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Conservation in the United States

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Conservation generally refers to the act of consciously and efficiently using land and/or its natural resources. This can be in the form of setting aside tracts of land for protection from hunting or urban development, or it can take the form of using less resources such as metal, water, or coal. Usually, this process of conservation occurs through or after legislation on local or national levels is passed.

Conservation in the United States, as a movement, began with the American sportsmen who came to the realization that wanton waste of wildlife and their habitat had led to the extinction of some species, while other species sat on the precipice (italicized bc already existing); they were able to realize this through the aid and inspiration of different groups of Native American peoples.

While conservation and preservation both have similar definitions and broad categories, preservation in the natural and environmental scope refers to the action of keeping areas the way they are and trying to dissuade the use its resources; conservation may employ similar methods but does not call for the diminishing of resource use and rather a responsible way of going about it.

History

Philosophy of early American conservation movement

A basis for the philosophy curated by the prominent sportsmen, writers, anthropologists, and politicians came from observing Native Americans and how they interacted with the resources available to them. For example, George Bird Grinnell was an anthropologist who joined an expedition in 1870 which encountered different tribes such as the Pawnee for large, extended periods of time. He noted their use of every single part of an animal following a hunt and that they ceremoniously prepared for utilizing and taking any resource the land was able to provide them. These observations, fraught with condemning language toward the way European hunters and sportsmen treated wildlife and resources such as timber, were published in widely circulated journals and magazines at the time.

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Muir, who is often cited as one of the first American environmentalists, has earned multiple American honors for environmental work. His family home in Martinez, California, is honored as a National Historic Site and so is his childhood home in Portage, Wisconsin, Fountain Lake Farm which is a National Historic Landmark.

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In considering this foundation for the conservation movement he helped to lay, members of the Sierra Club have been noting the hypocrisy of John Muir's conservation efforts in these instances of documented racism through their recent posts. Ross Wakefield writes that although Muir would recognize Native Americans as human, he begrudgingly did so and that institutional racism impacted his views in general, influencing his thoughts that they could never attain the same level of purity and immaculateness that nature did. Some environmental historians, like Carolyn Merchant, also cite Muir as someone who was unwilling to extend his efforts of conservation toward groups of people who were not white. She explains in Shades of Darkness that on his walking journey from Canada (where he took refuge in order to escape being drafted as a soldier in the Civil War) down to the Gulf of Mexico, he often came across groups of African American people and wrote of them with much disdain and lowliness. In his accounts and descriptions of the places he trekked through, he often contrasted the care and reverence that he felt nature deserved with remarks about black people being devilish and incapable of completing tasks as efficiently as white people could.

{{trying to make this following section much more neutral or may not include it at all:}}

Madison Grant Is a historic figure who helped to make progress in terms of preserving wildlife and elevating the conservation movement. He is heralded as a conservationist and writer. Madison co-founded the Save-the-Redwoods League along with zoologist Henry Fairfield Osborn, Frederick Russel Burnham, and John C. Merriam. Originally, the conservation movement was largely restricted to white people, and historians point to the racist personal beliefs of many of the leaders of the conservationist movement as evidence of this.

Early American conservation movement

The legacy of his actions as president at the turn of the twentieth century include estimated 230 million acres of land as public lands, through his aforementioned establishment of the United States Forest Service as well as dozens of national forests, national parks, and bird reserves, in addition to 4 game preserves. This legacy, though establishing what many consider the root of modern conservationism, remained within the hands of powerful men of white European heritage for years to come, often excluding the interests of Native Americans and other demographics within the United States.

Although national parks can logistically fall under the category of preservation sites, certain marked National Conservation Area sites fall near or within proximity of national parks and share a common land history. The United States government began driving groups of Native American peoples out of popularly visited areas like Yellowstone around the late 1800s once they deemed them a conflict to tourists. Battles between federal troops and the Nez Perce tribe soon ensued, and eventually the tribe was driven out of the area. Conservation history fails to incorporate details like this when talking about the beginnings and context of the movement.

