America’s federal forest management dates back to the mid 1870’s when Congress decided to create the U.S. Department of Agriculture to maintain the forestry. This environmental department represented the growth in America’s industry and the depletion of forests. Yet, as it was defeating the initial purpose, more natural resources were being lost from their area and the government had not acknowledged the damage. The conservationist Gifford Pinchot, created an impact on society by taking a stand to conserve the natural resources by leading the United States Forest service, embracing scientific forest, and contributed to Roosevelt’s decision to protect wildlife, thus paving the way for natural conservation in the future.
Prior to the forest industry, no Americans had an interest in the environment
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Many conservationists feared the President Taft would reopen the closed forest reserves to the public again for the sake of profit (Ballinger-Pinchot Scandal Erupts). The administration's apathy toward conservation ignited a public dispute between Pinchot and Department of the Interior secretary, Richard Achilles Ballinger. This feud, known as the Ballinger V.S. Pinchot controversy, escalated and ultimately resulted in Pinchot's dismissal from the Forest Service in 1909. This was a major cause of the splinter in the Republican Party that divided Taft and Roosevelt and led to the formation of the Progressive Party, with Roosevelt as its 1912 presidential candidate (Wilderness.net - Gifford Pinchot). Despite the fact that Pinchot had stayed on as chief forester in the Taft administration, he began to criticize openly both Ballinger and Taft, claiming they were violating the fundamental principles of both conservation and democracy. With opposing point of views, Taft immediately fired Pinchot causing a stir in the media and created a scandal (Ballinger-Pinchot
Egan begins this story about the Big Burn of 1910 with the story of how the United States Forest Service came into existence. He says it came from a very odd partnership of two people: Teddy Roosevelt, and his chief forester, Gifford Pinchot. While they were very different they also shared many things in common. Both of them were born and raised by rich families in Manhattan. Much like Roos...
These two sides of the issue bring about a major controversy in America today. Should the Pacific Northwest’s old growth forests and the welfare of the Northern Spotted Owl be sacrificed for America’s economy, and the jobs of the people in the logging industry? Which should be placed at a higher value, the forests in the Pacific Northwest and the northern spotted owl, or the American economy and the jobs and welfare of thousands and thousands of people?
Muir and Roosevelt went to Yosemite and both realized that they had the same goal save the parks. First, they had to get there but how? President Roosevelt reached out to Muir to ask him if he would join him for a camping trip and be his guide “I don’t want anyone with me but you” Roosevelt said. Muir explained to Roosevelt that people were destroying these trees and wanted to save them.
The election of 1912 signified a turning point in American history. Friends, Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, competed against each other for the presidency. Though both progressive, they disagreed on how the country needed to run. Roosevelts ever increasing progressivism caused their stances on many important issues to be much different. Although, they did have some points on which they agreed.
United States. National Park Service. "Theodore Roosevelt and Conservation." National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, 06 Mar. 2014. Web. 04 Apr. 2014. .
Pinchot become known at the time as the man who saved U.S. forests. He introduced sustained-yield forestry---cutting no more in a year than the forests could produce new growth. Pinchot’s goal was to show private landowners that they could too can harvest trees without damaging the forest and graze livestock without denuding the range. He is known for reforming the management and development of forests in the U.S. Pinchot believed that it was important for people to depend on natural resources, and conservation must be utilitarian. The conservation movement was movement for all people and all people should control resources, not only few businesses. Pinchot believed in Government interference and regulation. He says, “The obvious and certain remedy is for the government to hold and control the public range until it can pass into hands of settlers who will make their homes upon it” (292). I like that he wants to get everybody’s attention and make them responsible for the future by saying,” The vast possibilities of our great future will become realities only if we make ourselves, in a sense, responsible for the future. The planned and orderly development and conservation of our natural resources is the first duty of the United States” (293).
The Forest Reserve Act reduced destructive logging and preserved watersheds which led to the establishment of national forests’.
The Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court in March 1857 was one of the major steps
The area of Black Forest was settled in pre-colonial times by numerous native Indian tribes like the Utes and the Comanche’s. These groups were eventually driven out by various other groups like the Arapahoe and Cheyenne tribes who prior to settlement drove out the native Kiowa tribes, the Arapahoe and Cheyenne consequently, were the last known native inhabitants of the area. These native tribes made great use of the land which was abundant with natural and valuable crops and trees. With vegetation such as the Ponderosa Pines which provided fuel and materials for building, and the corn and wheat crops used for multifaceted tools and cooking items, the various indigenous groups were well suited to their surrounding location. White settlers began to inhabit the area in earnest around the mid 1800’s and eventually became the dominant group of the range by the 1860’s. This eventually led to the perpetual settlement and commercialization of the area and it later became known for its lumber, cattle and crop farming, ranching, and potatoes. By the late 1880’s Black Forest was predominantly shipping out cattle, potatoes, crops such as corn, wheat and hay. However ...
