Early American conservation movement
The difference between conservation and preservation was an important one because it split conservation into two sides which hindered its progress. Collaboration is important between the two sides to make further progress.
which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.
This was the legislation that enabled the national park service to do so well in protecting the land and its community of life, although that didn't come until later.
much of our game strays outside the Park boundaries, and if not killed will again learn to fear human beings, and we will lose the confidence of the wild creatures that we have gained within the past few years.
Ideas like this formed the roots of modern transboundary management because people realized that wildlife needed more area to roam during winter.
Some apprehension is felt for the herd this winter, since the lower altitudes, inside andoutside the park, are well grazed by domestic stock during the summer months. It is high time that some provision were made for winter feeding, else the herd will become a nuisance to nearby ranchers
By the 1930s, people began to worry that their game-herd increasing strategy was not a good one because herds were too big.
Albeit much more quietly, the brook, brown, and rainbow trout intentionally stocked by managers during the park’s early history also have taken their toll on cutthroat trout populations across Yellowstone.
Invasive trout were stocked in many places during the early conservation era. This caused many problems, but it shows how different it was from modern conservation, which protects native species over invasive ones.
Market hunting, sport hunting, and a US Army campaign in the late 1800s nearly eliminated bison. Yellowstone was the only place in the contiguous 48 states where wild, free ranging bison persisted. The US Army, which administered Yellowstone at the turn of the 20th century, protected these few dozen bison from poaching as best they could. The protection and recovery of bison in Yellowstone is one of the great triumphs of American conservation.
The U.S. Army, led by Philip Sheridan, who advocated exterminating the bison, quickly switched their policy and guarded the park's wildlife until the National Park Service was established in 1916.
From 30 to 60 million bison may have roamed North America before the mid 1800s.
This shows how quickly bison were in decline before their rescue by the U.S. Army, which, ironically, was the primary force in exterminating them beforehand.
Today, it is difficult for many people to understand why early park managers would have participated in the extermination of wolves. After all, the Yellowstone National Park Act of 1872 stated that the Secretary of the Interior “shall provide against the wanton destruction of the fish and game found within said Park.” But this was an era before people, including many biologists, understood the concepts of ecosystem and the interconnectedness of species. At the time, the wolves’ habit of killing prey species was considered “wanton destruction” of the animals. Between 1914 and 1926, at least 136 wolves were killed in the park; by the 1940s, wolf packs were rarely reported. By the mid-1900s, wolves had been almost entirely eliminated from the 48 states.
This shows how different conservation was in its early days. Instead of managing lands as an ecosystem, predators were killed in the name of progress, progress being the conservation and expansion of game animal herds.
includingtim-ber,wilderness,recreation,minerals,water,grazing,andwildlife.
The national forests enabled much broader use than the national parks.
had caught the imagination of Congress.
The main purpose of the national parks was originally to protect the scenery, but it eventually expanded to include the wildlife.
establishes the first national park.
This was one of the first acts that helped spur the early conservation movement. It wasn't the first protected area though, because Yosemite State Park was established first.
The US Army arrives to administer the park. They stay until 1918.
The US Army was important in the early conservation history of the park. They helped to prevent poaching and they protected the last remaining bison, which eventually grew to over 4000 animals.
Northern Pacific Railroad reaches the North Entrance of the park.
Originally, the parks were for enjoyment more than conservation.
prohibits killing predators
This marked a major change in the management of wildlife in the national parks. Instead of protecting "good" animals, they began to protect everything, at the cost of the animals they had previously managed for.
to rescue him with a boat-hook.
This shows that the Pilgrims probably didn't need an agreement to keep them together: They rescued John Howland before the Mayflower Compact. He also had a lot of descendants, which was important.
Pilgrims together when they arrived in New England.
They needed to create this agreement so that they did not ruin the colony by going into mutinies that would separate it into groups and make it more susceptible to destruction.
"3 Rs", Relief, Recovery, and Reform:
Both New Deals were to relieve the country of the Great Depression.