Professional conservationist; Seth was the first employee of Save Mount Diablo starting in 1988, and has been the group's land conservation director for many years. Adams also serves on the Advisory Board of the Muir Land Trust in Martinez, California, where the John Muir National Historic Site is located.
Adams was awarded the John Muir Memorial Association's "John Muir Conservation Award" in 2000 for his long career working to protect Mount Diablo.
Seth Adams writes: "John Muir has been my hero since I was a child."
Seth Adams has written about the importance of Muir: "It's easy to remember Muir's words in celebration of the earth, but just as important to remember his accusations: 'These temple destroyers, devotees of ravaging commercialism, seem to have a perfect contempt for Nature, and instead of lifting their eyes to the God of the mountains, lift them to the Almighty Dollar.' He was of course writing about the proposed Hetch-Hetchy reservoir at Yosemite. What Muir gave voice to was an idea whose time had come, a movement which quickly spread, a war in defense of the Earth. We are engaged in the continuing battles of that movement."
Seth notes that Muir wrote about the mountain that Seth has been so involved with saving: "Clear and cool. Beautiful silvery haze on Mount Diablo this morning, on it and over it – outlines melting, wonderfully luminous." - John Muir, 1895.