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The Sierra Club's members are 700,000 of your friends and neighbors. Inspired by nature, we work together to protect our communities and the planet. The Club is America's oldest, largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization.

A local group of the Georgia Chapter, the Joseph LeConte Group of the Sierra Club covers Athens and northeast Georgia, including Barrow, Clarke, Elbert, Franklin, Hart, Jackson, Madison, Oconee, and Oglethorpe counties, plus portions of Banks and Walton counties.

Joseph LeConte (1823–1901) was a native of Georgia, born in Liberty County to a family of illustrious scientists. He taught at the University of Georgia and the University of South Carolina before he and his brother, John, went west to found the University of California. While living there, he joined John Muir as one of the founders of the Sierra Club. He died in Yosemite Valley during a Club outing, and the Sierra Club built, in 1903-04, the LeConte Memorial Lodge in Yosemite Valley as a lasting tribute to this great man. The members of the LeConte Group of the Sierra Club are pleased that we can honor this great environmentalist who once called Athens home.