Art In Action

Lobbying for Kings Canyon National Park

Kings Canyon National Park today. Photo taken on August 2011 by Crd637 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Kings Canyon National Park today (Photo taken on August 2011). By Crd637 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Adams represented the Sierra Club to lobby for the establishment of a wilderness park in the Kings River Sierra at a national and state park conference in Washington in 1936.

Though Adams never made a photograph with the intent that it will be used for conservation purposes, he was aware of the persuasive impact that the beauty of the natural scene together with the emotion that he, first and foremost, sought to convey in his photographs would have on its viewers.

Armed with his portfolio, Adams made a case for the establishment of a Kings Canyon National Park to the heads of the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service and to key congressmen.

However, Adams’s efforts was not successful that year.

Half Dome, Apple Orchard, Yosemite, trees with snow on branches. One of the images used by Adams to persuade Congress in 1936. By Ansel Adams [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Undeterred, Adams sent a copy of his photo book entitled, Sierra Nevada: The John Muir Trail, in 1938 to the director of the National Park Service who in turn, sent it to Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior. Secretary Ickes later showed the book to President Franklin D. Roosevelt who was so impressed with it that he insisted on keeping it.

“My dear Mr. Adams: I am enthusiastic about the book— The John Muir Trail —which you were so generous as to send me. The pictures are extraordinarily fine and impressive. I hope before this session of Congress adjourns the John Muir National Park in the Kings Canyon area will be a legal fact. Then we can be sure that your descendants and mine will be able to take as beautiful pictures as you have taken—that is, provided they have your skill and artistry.”

– Secretary Ickes in writing to Adams shortly after receiving the book.

Fin Dome, Kings River Canyon. Part of the images that persuaded Congress to declare Kings River Canyon a National Park in 1940. By Ansel Adams [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Fin Dome, Kings River Canyon. Part of the images that persuaded Congress to declare Kings River Canyon a National Park in 1940. Retrieved from National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) via WikiCommons

On March 4, 1940, after vigorous lobbying by Secretary Ickes and President Roosevelt, Kings Canyon National Park was officially incorporated into the National Parks System.

“I realize [sic] that a silent but most effective voice in the campaign was your book, Sierra Nevada: The John Muir Trail. So long as that book is in existence, it will go on                 justifying the park.”

– Head of the National Park Service, Arno Cammerer, in writing to Ansel Adams after the the establishment of Kings Canyon National Park

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