the John Muir Highway branding of Hwy 132 can help us on the way to do that.
I would hope those of you who are interested can extrapolate from these explanations that this is not something that I came up merely as a Get Rich Quick scheme. As a 60's hippie who hitchhiked around the country in my early twenties ( I once traveled from San Bernardino to Buffalo, New York on $5 in five days ) and then went on to work in NY State Government followed by an MBA and IBM, etc., my underlying values are too complex to put into a catch phrase.
I do want everyone with questions about this proposal to understand and, hopefully, be supportive of what I am trying to do. I can certainly use your help. Putting your energy behind it in terms of working directly on the project would be great and appreciated, if it arose as an interest for you.
Sorry, again, for the lengthy explanation but I feel a need to communicate clearly and gain clarification so that I can make modifications or adjustments to my approach based on the comments of experts. I will have enough trouble dealing with partisan groups who will fight this proposal based on ulterior motives rather than just and reasoned opposition. I want to be sure that all interested parties understand what it is I seek and then state their perspective in favor or in opposition to the project. I look forward to understanding your position on the project based on our discussion of what it is I am trying to accomplish. Please consider the comments of those experts who have voiced their support for this effort already.
Why name Highway 132 as John Muir Highway instead of other roads (or combinations of roads/highways/trails ) leading into YNP as Gateways to the park?
One point that I see might need further explanation from me lies in the domain of what the goal is and where I see it being focused.
When I first derived the intention to seek the designation of John Muir Highway, it was focused on two specific goals.
1) Creating a theme that would serve to better define the natural alignment of Highway 132's undeveloped state as a Gateway to Yosemite National Park (YNP) as a means of providing an ecologically friendly basis for economic revitalization to this poverty plagued area.
2) Building on the increased awareness of John Muir's name and history linked to the area through his travels here and to honor him while at the same time designing a tourism development strategy that would empower local economic development built on eco- geo- and agri-tourism.
The goal, as defined by my original intentions, is to have this be based on the unifying link of Highway 132 as the "branded" route. When I read about Muir's experiences within my neighborhood (Greeley Mill/Hill ) and hiked around our ranch, the vision that arose was one that takes advantage of the lack of development but keeps this undeveloped state in place by employing and requiring the tourism be primarily restricted to eco- , geo- and agri-tourism locations. The other portions of Muir's trips are, to a large extent, already developed for tourist trade. This development has created their own "branding."
Again, what I see as the advantage is that a simple, straightforward naming of Highway 132 avoids the intractable conflicts that I anticipate will arise if an attempt is made to have the "branded" name honoring Muir's trips to Yosemite follow a hotly debated, committee selection process from a hodge-podge of roads, highways and trails. That will never be accomplished, in my opinion. However, if the route was to be approved as part of the revamped Hwy 132 interchange from Hwy 99 ( part of the $200M Bond issue under review ) and announced at those exit ramps as "John Muir Highway --- Honoring protection of our environment" the process for approval and having it implemented is much more feasible. Just as important would be the significance of having a method for allowing residents to join in by learning more about Muir and infusing their eco-, geo- and agri-tourism activities with a sense of responsibility to preserving the undeveloped nature of the corridor. The zoning could enforce no strip malls, limits on nationally franchised chains, big box stores, etc. ( I am a believer in McKibben's Deep Economy approach ).
At the same time, the ability to focus on the named, branded corridor would also provide an interest level ( hopefully in a global sense ) that should be linked to the kind of attention to detail that will spin off into related academic and geotourism activities in each of the Yosemite Gateway communities that have preserved the locations John Muir traveled through and wrote about. It will put a premium on keeping healthy ecosystems in the places that have not already been consumed by development following previous tourism businesses.
For better or worse, that is what my goal is and the vision that is in my head and keeps driving me ahead.
How will this naming actually be accomplished and what will the cost be?
The process requires an amendment to the Highway code of the State of California. Initial requests for local state legislators to consider submitting this proposed amendment have already been submitted but will require a demonstration of increasing support among their constituents and groups within their districts.
The costs should be minimal when compared with the potential upside benefits in terms of tourism interest generated. The naming of the Highway will be proposed in a manner that will allow the current addresses to remain the same along the component segments of Yosemite Blvd/Hwy 132/J132(county road) and Hwy 120 (if it is included).
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