John Olmsted

(1938-2011)

  • John Olmsted was a noted naturalist, educator and volunteer conservationist. He spoke frequently in public on various conservation topics.
  • John Olmsted founded the California Institute of Man in Nature in 1968.
  • In 1969 Olmsted rediscovered many rock-lined ditches and wood flumes overlooking the South Yuba River in Nevada County. That trail became the nation’s first wheelchair accessible wilderness trail.
  • Watch the film about this special trail:A Wild Independence(2021) – How naturalist John Olmsted fulfilled a friends’ request and turned an abandoned mining ditch in California’s Gold Country into the first wheelchair nature trail in the United States. (26 min.)
  • He campaigned for creation of a necklace of protected areas from the California Coast to Lake Tahoe. He is known as the founder of the Jug Handle State Natural Reserve, the Cross California Ecological Trail, Independence Trail, Yuba (Colgate) Powerhouse, and Earth Planet Museum.
  • Author, Adventures On And Off Interstate 80
  • Olmsted’s life was been dedicated to the land ethics and land preservation traditions of John Muir. Like Muir he has worked tirelessly to preserve wild areas, open space, trails, parks, and rural landscapes.
  • Olmsted was one of four modern environmentalists who were ‘People inspired by John Muir.’ pictured and profiled in the National Geographic Society book, John Muir: Nature’s Visionary by Gretel Ehrlich.
  • John Olmsted’s son Alden created a documentary film, ‘My Father, Who Art in Nature,’ about his father and their relationship
  • Photo of John Olmsted © 2001 by Harold Wood
John Olmsted in 2001, Photo by Harold Wood
John Olmsted in 2001, Photo by Harold W. Wood, Jr.