Transcript A History of Conservation in the United States

A History of
Conservation in the
United States
Exploitation Wasting
 A.
When people were
few there was little
need for conservation
•1. Wise management is
beginning to replace
short sighted
exploitation.
Exploitation wasting
 2.
World population is
doubling every decade.
 3. Accelerate progress
is natural resource
management.
History of conservation
movement
 A.
Wildlife Management
•1. When the settlers came
the colonies were covered
largely by mature forests
broken only by streams,
marshes, and natural
meadows.
History of conservation
movement
•2. Forests could
support vast flocks of
passenger pigeons
•3. Streams supported
beaver populations
History of conservation
movement
•4. Marshes support
large flocks of
waterfowl
•5. Deer, turkey, quail,
and many other
important game animals
require clearings.
History of conservation
movement
•6. Hunters could
depopulate deer herds
along the coast
•a. further inland they
found fewer deer and
hunting was less
successful.
Regulations
 1.
1639 regulations on deer
hunting were imposed by
Newport, RI.
 2. 1698 Connecticut and
Massachusetts imposed
limits on deer hunting, by
then deer herds were almost
gone in those areas.
Regulations
 3.
1844 New York
Sporting Club formed.
•A. became the New
York State Game
Protective Society.
•B. promoted restrictions
against market hunters
Regulations
 4.
1865 first fish and
game commission
formed in
Massachusetts.
Market hunters
 1.
Hunting and trapping
for fur and meat animals
became big business
overnight.
 2. Market hunters found
that their quarry could be
taken all year long.
Market hunters
 3.
Passenger pigeons
could be killed most
easily during the
nesting season.
•A. led to extinction
Market hunters
 Buffalo
herds came
close to extinction for
the same reasons
The road back
 1.
The Lacey Act 1900,
first federal act dealing
with wildlife was passed.
•A. made interstate
transport of game taken
against the law a federal
crime.
The road back
•b. killed market hunting
and saved many species
from destruction
 2.
1916 US and Great
Britain signed the
Migratory Bird Treaty
The road back
 3.1918
Federal
Migratory Bird Act was
passed
•a. protection of
migratory waterfowl
that breed in Canada
and fly across the US
The road back
 4.
1933 Aldo Leopold
published Game
Management
 5. 1934 Duck Stamp
Act was passed
The road back
•a. first year raised revenues
of $600,000
•b. now raise up to $6 million
a year
•c. finance numerous projects
to protect and expand North
American waterfowl
population.
The road back
 6.
1940 US Fish and
Wildlife Service of the
Department of the
Interior formed.
The road back
 7.
Most conservationist
efforts have been led
and funded by hunters
and fisherman and
have made possible
much of our wildlife
abundance.
Forest
Management
 1.
Timber
Management
•a. 5,000 years ago in
China
•b. 4,000 years ago in
Egypt
Forest
Management
•c. Romans imported
wood from their
conquered lands before
the birth of Christ
•d. 1,000 A.D. Europeans
were running our of
wood
 2.
Forest
Management
1626 First ordinance
controlling sale of timber
passed in Plymouth
Colony
 3. 1650 several colonies
passed laws against
burning forests.
Forest
Management
 4.
Late 1700’s and early
1800’s preservation
centered around saving
live oaks for building war
ships
•a. this practice ended
during the Civil War
 5.
Forest
Management
US forests produced
about a billion board feet
of lumber in 1840
 6. 1869 35 billion board
feet.
 7. 1906 46 billion board
feet.
Forest
Management
 8.
Forests were
harvested to pay for
other enterprises or
were cleared and
burned for farming.
Forest
Management
 9.
1875 the American
Forestry Association
organized to promote
timber culture and
forestry
Forest
Management
 10.
Forestry agent
appointed to the USDA
 11. Forestry office
became Division of
Forestry of USDA in
1881.
Forest
Management
 12.
1891 Congress
created forest reserves
from public lands
•a. 1900 33 million acres of
forest reserves
•b. controlled under the
Department of the Interior
Forest
Management
 13.
Gifford Pinchot
head of USDA Forestry
Department in 1898
 14. 1905 became US
Forest Service
Forest
Management
 15.
Pinchot and T.
Roosevelt expanded
the national forest
service, covered 182
million acres in 1983.
Forest
Management
 16.
The Weeks Law
1911 gave the
President authority to
purchase forest lands
for river water shed
protection
Forest
Management
•a. linked forestry with
soil and water
conservation,
waterway
transportation and
flood control.
Forest
Management
 17.
WWI expanded
federal role in the
forestry business.
•A. Timber was needed
for the war and
thousands of soldiers
were used to harvest it.
Forest
Management
 18.
Civilian
Conservation Corps
(CCC) was involved in
forestry work during
the Great Depression
Forest
Management
 19.
WWII and post war
house building created
another expansion in
the need for timber.
Soil Conservation
 1.
Early mentality was
to farm today leave
tomorrow to take care
of itself.
Soil Conservation
 2.
Wherever land was
tillable it was cleared
for agricultural
production without
regard for its potential
•a. hillsides in Georgia
were row cropped
Soil Conservation
•b. grasslands in the
southwest were
overgrazed.
 3.
Early soil
conservation meant
preventing gully and
sheet erosion.
Soil Conservation
 4.
1928 first USDA soil
conservation bulletin
published “Soil Erosion A National Menace”
 5. 1933 Soil Erosion
Service established (Dept
of Int)
Soil Conservation
 6.
1935 SES moved to
the Dept of Ag and
changed name to Soil
Conservation Service
(SCS)
Soil Conservation
 7.
1936 developed a
system for giving
grants to farmers
active in conservation
to pay for terraces,
tilling, and drainage
systems.
Soil Conservation
•a. regulated by
USDA’s Agricultural
Stabilization and
Conservation Service
(ASCS)
Soil Conservation
 8.
1937 President F D
Roosevelt established
soil conservation
districts within each
state
Water
Management
 1.
1879 Mississippi
River Commission set
up to help states
improve the river as a
waterway.
Water
Management
 2.
Rivers and Harbors Acts
of 1917 and 1927 maintain
navigable waterways.
 3. 1825 Erie Canal
completed to connect the
Great Lakes with the
Hudson River.
Water
Management
 4.
Early emphasis was
not on conservation but
on transportation
 5. Late 1920’s federal
gov’t began to assume
some responsibility for
flood control.
Water
Management
 6.
1936 Flood Control
Act authorized SCS to
develop plans for
upstream soil and
water conservation to
reduce sedimentation
and flooding.
Water
Management
 7.
1954 Watershed
Protection and Flood
Prevention Act made
state and local
responsible for
decision making.
Water
Management
 8.
Federal legislation in
the 1960’s and 1970’s
emphasized health
concerns of waste
water treatment
Water
Management
 9.
Low water tables in
the western states
have resulted from
deep-well drilling.