California Quarter

On January 31, 2005, Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope released the following statement: "The Sierra Club applauds Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver for selecting the John Muir-Yosemite design for the California State Quarter. We also congratulate artist and Sierra Club member Garrett Burke for his winning design that pays such a wonderful tribute to California's natural and human heritage. John Muir literally coined conservation as we know it and so it's particularly fitting that we have placed him on the California quarter. Muir's relationship with Yosemite reminds us of the powerful connections that people have to nature, and how beautiful places can inspire us to reach incredible heights. That was essentially Muir's dream when he founded the Sierra Club over a century ago. John Muir's work is far from done. We still have spectacular coastline, cathedral forest, wild rivers and stunning desert, which are vulnerable but can be protected for future generations. I look forward to working with Governor Schwarzenegger and others to keep John Muir's legacy on a roll."