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Show 326. plans of the timbering, a g r i c u l t u r a l , and sheep i n t e r e s t s. Particularly, the sheep flocks were reaching t h e i r peak populations in California at about 1875. Understandably, Muir could see no end to t h i s d e s t r u c t i v e climb. Despite his suspicion that the path of moderation was not the best way to a true vision of Nature, he attempted to write moderate a r t i c l es for a prospective t o u r i s t . So too, his a l l i e s in his fight for preservation would be moderate progressives, from the eastern and western urban c e n t e r s . What he meant by moderation was made very clear in a c r i t i q u e of Ruskin he sent to Mrs. Carr. He objected to Ruskin's "uninspired" view that "nature is never immoderate," and linked such a perception to limited t a s t e: "The heavy masonry of the Sierra seems immoderate to some." To some: Muir saw t h a t such so-called " t a s t e " for moderate scenes was subjective, man-centered, and inaccurate. He would appeal to a moderate audience, and take the role of tour guide seriously, become more than an e n t e r t a i n e r of the public; he would attempt to r a d i c a l l y r e - c r e a t e public attitudes and t a s t e , hoping to lay the groundwork for an ecological conscience in America, a reevaluation of the management of Yosemite, the need for new Parks, the use of agricultural lands and f o r e s t s. If the s e r i e s of l e t t e r s he wrote for the San Francisco Bulletin between 1874 and 1878 might seem to be straight tourist-trade material, yet he spoke there to the most general of audiences. Further, when he encouraged t r a v e l , he involved himself in a subtle evaluation of Californian society- There |