Conservation of natural resources

DEFINITION: Planned use of natural resources to benefit the maximum number of people for as long as possible

The goals of conservation often conflict with the drive toward the exploitation of natural resources for immediate economic gain and also with the ethic of preservation, which promotes the indefinite preservation of natural resources in their undisturbed state.

For centuries few people recognized that nature’s resources are finite. Only since the mid-nineteenth century has the issue of conserving resources been taken seriously. In North America, the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were largely devoted to conquering the wilderness. As pioneers cleared forests, little or no thought was given to the idea that they could ever be exhausted. Bison and other animals were hunted nearly to extinction, and bounties were placed on wolves and other predators. In the seas, millions of seals were killed, and whales were hunted relentlessly.

Almost too late, it became apparent to many people that soils were being depleted by and that once-plentiful native plant and wildlife populations were in decline. Even the quality of air, surface water, and deteriorated. An increasing number of people began calling for an end to environmentally destructive practices. An important influence was that of diplomat and naturalist George Perkins Marsh, whose travels had made him keenly aware of the results of centuries of land abuse in Europe. Marsh’s book Man and Nature: Or, Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action (1864) defined the connections among soil, water, and vegetation. From such influences came the public park movement, including the establishment of Yellowstone National Park.

Emergence of the Modern

During the early twentieth century, the living standards of most Americans generally improved, but at the same time it was recognized that consumption of natural resources had to be controlled. Out of this realization emerged a human-centered conservation philosophy known as wise use, which dictated that human beings should use nature in such a way that its resources could continue to be used over long periods of time.

Among the conservationists of the era were US president Theodore Roosevelt and forester Gifford Pinchot. Roosevelt increased the extent of the national forests in the United States and created many wildlife refuges. Pinchot, a friend and associate of Roosevelt, became chief forester of the US Department of Agriculture and greatly influenced the conservation movement. He applied European methods of managing forests that were consistent with the wise-use philosophy. This put him in conflict with naturalist John Muir and others who wished to preserve wilderness areas in their natural state. Two opposing camps developed: On one side were preservationists, who argued that nature deserves to be protected for its own sake; on the other were conservationists, who believed in regulated exploitation.

During the 1920s and 1930s, scientific advances and economic problems influenced conservation views and policies. The ecosystem concept, the principle that nature is composed of local units with interacting living and nonliving components, developed. It was to become the cornerstone of the science of and an important tool of conservation. During this same period, a new, scientific approach to wildlife management emerged. Aldo Leopold, regarded as the father of the new science, wrote the influential textbook Game Management (1933), although he is better known today for his collection of essays A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There, which was published in 1949, soon after Leopold’s death. Paul B. Sears achieved prominence with Deserts on the March (1935), which vividly dramatized the problems of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

The conservation legacy of President Franklin D. Roosevelt includes his attempts to restore the depressed US economy by creating various work programs, including the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Many of these programs were aimed at soil conservation, reforestation, and flood control.

Postwar Developments

In the two decades following World War II, concerns about the Cold War and economic expansion kept conservation far from the forefront of American thought. As the rapidly expanded, air and water worsened, grasslands became overgrazed, and agricultural chemicals were used in increasing quantities. The complacency of the times was shattered by the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962), which warned that and other pesticides were threatening the lives of animals and humans. The book caused widespread public concern, and laws were ultimately passed that outlawed DDT in the United States.

Under President John F. Kennedy’s administration, attention was given once more to environmental issues in general and to conservation. Funds were appropriated to improve air quality, and new land was acquired for parks. Stewart Udall, secretary of the interior under Kennedy and his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, advocated a new positive attitude toward protection of the environment. During the 1960s, a time of great scientific activity and social ferment, ecologists employed advanced technologies in conducting analyses. Among the social movements of the decade was a new environmentalism, which culminated in the first Earth Day celebration in 1970.

The 1970s saw the expansion of environmentalism, and the term “environmentalism” came to be understood as almost synonymous with “conservation.” The former clear distinction between the terms “conservation” and “preservation” was blurred. Environmental organizations continued to elaborate their views and increase their visibility. More action-oriented alternative groups used sabotage tactics to stop development in wilderness areas. In contrast, the Nature Conservancy became known for its businesslike policy of acquisition, protection, and management of natural areas. In response to the growing awareness of environmental issues among Americans, a new round of federal legislation was passed. Under President Richard Nixon, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created in 1970. The revised Clean Air Act of 1970 was followed by the Clean Water Act of 1972, and in 1973 Congress enacted the Endangered Species Act.

Policy and Politics

The 1980s were marked by new conservation problems and a general indifference at the federal level in the United States. Among the global problems identified were stratospheric ozone depletion and global warming. Reversals of environmental protections occurred during the administration of President Ronald Reagan after he appointed James Watt as secretary of the interior. Watt attempted to dismantle many of the environmental protection programs that had been put in place during the previous decades.

The 1990s had their own environmental challenges and successes. After twelve years of apathy, conservationists were reinvigorated by the election of Bill Clinton as president and high-profile environmentalist Al Gore as vice president. Despite continued optimism among environmentalists and significant gains in environmental protections, however, an antienvironmental movement also developed. Many politically conservative individuals and organizations began to assert that environmentalism had gone too far. Business leaders and property owners complained of overregulation, and even some religious authorities expressed concerns that nature had been elevated in importance above humans. Nevertheless, the majority of Americans continued to feel that nature deserves to be protected. The late twentieth century saw a growing awareness of the importance of and increasing support for the idea that all species should be protected against extinction. From this trend emerged the value-laden science of conservation biology.

Under the presidency of George W. Bush, the early twenty-first century was marked by business- and industry-friendly policies that diminished protections for wildlife and the environment. However, in the final month of his administration, Bush took the historic action of designating three areas of the Pacific Ocean as marine national monuments. This status protects the Marianas Trench, Pacific Remote Islands, and Rose Atoll marine national monuments from destruction or extraction of their resources, dumping, and commercial fishing.

In April 2010, President Barack Obama held a national conservation conference that echoed one convened by President Theodore Roosevelt more than a century earlier. Dubbed America’s Great Outdoors Initiative, Obama’s conference took into account the developed, urban, and populous nature of the country. The twenty-first century strategy for the nation that came out of the conference proposed partnerships among government, nonprofit organizations, and private landowners for land preservation efforts that would be smaller in scale than national parks and designated wilderness areas and thus less likely to encounter heated political opposition. However, many of these conservations were overturned during the administration of Donald Trump but reinstated during President Joe Biden's tenure, during which his administration set a goal of conserving 30 percent of US land and water by 2030. The Biden administration in 2024 announced that an important milestone had been reached: one-third of US ocean waters had been conserved.

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