Prior to the dawn of the Gilded Age (a period in history following the
American Civil War and Reconstruction, roughly the final twenty-three
years of the nineteenth century), the U.S. federal government had already begun to recognize, thanks to concerned citizens, conservationists,
and scientists, that steps must be taken to preserve the nation’s natural
resources. In 1872, for example, Congress passed an act to set aside a
tract of land at the headwaters of Yellowstone River in Wyoming,
thereby establishing Yellowstone National Park. This national park was
the first park of its kind in the United States. There were other apparent
motives for establishing such an attraction. The Union Pacific Railroad
hoped the park would attract tourists from all over the world who would
ride their trains and stay in their hotels. The company hired artists to
paint grand pictures of the geysers and wilderness of Yellowstone. That
same year, Arbor Day was founded when future secretary of agriculture
Julius S. Morton (1832–1902), a member of the Nebraska state board
of agriculture, declared April 10 “tree planting day.” (Other states individually followed suit through the years, until President Richard Nixon
[1913–1994; served 1969–74] declared Arbor Day an official national
“day” in 1970.) These acts marked the beginning of a collective thought
of preserving nature for beauty’s sake. One of the most influential figures in the conservation movement
was naturalist John Muir (1838–1914). Born in Scotland, Muir immigrated to the United States at the age of eleven, where he spent his free
time exploring the backwoods of Wisconsin. Muir worked long hours
helping his family plow the land and dig wells. Through his work he developed a strong sense of his union with nature; he learned to respect and
love the land.
Muir traveled to Yosemite Valley, centered in eastern California and
western Nevada, in the late 1860s and took jobs that kept him close to
nature. Even while working in the sawmills and the fields, he was studying his outdoor surroundings. He stayed in the mountains until 1880, at
which time he married and moved away from the area. Though he traveled occasionally, Muir mostly stayed home, tending to his pear orchard
and vineyard (grape crops). He acquired wealth through his farming, but
as his riches increased so did his discontentment. With each trip to the
mountains, Muir realized something must be done to save the wilderness
or it would not last.
Founding of the Sierra Club
In an effort to awaken the public and the government to the importance
of preserving nature, Muir began writing papers and essays. His writing
brought him in contact with Robert Underwood Johnson (1853–1937),
editor of Century magazine, one of the most important and influential
conservation publications of the era. Muir published two essays on
Yosemite in which he called for the establishment of a national park.
Johnson supported Muir’s idea, and the two men approached Congress
with the proposal. On October 1, 1890, Yosemite National Park was established. This was the first time a major conservation reform had come
about because of the efforts and actions of a private citizen.
The friendship between Johnson and Muir produced another lasting
organization, the Sierra Club. The club was established in 1892 with
Muir as president. Its purpose was to preserve and make accessible the
Sierra Nevada mountains in eastern California and western Nevada. The
Sierra Club still thrives in the twenty-first century, and its efforts have
extended to include conservation issues of all kinds.
Throughout the last two decades of the nineteenth century, other
strides were made in the conservation movement. The first Audubon
Society was formed in 1886 to protect birds (though it disbanded after two years and reformed in 1905 as the National Audubon Society). The
following year, sportsmen concerned with conservation founded the
Boone and Crockett Club. It was the first conservation organization to
include big-game (large animals) hunters.
Other major changes included the passing of legislation in 1894 that
prohibited hunting in national parks. The forest service shifted its focus
from tree protection to scientific management of all forests. Scientific
management was a policy that allowed natural resources (in this case,
trees) to be used but which also protected the resources in a way that allowed for timely regrowth and development. In 1898, U.S. president
William McKinley (1843–1901; served 1897–1901) named conservationist Gifford Pinchot (1865–1946) as chief of the Division of Forestry
(later called the Bureau of Forestry) within the U.S. Department of
Agriculture. Pinchot helped shift public awareness from saving trees to
managing their growth.
In 1900, the Lacey Act was passed. Named for U.S. representative
John F. Lacey (1841–1913) of Iowa, the act outlawed the interstate shipment of wild animals and birds that had been killed or obtained illegally.
That year also marked a milestone in women’s activism in the conservation movement. The California Club, a San Francisco women’s organization, urged Congress to pass an act allowing the government to
purchase two endangered groves of giant sequoia trees (redwoods).
Although the measure failed, it was evidence of the public’s growing
awareness of the importance of preserving and protecting resources as
well as of the increased influence of women in politics.
The conservationist president
When Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919; served 1901–9) took over the
presidency in 1901 following the assassination of President McKinley, he
made conservation a cornerstone of his administration. Roosevelt was an
avid outdoorsman and big-game hunter. Under his leadership, five national parks were established, as were four big-game refuges (protected
areas), fifty-one national bird refuges, and the National Forest Service (in
1905).
Conservation was more than just a way to preserve the United
States’s resources and landscape for Roosevelt. He believed big-game
hunting was an elite, or upper-class, sport; he did not want game-animal
stock depleted by subsistence hunters (those who hunted to feed their families, rather than for sport). So part of Roosevelt’s motivation was to
protect his own leisure activities as well as that of his wealthy friends.
Roosevelt also considered conservation a tool for maintaining
democracy. With an eye on the future, he considered it morally irresponsible to exploit natural resources for immediate gain and chose instead to
develop policies that would insure future generations the same benefits
as what the present generation enjoyed. Conservation, then, was inherently democratic to Roosevelt’s way of thinking.
Nature was an essential part of U.S. history for Roosevelt. Since the
nation lacked the historic and cultural traditions of European countries,
the land took on a greater significance in its relation to the country’s
identity. The many monuments and diverse wildlife throughout the
United States were a source of great national pride, worthy of preservation and protection. As noted by Daniel Filler in the Internet article
“Theodore Roosevelt: Conservation as the Guardian of Democracy,” the
former president wrote in a 1916 essay titled “Bird Reserves at the
Mouth of the Mississippi,” “Birds should be saved because of utilitarian
[practical] reasons; and, moreover, they should be saved because of reasons unconnected with any return in dollars and cents. A grove of giant
redwoods or sequoias should be kept just as we keep a great and beautiful cathedral.”
With a look to the future
Under Roosevelt’s administration Pinchot added millions of acres of land
to the national forests. The government controlled these forests and determined how they would be used. Both Pinchot and Roosevelt agreed
that public lands should never be used for private gain. Congress began
caving in to pressure from the private sector, though, and in 1907, it refused to allow Roosevelt to purchase forest reserves in the western states.
When William Howard Taft (1857–1930; served 1909–13) took over
the presidency in 1909, Pinchot lost much of his authority and was fired
by the new president in 1910.
Taft was not against conservation; the issue simply was not one of
his priorities. He did continue to establish national parks. In 1911,
Congress passed the Weeks Act, named after U.S. representative John W.
Weeks (1860–1926) of Massachusetts, which authorized states to work
together to protect their water and forest supplies. The act also provided
funds to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to use with states in a cooperative effort for providing fire protection of watersheds of navigable
streams (streams able to be traveled by boat).