Carl Sharsmith - Ranger-Naturalist and Botanist - Lunch in Tuolumne Meadows

Carl William Sharsmith (March 14, 1903 – October 14, 1994) was an American naturalist and Yosemite park ranger, notable for his knowledge and interpretation of the natural history of the Sierra Nevada. He taught

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

at various universities, and was the first botanist to comprehensively document the alpine flora of the high Sierra Nevada. __TOC__

Biography

Born Karl Wilhelm Schaarschmidt II in

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to Swiss and German parents, he grew up the

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, and

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. Sharsmith was inspired by the works of naturalist

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist ...

and became interested in the outdoors and nature. He dropped out of school at 14, but became inspired enough to finish his high school and college education. Sharsmith enrolled in the Yosemite School of Field Natural History in 1930 then was hired as a seasonal Ranger-Naturalist in Tuolumne Meadows,

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ...

the following year. He received his BA from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

in 1933, and his Ph.D. in botany from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1940. Sharsmith would work each summer as a Ranger-Naturalist and spend the rest of the year teaching or performing herbarium research. He was said to have explored nearly every "nook and cranny" of Yosemite's High Sierra The rest of the year he taught or researched at various schools, that included Stanford University, the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

, and

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

. Sharsmith was Professor of Botany at San Jose State from 1950 to 1973. On his opinion of teaching he said, "people are not interested in facts. The greater appeal is to the heart." On nature walks, he would often kneel down and talk about a flower. One of his favorite flowers was Raggedy Aster ( ''Aster integrifolius''). When asked what he would do if he only had a day to see Yosemite he replied, "I'd sit by the Merced River and cry." Besides interpreting for visitors, Sharsmith did basic research on the alpine meadows of the High Sierra, gathering thousands of herbarium specimens, and publishing several research papers. Sharsmith's last season as a park ranger-naturalist was during the summer of 1994. At age 91, he was oldest active NPS park ranger in the US at the time. He died at his home in San Jose, California just a few weeks after he completed his final season in uniform at Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park.

Personal life

Helen K. Sharsmith, his wife, was a

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

and botanist with a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. They had a son John, named after John Muir, and a daughter Linnea, named after

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

. Sharsmith and his wife later divorced. His interests included botany, zoology, geology, classical music, Shakespeare, and singing opera. Carl Sharsmith died 1994 in his home at

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

Awards

* ''National Park Service Meritorious Service Award'' in 1956, the highest award for an NPS employee * ''Yosemite Award'' in 1990, as the first recipient, recognized the "rich legacy he has given this park."

Legacy

Carl W. Sharsmith Herbarium
at

San José State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

. * Sharsmith's stickseed (''Hackelia sharsmithii'') — named for him by I.M. Johnston, but discovered by Sharsmith and his wife Helen Sharsmith at Mirror Lake after climbing Mount Whitney * Sharsmith's draba (''Draba sharsmithii''), or Mount Whitney draba (Rollins and R.A. Price) — endemic to southern

Sierra Crest The Sierra Crest is a roughly generally north-to-south ridgeline that demarcates the broad west and narrow east slopes of the Sierra Nevada and that extends as far east as the Sierra's topographic front (e.g., Diamond Mountains and Sierran e ...

in Mount Whitney area. * Sharsmith Peak, informal name for Peak 12002 in

, and proposed official name.Sharsmith Peak, informal name for Peak 12002 in Yosemite National Park
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References

External links