8conservation

=Period 8=

The Problem(s)
In the mid to late 19th century, the west was consuming natural resources (land, rivers, forests, mineral resources) at an alarming rate. There was a big **overuse of resources**. Most Americans were oblivious to this fact; they thought our nation contained an abundance of natural resources.

Forestlands were being cut down. By 1900 only 200,000 acres remained of the original 800,000.

Rich soil was being overused.

Mines were raided with disregard to their surroundings.

There was much **pollution** from natural gas, industrial dyes, waste materials.

There was disregard for **wildlife preservation** and their **habitats**.


 * Conservation** was not taken seriously. No one really cared about the environment.

The Solution(s)
Progressives wanted the state government to pass laws regulating the use of rivers, forests and land.

To talk about the environment and conservation, the government set up a **conference on conservation.** This brought together all different state senators to talk about how to deal with the environment. It eventually led to the **National Conservation Commission.**

Many Progressives thought that everyone needed to participate in **conservation**. Not just the federal and state governments, but the everyday people needed to be involved with the environment.

The **Sierra Club**, founded by **John Muir**, was established in 1892. It constantly pushed for environmental action.

The **Yellowstone National Park Protection Act** was passed in 1894. It forbid all hunting in Yellowstone Park. This was passed so we could save all the natural structures and the wildlife in Yellowstone. They also set up many **parks and wildlife sanctuaries.**

In 1902, President Roosevelt passed the **Newlands Act of 1902**. Roosevelt used the sale of federal lands to set up irrigation projects.

President Roosevelt also set up the **Inland Waterways Commission** in 1907. This was used to study the environment such as rivers and waterways.

In 1909, the National Conservation Commission was established to save and preserve natural resources.

The Images

 * John Muir** with Theodore Roosevelt.

YUK! Factory **pollution** was a major problem. The Sierra club was founded by John Muir in 1892. The Sierra Club is an environmental organization dedicated to preserving nature.

The Primary Sources
The connection between forests and rivers is like that between father and son. No forests, no rivers. So a forester may not be wholly beyond his depth when he talks about streams. The conquest of our rivers is one of the largest commercial questions now before us. The commercial consequences of river development are incalculable. Its results cannot be measured by the yard-stick of present commercial needs. River improvement means better conditions of transportation than we have now, but it means development too. We cannot see this problem clearly and see it whole in the light of the past alone. The actual problems of river development are not less worthy of our best attention than their commercial results. Every river is a unit from its source to its mouth. If it is to be given its highest usefulness to all the people, and serve them for all the uses they can make of it, it must be developed with that idea clearly in mind. To develop a river for navigation alone, or power alone, or irrigation alone, is often like using a sheep for mutton, or a steer for beef, and throwing away the leather and the wool. A river is a unit, but uses are many, and with our present knowledge there can be no excuse for sacrificing one use to another if both can be subserved. –//excerpt from “The Fight for Conservation” by **Gifford Pinchot**//

The great basic facts are already well known. We know that our population is now adding about one-fifth to its numbers in ten years, and that by the middle of the present century perhaps one hundred and fifty million Americans, and by its end very many millions more, must be fed and clothed from the products of our soil. With the steady growth in population and the still more rapid increase in consumption, our people will hereafter make greater and not less demands per capita upon all the natural resources for their livelihood, comfort, and convenience. It is high time to realize that our responsibility to the coming millions is like that of parents to their children, and that in wasting our resources we are wronging our descendants. We know now that our rivers can and should be made to serve our people effectively in transportation, but that the vast expenditures for our waterways have not resulted in maintaining, much less in promoting, inland navigation. Therefore, let us take immediate steps to ascertain the reasons and to prepare and adopt a comprehensive plan for inland-waterway navigation that will result in giving the people the benefits for which they have paid but which they have not yet received. We know now that our forests are fast disappearing, that less than one-fifth of them are being conserved, and that no good purpose can be met by failing to provide the relatively small sums needed for the protection, use, and improvement of all forests still owned by the Government, and to enact laws to check the wasteful destruction of the forests in private hands. There are differences of opinion as to many public questions; but the American people stand nearly as a unit for waterway development and for forest protection. We know now that our mineral resources once exhausted are gone forever, and that the needless waste of them costs us hundreds of human lives and nearly $300,000,000 a year. Therefore, let us undertake without delay the investigations necessary before our people will be in position, through state action or otherwise, to put an end to this huge loss and waste, and conserve both our mineral resources and the lives of the men who take them from the earth. –//excerpt from President Roosevelt’s Report of the **National Conservation Commission**//

The Citations
American History Handout on Conservation

"Conservation in the Progressive Era." The Library of Congress. 21 Feb. 2007 

Governors' Conference on the Environment." __American History__. 2007. ABC-CLIO. 22 Feb. 2007 [|

Green Conservation Handout From Class

"Report of the National Conservation Commision." American Memory. 21 Feb. 2007 

"Sierra Club." __American History__. 2007. ABC-CLIO. 21 Feb. 2007 http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com/library/searches/searchdisplay.aspx?fulltext=muir&nav=rlist&specialtopicid=-1&entryid=253582&categorytypeid=1.>

"The Fight for Conservation" American Memory. 21 Feb. 2007 

"Yellowstone National Park Protection Act." __American History__. 2007. ABC-CLIO. 21 Feb. 2007 http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com/library/searches/searchdisplay.aspx?fulltext=conservation&nav=rlist&entryid=298871&categorytypeid=1