Angels Camp, CA…As part of ongoing education about our region’s natural environment, the Foothill Conservancy will host critically acclaimed actor Lee Stetson portraying renowned Yosemite naturalist John Muir on Sunday, April 30 in Angels Camp. The performance will be in the Elliott A. Smart Performing Arts Center at Bret Harte High School, 323 S. Main St., beginning at 3:00 p.m.

Tickets are $20.00 in advance and $25.00 at the door. They are available online through the Conservancy website, www.foothillconservancy.org, and the organization’s Jackson office.

“We’re excited to have Lee coming to our area to perform,” said Foothill Conservancy Board President Katherine Evatt. “Muir’s life was extraordinary, and Lee’s portrayal shares the humor, intelligence and tremendous passion of one of the world’s best-known and admired naturalists.” Lee Stetson has been performing as John Muir for over 30 years at universities, museums and parks from Washington, D.C. to Hawaii. He portrayed Muir on Ken Burns’s award-winning PBS series, “National Parks – America’s Best Idea.” Stetson also performs as Muir every year at Yosemite National Park.

John Muir immigrated from Scotland to Wisconsin with his family in 1838. His first visit to Yosemite was in 1868, when he was 30 years old. Muir was so taken with the area’s natural beauty and wilderness that he remained for about six years, working at various jobs, including shepherd and sawyer. He was instrumental in advocating for the creation of Yosemite National Park.

The founder of the Sierra Club, Muir is perhaps best known for his passionate advocacy to save wilderness, particularly the Hetch Hetchy Valley, threatened with flooding when the O’Shaunessy Dam was proposed to supply water for San Francisco. What some label the first environmental fight ended unsuccessfully in 1913 when Congress approved the dam project.

“John Muir’s love for the wilderness, and his desire to protect it, was based on his seeing the connection and interdependency of natural ecosystems.” said Evatt. “Muir understood that protecting natural systems was key to ensuring a healthy environment for both people and wildlife. His lessons live on today as we work to protect ecosystems that provide the clean water, productive soils and diverse habitats humans and wildlife need to survive.”

Coffee, tea, lemonade and snacks will be available for purchase at the event.

For more about Lee Stetson, see www.johnmuirlive.com.

“An Afternoon with John Muir” is a benefit for Foothill Conservancy’s local conservation efforts. For more information, contact Marta Johnson at 209-770-4710 or Carolyn Schooley, carolyn@foothillconservancy.org.