1872-1889
1872-1889
1872
Congress passes "An Act to set apart a certain Tract of Land lying near the Head-waters of the Yellowstone River as a public Park,", thus establishing Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, the first in the history of the nation and of the world; the Report of the Superintendent of the Yellowstone National
Park for the Year 1872, published the following year, provides a portrait of
the new park at its birth.
At the initiative of J. Sterling Morton of the State Board of Agriculture,
Nebraska observes "Tree-Planting Day" on April 10, inaugurating the tradition
which soon becomes known as Arbor Day. By 1907, Arbor Day is observed annually
in every State in the Union, most importantly in the nation's schools, where
(as revealed in works such as the 1893 booklet Arbor Day Leaves), it provides
several generations of young Americans with their most significant training in
conservation principles and practice.
1872-74
In a reflection of strong popular interest in American scenery, including
wilderness scenery, the Appleton Company publishes Picturesque America; or,
The Land We Live In, ed. William Cullen Bryant, a massive 2-volume work
containing reports and descriptions of scenic places along with superb
engravings based on the work of noted artists; the work circulates widely,
creating enduringly influential popular images of some of the nation's most
famous scenic spots.
1873
Under the influence of Marsh's Man and Nature; or, Physical Geography as
Modified by Human Action, Franklin B. Hough reads a paper at the annual
meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in
Portland, Maine, entitled "On the Duty of Governments in the Preservation of
Forests;" this inspires the Association to prepare and submit a Memorial on
forest preservation to Congress, which initiates Congressional interest in
forest protection.
Initial publication of Forest and Stream magazine, which--especially under the
leadership of George Bird Grinnell, senior editor and publisher from 1880 to
1911--becomes the major American sportsmen's magazine by the turn of the
century and a forum for conservation advocacy.
Congress passes "An Act to encourage the Growth of Timber on western
Prairies", known as the Timber Culture Act, granting settlers 160-acre plots
if they have cultivated trees on one-fourth of the land for ten years; the act
reveals the growing public concern with conservation of forest resources,
though it ultimately proves unenforceable and is repealed in 1891.
mid-1870s
Scribner's Monthly publishes reports from the Western expeditions led by
Nathaniel P. Langford, Ferdinand V. Hayden, T.C. Evert, John Wesley Powell,
and others; these greatly stimulate interest in the natural beauties of the
West.
1874-75
Typifying the increasing popular interest in wild nature as a resource for
human recreation, Scribner's Monthly publishes articles advocating the virtues
of family camping in various spots throughout the country.
1875
American Forestry Association founded by concerned botanists and
horticulturalists; before c.1900, it emphasizes appreciation and protection of
trees rather than forestry as an economic problem.
Congress passes "An act to protect ornamental and other trees on Government
reservations and on lands purchased by the United States, and for other
purposes," forbidding the unauthorized cutting or injury of trees on
government property.
1876
John Muir publishes "God's First Temples: How Shall We Preserve Our Forests?,"
one of his earliest pieces of published writing, in the Sacramento
Record-Union; in it, he suggests the necessity for government protection of
forests.
The Appalachian Mountain Club is founded in Boston, emphasizing a sense of
stewardship toward the New England mountain wilds as part of its
organizational philosophy; it is one of the nation's first and most important
private conservation-related organizations.
After Congress allocates $2,000 in a Department of Agriculture appropriations
bill for "some man of approved attainments" to report to Congress on forestry
matters, Franklin B. Hough is appointed first Federal forestry agent, with the
task of gathering statistics about the state of the nation's forests.
1877
Carl Schurz begins a four-year term as Secretary of the Interior; under his
leadership, the Department of the Interior takes an active interest in
conservation issues for the first time, and Schurz himself advocates
far-sighted conservation policies, such as the creation of forest reserves and
a Federal forest service.
Congress passes "An act to provide for the sale of desert lands in certain
States and Territories," known as the Desert Land Act, offering claimants up
to 640 acres at $1.25 an acre if they have irrigated them.
1878
John Wesley Powell, then the geologist in charge of the U.S. Geographical and
Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, publishes Report on the Lands
of the Arid Region of the United States, a pioneering work recognizing the
West's unique environmental character, advocating irrigation and conservation
efforts in it, and calling for the distribution of Western lands to settlers
on a democratic and environmentally realistic basis.
