The Early Conservationists
"The Romantic ideas spurred an appreciation of American wilderness as national icon. A rise in nature tourism...helped create public support for the protection of the...American wilderness areas [through] national and state parks in the 1860s and 1870s."
- Ann E. Chapman, National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior
- Ann E. Chapman, National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior
The American Conservation Movement [1847-1920] focused on isolating the environment from human actions. This myopic attitude provided some protection but the exploitation of nature continued to rise.
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“In the first half of the 20th century the conservation movement really blossomed…It started out with game laws and an attempt to conserve [animals] and forests…by the midpoint of the century we are beginning to talk about ecology and…that it is a mistake to look species by species to see what needs to be preserved and look instead at the total environment” - William Souder, October 3, 2012 |
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John Muir
+John Muir
"Any fool can destroy trees. They cannot run away; and if they could, they would still be destroyed -- chased and hunted down as long as fun or a dollar could be got out of their bark hides, branching horns, or magnificent bole backbones...God has cared for these trees... but he cannot save them from fools -- only Uncle Sam can do that."
- John Muir 1897, American Forests
- John Muir 1897, American Forests
Theodore Roosevelt
+Theodore Roosevelt
"There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite, the groves of the giant sequoias and redwoods, the Canyon of the Colorado, the Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Three Tetons; and our people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their children's children forever, with their majestic beauty all unmarred."
- Theodore Roosevelt Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter, 1905
- Theodore Roosevelt Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter, 1905
Gifford Pinchot
+Gifford Pinchot
"When I came home not a single acre...timberland was under systematic forest management ...the common word for our forests was "inexhaustible." To waste timber was a virtue and not a crime...The lumbermen...regarded forest devastation as normal...The few friends the forest had were spoken of as impractical theorists...What talk there was about forest protection was no more to the average American that the buzzing of a mosquito, and just about as irritating."
- Gifford Pinchot, 1890
- Gifford Pinchot, 1890
Yellowstone
+Yellowstone
"That said public park shall be under the exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior, whose duty it shall be, as soon as practicable, to make and publish such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary or proper for the care and management of the same. Such regulations shall provide for the preservation, from injury or spoliation, of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders within said park, and their retention in their natural condition."
- Yellowstone Act 1872
- Yellowstone Act 1872
Pelican Island
+Pelican Island
"On March 14, 1903...President Roosevelt [established] Pelican Island as the first federal bird reservation. He would establish a network of 55 bird reservation...the forerunner to the national wildlife refuge system. But Pelican Island was the first time that the federal government set aside land for the sake of wildlife."
- Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, 2009
- Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, 2009
Hetch Hetchy Valley
+Hetch Hetchy Valley
"With the passage of the Raker Act...in 1913, the city of San Francisco won its long battle for a public water supply. The...conservation crusade had worked hard to preserve the valley as an integral part of the park. . . . in November 1903...John Muir had taken the Hetch Hetchy issue to the nation. Preservationists rallied to support its retention...in January 1909. Among them were women...who were opposed to the commercial use of such a scenic wonderland"
- Carolyn Merchant, "The Women of the Progressive Conservation Crusade, 1900-1915," University Press of America, 1985
- Carolyn Merchant, "The Women of the Progressive Conservation Crusade, 1900-1915," University Press of America, 1985
Conservationist Organizations
"...During the winter of 1874-75, almost 100 sportsmen’s organizations were founded, and by 1878, 308 organizations had declared a commitment to conservation practices."
- Ann E. Chapman, National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior
- Ann E. Chapman, National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior