The History Museum is partnering with Humanities Montana and Montana Wilderness Association Island Range Chapter for a joint program featuring Montana author John Clayton on Aug. 14.

Clayton’s newest book, Natural Rivals: John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and the Creation of America’s Public Lands will be release Aug. 6 and is the first dual biography of two of the most famous figures in environmental history, who are often seen as rivals.

“Yet as Clayton dug into their story, he found that an under-appreciated collaboration between Muir and Pinchot helped enshrine the public-lands ideal that is such a hot issue today,” according to a release.

Muir, the most famous naturalist in American history, protected Yosemite, co-founded the Sierra Club, and is sometimes called the Father of the National Parks. A poor immigrant, self-taught, individualistic, and skeptical of institutions, his idealistic belief in the spiritual benefits of holistic natural systems led him to a philosophy of preserving wilderness unimpaired, according to the release.

Pinchot founded the U.S. Forest Service and advised his friend Theodore Roosevelt on environmental policy. Raised in wealth, educated in privilege, and interested in how institutions and community can overcome failures in individual virtue, Pinchot’s pragmatic belief in professional management led him to a philosophy of sustainably conserving natural resources, according to the release.

“For decades, the story of their relationship has been told as a split between the preservation and conservation philosophies. But in 1896, a decade before that split became apparent, Muir and Pinchot camped together alongside Montana’s jewel-like Lake McDonald, which was at the heart of a region not yet consecrated as Glacier National Park. At stake was the new idea that some landscapes should be collectively, permanently owned by the government—and thus, ‘in commons’ by the American people,” according to the release.

The event will be at The History Museum on Aug. 14.

A free public reception with beverages and appetizers hosted by the Island Range Chapter of the Montana Wilderness Association will be from 5:30-6:30 p.m. followed by Clayton’s presentation. He will lead a discussion afterward and sign books, which will be available for purchase.

For more information on this program, contact Kristi Scott, executive director at The History Museum at 406-452-3463 or email at Kscott@thehistorymuseum.org or Zach Angstead, chapter president, Montana Wilderness Association Island Range Chapter, 406-899-9955, centralmtcaves@gmail.com.