Modern American conservation movement

Into the Twenty-First Century

The Wilderness Act

This milestone was achieved by the efforts of environmental conservationists dedicated to the protection of some of the wildest lands in the United States. Chief among these were Howard Zahniser and Olaus Murie and Mardy Murie, who dedicated much of their lives and their work to the protection and conservation of wild lands. By 1950 both Zanhiser and Olaus Murie were working for the Wilderness Society, Zahinser as Executive Secretary in Washington DC, and Olaus as President from his ranch in Moose, WY (now home to the Murie Center). From their positions at Wilderness Society, both men continued to work to organize and build broad-based support for the creation and protection of wilderness areas within the United States.

Ecotourism

The goal of ecotourism is to attract appreciation and attention to specific sites, which may include protected land for conservation, while minimizing the impact that tourism has on the land. It is a form of conservation because the area may be protected while tourists or businesses are also using the land for lodging or other types of accommodations that utilize resources in any way. This movement has gained international traction and recognition. The United Nations declared 2002 the International Year of Ecotourism. Ecotourism seeks to balance an interest and appreciation of protected lands with a commitment to preserving them. A study conducted by the University of Georgia reported that environmentalists should team up with ecotourists in order to have the best chance to preserve fragile ecosystems and lands. Tourism provides economic incentives to conserve lands, for if protected lands are seen as revenue-generating tourist destinations, there is monetary reason to ensure their conservation. Also, rather than simply relying on environmental messaging, ecotourism allows conservationists to pursue a leisurely and economic message.

Current Conservation Developments & Issues

Social Issues & Threats to Access

At a 2014 event held at UCLA centered upon environmental figures like John Muir, a few historians and writers noted that the movements for conservation and preservation of the environment maintained a foundation in "economic privilege and abundant leisure time of the upper class." Jon Christensen, a historian of UCLA's Institute of Environment and Sustainability, notes among the other critics at the event that writings and actions from conservationists at the turn of the twentieth century have created a legacy for the movement as one of an older white demographic.

General concern among the current conservation movement deals with the accessibility of conserved/protected areas as well as the movement itself to communities of color especially. Richard White, a historian at Stanford University, makes the case that viewpoints of early conservationists came from an Anglo-Saxon, biblical point of view and that this is reflected in the current demographics of visitors to national parks and protected areas. At the same time, recent polls suggest that the Latino community in California tends to possess more environmental attitudes when it comes to voting than perceived by the general public. A highly cited historian of Southern California, D. J. Waldie, posits that conservation for the purpose of public enjoyment is usually geared for places inaccessible to minority demographics, such as skiing or backpacking in the Sierra Nevadas. Instead, he puts forth that the conservation areas of importance for these communities are local bodies of water or small mountain ranges, urban parks, and even their own backyards.

Events

Past events

In the past, multiple events have contributed to the degradation of lands protected through the conservation movement. In 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil spill impacted the coastline of the Kenai Fjords National park, negatively affecting the shoreline, sea otters, birds, and fish in the park.

• Lacking information on specific instances where protected areas under the US became unprotected
• Examples of exclusive policies... should be stats from ESPM 155 course on disparities between East and West Oakland in terms of what's legally protected
• Should focus more on political and social shifts that prompted this
• Definition of protected area constantly changes especially because of how subjective and dependent cultural values are in the given context
• Would be interesting to tie in the Ohlone and how their lands weren't considered protected

• http://www.denverpost.com/2016/08/19/the-six-biggest-issues-facing-our-national-parks/

Current

Current concerns include worries about decreasing park attendance, a possible decrease in funding for parks, and climate change. Recently, the USDA authorized grazing on protected lands in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. The authorization was made in an effort to combat the negative effects of wildfires that burned around 1.6 million acres of pasturelands in these three states. Extreme dryness, high winds, and negligible humidity all contributed to these massive wildfires. Some environmentalists have drawn connections between these conditions and climate change, and this authorization of grazing on protected lands serves as just one example of the ways in which climate change has an impact on protected lands.

