The Wilderness Idea: John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and the First Great Battle for Wilderness

1989

58min

To one man, it was perfect natural resource to benefit thousands of people. To another, it was a beautiful, sacred land that mustn't be defiled under any circumstance. In this documentary, the debate over the damming and flooding of the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park is examined by looking at the two most notable faces of the debate, United States Forest Service Chief Gifford Pinchot, and celebrated Scottish-American naturalist John Muir, two friends and notable conservationists who found themselves in complete opposition with one another in one of the earliest national controversies surrounding the United States wilderness.