Did Adams contribute specifically to the Kings Canyon Park campaign?
Yes. The two activists who led the campaign in the late 1930s were Adams and David Brower, both of the Sierra Club. As the effort progressed both polished the skills that would later make both famous. Adams learned to tell powerful stories about stewardship through his photographs. Brower learned how to play the political game. They would work together for decades, in an often uneasy alliance. How did Adams’ photographs help protect the Sierra? In that pre-video era, still photographs were the best possible medium for creating public concern about natural places. Adams took the photos that literally defined how our culture learned to think about the high Sierra. How has the park changed since the 1930s? Ansel Adams would find the backcountry wonderfully unchanged. He would take great satisfaction, I think, in the fact that nearly all of the wilderness he fought to preserve in these parks survives still in a very high quality natural state. I think he would be less pleased by the front