Political

On January 20^th, 2017, a bill was introduced to congress that aimed to roll back regulations on oil and gas drilling in National Parks. The bill would nullify the “General Provisions and Non-Federal Oil and Gas Rights” rule passed in November of 2016, and this would remove protections to National Park lands and resources.

On February 28, 2017, Donald Trump signed an executive order to review the Clean Water Rule, a bill he and Scott Pruitt have pledged to eliminate since he took office. The Clean Water rule was enacted in 2015, and extended federal protection to millions of acres of lakes, rivers, and wetlands. Without the federal protections, these waters would be more susceptible to pollution or dredging by companies, homeowners, or farmers; this is a legitimate threat to conservation as use of water resources will not be monitored for being used responsibly or sustainably.

On March 16, 2017, Donald Trump released his preliminary budget proposal for 2018 discretionary spending. These budget proposals featured cuts to both the EPA and the Department of Interior. The 12% decrease for the Department of Interior is removing spending from land acquisition costs associated with the preservation and expansion of National Parks. The budget also completely defunded National Heritage Areas. Funding to National Heritage Areas is used in part to support tribal protection officers and provides grants to underrepresented communities, ones who have already been putting conservation in practice. The proposed budget would cut the staff of the Environmental Protection Agency by 3,200 and reduce their budget by $2.6 billion annually.

In July of 2016, Utah congressman Rob Bishop introduced the Utah Public Lands Initiative Act (HR 5780) to the house, which was interpreted by press as a land grab by government officials to open up thousands of acres of protected land for mining or development. This bill concerned many natives, as the much of the area was seen as sacred land by many local tribes. With this in mind, Obama placed the land under National Monument status at the end of 2016 which came with praise from the native peoples and their allies, but was staunchly opposed by Republican lawmakers who wished to open up the land for mining. These lawmakers are now looking towards President Trump who holds the power to reverse the protections set forth by Obama.

Trump's promise to eliminate 2 federal regulations for every new regulation proposed may impact lands set aside for conservation. The repeal of old regulations will put currently conserved land at risk: future perceived threats to conserved lands and resources might not be able to be stopped since the erasure of regulation that sought to combat past threats to conserved lands may be eliminated.

Ryan Zinke, Trump's appointed Secretary of the Interior, moved to reverse federal regulation that prohibits hunters from using lead ammunition in National Parks. This could encourage hunting practices that have significant effects on the ecosystems of protected lands.

Economic Interests

• link: http://www.curbed.com/2017/1/31/14461358/national-parks-oil-drilling-regulations
• link: http://www.denverpost.com/2016/08/19/the-six-biggest-issues-facing-our-national-parks/

Current Projects

On

Key Figures (within Conservation in general)

• Berta Cáceres
• Julia Butterfly Hill
• Chico Mendes
• Wangari Maathai
• Augusto Pinochet

Review

I think you might add a section about the philosophical arguments surrounding protecting land. For example, include a section about preservationists (Muir) and conservationists (Pinchot). There is some interesting literature on the implications of setting land away at the federal/state level. What are the implications for Native Americans who lay claim to religious access (look up Devils Tower). Similarly there are also some interesting articles (see William Cronan) on the implications of calling something "wilderness" or protected. In a nut shell Cronan's argument is that by setting land apart that is out of reach of humans we are essentially saying you cannot pollute that area but the rest of "unprotected land" is fair game. His argument can be simplified with what is more sacred; the tree in a national park or a tree in the backyard.

In the section about history you should think about going back to the Louisiana Purchase and the various expeditions westward. There should be a section about John Muir and the Hetch Hetchy Valley (Yosemite). Moving forward, you also might think about adding a section about Aldo Leopold and his land ethic. He was an extremely important figure in the Park Service and his mention might be necessary for this article.

Thanks for this!