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Cox Book (1997) Revised 21 August 2009
History of Conservation (Chapter 2)
Background of Western Conservation Attitudes-
-book mentions historic Judeo-Christian tradition that nature was put here on this Earth to be used and dominated by humans; ideas are tempered by political, economic, philosophic ideas; interesting reading; read it.
Conservation: Cycles of Crisis and Activity
- book divides last 1.5 centuries into 5 major "eras", each about 10-15 years long:
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1. Disappearance of the Eastern Wilderness (1850-1865)
- eastern forests and wilderness were gone
- Darwin's ideas on natural selection published - Origin of Species (1859)
- time of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
- Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
- Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) - he grew up in rural New York, visited Europe and got interested in parks; he won competition for best design of landscape and got the opportunity to create Central Park in NY - project carried out between 1857-1861
2. Closing of the Western Frontier, 1890 - 1905
- North America was settled (especially the US)
- in 1891 - a system of national forests was established under the administration of the US Dept of the Interior
- 1898 - a Division of Forestry was created within the US Dept of Agriculture
- first director of the Division of Forestry was Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946) who was a forester trained in Europe where forestry had a long history
- in 1905, the National Forests themselves were transferred to the US Dept of Agriculture and the present administrative structure of the US Forest Service was established
- between 1889 and 1897, Presidents Benjamin Harrison and Grover Cleveland designated 36 million acres of National Forests
between 1901 and 1909, Teddy Roosevelt added 148 million acres, creating a system of 150 National Forests throughout the US
- in 1902, US Bureau of Reclamation was created
- 1903 - the US National Wildlife Refuge System was started with the Pelican Island Refuge in Florida
- US Parks and Monuments expanded
- 1872 - Yellowstone National Park created (1st one)
- in 1890's, Sequoia, Yosemite, and Mt. Rainier National Parks were created; some 20 or so national monuments were created (including Mt. Lassen and the Grand Canyon)
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3. The Dust Bowl Era, 1930-1940
- Tennessee Valley and the Great Plains were marginal for farming; poorly regulated settlement schemes were being used
- 1929 - Great Depression started
- 1930's - idea of ecosystem came about
- Aldo Leopold (1987-1962) - see other notes
- he was a trained forester
- spent early career in Arizona and New Mexico
- interests shifted to management of wildlife in forests and other ecosystems
- he first espoused predator control to help game species; but he later changed his mind
- became Professor of Wildlife Management at University of Wisconsin
- wrote Game Management (1933)
- in 1935, he helped found The Wilderness Society
- P. B. Sears - influential writer-naturalist; from Ohio (1891- 1989)
- Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) - organized in 1933 - to revitalize this impoverished area, control flooding, make electricity
- Soil Conservation Service (SCS) - formed in 1935 - created to control erosion and promote techniques of evaluating land capability
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4. The Explosion of Population and Environmental Pollution, 1960-1975
- post WWII - new chemicals, plastics, and technology
- Eugene and Howard Odum - 1950's did lots of measured and modeled energy flow through ecosystems
- Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire (Bormann and Likens 1967) - famous experiments on nutrient cycling through a watershed
- Rachel Carson (1907-1964)
- wrote The Sea Around Us (1951)
- wrote Silent Spring (1962) - about pesticide danger
(this book was very controversial - nobody to date had questioned the chemical/pesticide companies; she got "things stirred up"; many of the dangers she predicted have happened)
- she was a writer by training and a naturalist by avocation
- she was editor-in-chief of publications for the US Fish and Wildlife Service
- Paul Ehrlich - Professor of Biology at Stanford University
- wrote The Population Bomb (1968) - about overpopulation - also very controversial
- Wilderness Act of 1964 - set up wilderness areas system in US
- 1970 - US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established
- National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 - said you need an environmental assessment for projects involving federal support or approval
- Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1973 - created current system of designation, protection, and recovery of endangered species
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5. The Biodiversity Crisis, 1990-????
- Edward O. Wilson - famous for his studies in sociobiology, insect behavior, island biogeography, biodiversity - read p. 17
- mentions (read about):
- GIS (Geographic Information Systems)
- spatially explicit models (pop. dynamics models)
- Natural Heritage Programs
- GAP Analysis
- National Biological Service (NBS)
- Society for Conservation Biology