Berkeley alumnus Stephen Mather convened a pivotal conference at UC Berkeley in 1915, and led the Mather Mountain Party that same year, swaying influencers as to the value of a federal agency to manage the growing number of national parks.
Do the majestic vistas of Yosemite National Park make you swoon? Are you besotted with the equally splendid landscapes of Yellowstone, Zion, the Smokey Mountains, the North Cascades and Rocky Mountain National Parks?
Thank UC Berkeley.
“Cal alumni had a major influence on both launching and maintaining the National Park system,” says Steven Beissinger, professor of wildlife ecology at Cal. “It’s no coincidence that three of the first four directors of the National Park Service were university alumni.”