Aesthetic Arguments for Environmental Preservation

Yellowstone, established by act of the United States Congress in 1872 as the world's first national park, exemplifies how spectacular scenic and geothermal features — its canyon, geysers, and hot springs — supplied an early and highly influential aesthetic justification for legal land preservation, quite apart from any argument grounded in the region's ecological function. Yosemite Valley, first granted federal protection in 1864 under a land grant to the state of California and made a national park in its own right in 1890, followed a similar path, its preservation driven substantially by the sheer scenic grandeur of features such as El Capitan and Half Dome, publicized through the writing and activism of John Muir.