This Roosevelt biography is written with an emphasis on tracing the role he played as a conservationist. This is important to understanding Roosevelt’s motivations in his decisions regarding business and the environment. Brinkley’s focus on Roosevelt’s crusade for the natural environment offers an alternative to an “anti-business” president. The book also details Roosevelt’s successes and legacy.
On August 31, 1910, former President Theodore Roosevelt visited Osawatomie, Kansas to give a speech and participate in a memorial dedication. (Hennessy, 1910). Roosevelt had declined to run for re-election to the presidency in 1908, deciding to exit politics and go on a yearlong African safari (Ellis, 2001, p. 284). Frustrated with President Taft’s actions, Roosevelt reentered political life in 1910 (Mowry, 1939). In the Osawatomie address, Roosevelt introduced his idea for a New Nationalism. Many of the speech’s components became the bedrock of the Bull Moose campaign used by the Progressive Party in the 1912 election (Spring, 1970). In the address, Roosevelt compares the struggle for economic equality to the one for abolition of slavery fought in the Civil War. He presents a plea for government and citizens to put nation before self to address economic injustice.
He was most noted for establishing the United States Forest Service and assembling five new national parks. Teddy provided 18 sites specifically for national monuments as well being influential to a variety of acts that were passed by Congress such as the Reclamation Act of 1902. With such a lasting impact on America, a large number of organizations are entitled after him such as the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership which is a non-profit organization guaranteeing quality in areas allowed to fish and hunt. Several wildlife conservatories find inspirations through all of Teddy’s accomplished task and leadership throughout his lifetime which shortly ended in 1919. As Roosevelt once said, “The wildlife and its habitat cannot speak, so we must and will.” And that’s exactly what he
In the last decade, from the Rockies to New England and the Deep South, rural and suburban areas have been beset by white-tailed deer gnawing shrubbery and crops, spreading disease and causing hundreds of thousands of auto wrecks. But the deer problem has proved even more profound, biologists say. Fast-multiplying herds are altering the ecology of forests, stripping them of native vegetation and eliminating niches for other wildlife. ' 'I don 't want to paint deer as Eastern devils, ' ' said Dr. McShea, a wildlife biologist associated with the National Zoo in Washington, ' 'but this is indicative of what happens when an ecosystem is out of whack. ' ' The damage is worse than anyone expected, he and other scientists say. Higher deer densities have affected growth, survival, and reproduction of many plant species which have aesthetic, economic or ecological value. In some cases, many species of trees have also been shown to have reduced growth as a result of high deer density (Environmental Benefits of Hunting, 1). Deer prefer certain plant species over others and frequently feed on economically valuable tree species. For example, they prefer oak and sugar maple seedlings, as well as acorns, over less palatable species like American Beech and striped maple. Thus, less marketable species are more likely to survive to maturity,
Humans have been changing the Western forests' fire system since the settlement by the Europeans and now we are experiencing the consequences of those changes. During the summer of 2002, 6.9 million acres of forests was burnt up in the West (Wildland Fires, 1). This figure is two times the ten year annual average, and it does not look like next summer will be any better (Wildfire Season, 1). Foresters have been trying to restore the forests back to their original conditions by thinning and prescribed fires but have encountered countless delays. Politicians are proposing sweeping changes in bills, which have caused great controversy, in efforts to correct the problems that the Forest Service has faced in restoration projects. Are these bills necessary or is there a better solution that politicians are overlooking?
The history of national parks, their establishment and propagation, demonstrates all three of these intervention principles. Until the early 1800s, the American public viewed nature and the wilderness as something to tame or overcome. Thanks in large part to artistic movements which portrayed unsettled lands as beautiful, public opinion evolved and gave rise to the moral imperative of preservation. In 1864 political, ethical, and economic reasons for intervention furnished momentum to legislation regarding Yosemite Valley; a California senator sponsored a bill which was eventually signed in to law by President Abraham Lincoln and would transfer national lands to the State for “preservation” and “public use, resort, and recreation” (The National Parks, 2005, p. 12-13). In this case, the ethical reason for intervention (land preservation) was largely supported by the American public and the contemporary shift in public opinion, additionally rendering it a political reason for intervention. As for economic reasons for intervention, the land was recognized as a n...