Franklin B. Hough begins to issue a landmark four-volume Report upon Forestry
to Congress, the first fruit of the Federal government's nascent forestry
activities and a wide-ranging survey of information and issues pertinent to
the management of the nation's forests.
1879
Congress passes a sub-section of an appropriations bill officially
establishing the U.S. Geological Survey as a bureau of the Interior
Department, with responsibility for "the classification of the public lands."
Congress authorizes the appointment of a Public Lands Commission to review
Federal public land policy; members include John Wesley Powell, Clarence
Dutton, and Clarence King. The Commission spends several months travelling in
the West, surveying land use; late in the year, it submits a Report to
Congress expressing differing views among the Commissioners on how to
rationalize land policy, however all its recommendations are ignored by
Congress.
1880s
The American Forestry Association and the American Association for the
Advancement of Science advocate designation of Western timberlands as
permanent public reservations.
1880
At the direction of the New York State Legislature, a commission led by State
Survey Director James T. Gardner and Frederick Law Olmsted prepares a Special
Report... on the Preservation of the Scenery of Niagara Falls, advocating
State purchase, restoration and preservation through public ownership of the
scenic lands surrounding Niagara Falls. Accompanied by a Memorial to the
governor signed by more than a hundred prominent citizens, this Report defines
the direction of the public campaign to save the beauties of Niagara.
1881
Division of Forestry provisionally established in the Department of
Agriculture, with Franklin B. Hough as its first chief; until the Pinchot era,
its role is largely confined to dispensing information and technical advice.
The remaining volumes of the Report upon Forestry are issued until 1884 under
Hough and his successor, Nathaniel H. Egleston.
1882
In this and the preceding year, the campaign to save Niagara through the
creation of a state-owned reserve is energized by the publication in New York
and Boston newspapers of a series of letters calling attention to the dangers
threatening Niagara's scenery; the 1882 letters, by Jonathan Baxter Harrison,
also circulate in the form of a pamphlet entitled "The Condition of Niagara
Falls, and the Measures Needed to Preserve Them".
Clarence Edward Dutton publishes "The Physical Geology of the Grand Canon
District" in the Second Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey,
a precise and beautifully discerning account of a remarkable natural region
which demonstrates the exceptional scientific and even literary merit of many
of the government-sponsored scientific survey reports published in this era.
American Forestry Congresses meet in Cincinnati and Montreal.
The Wheelman, a magazine for enthusiasts of the new bicycling craze, begins
publication; it subsequently publishes a number of articles urging the
enjoyment of bicycle touring to wild and scenic spots, reflecting the growing
interest in nature-based recreation in America.
George Perkins Marsh dies in Italy, where he has been serving as U.S. Minister
since 1861; his grave is in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome. At the time of
his death, he is working on additional revisions to the latest edition of Man
and Nature (which he had retitled The Earth as Modified by Human Action).
1883
The American Ornithologists' Union, a professional society dedicated to bird
protection, founded in New York City; like the first Audubon Society (founded
in 1886 by George Bird Grinnell, though it lasted only two years), this
reflects the growing concern with birds and bird protection in American
culture.
1884
Undertaking his research under the influence of Marsh's Man and Nature,
Charles Sprague Sargent, the visionary director of Harvard University's Arnold
Arboretum, publishes a Report on the Forests of North America (Exclusive of
Mexico) as part of the Tenth Census; in addition to important scientific
information, this influential work warns of the need to reform destructive
timber management policies.
1885
New York State establishes the Adirondack Forest Preserve, stipulating that it
"shall be kept forever as wild forest lands": a milestone in conservation
legislation.
Formal opening (July 15) of New York State Reservation at Niagara, including a
speech by James C. Carter, later published in pamphlet form, which links the
spiritual importance of scenery to a philosophy of public preservation; the
Reservation is a precedent-setting attempt to preserve scenic beauty while
accommodating natural-resource use, and the capstone of a citizen campaign of
conservation advocacy.
1886
In an appropriations bill for the Department of Agriculture, Congress creates
the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy, and grants the Division of
Forestry permanent status within the Department; C. Hart Merriam heads the
Economic Ornithology Division, and Bernhard E. Fernow is Forestry Division
chief.
1887
Exemplifying the significance of sportsmen as conservationists, George Bird
Grinnell and Theodore Roosevelt found the Boone and Crockett Club, which plays
a major role in associating big-game hunters with the conservation movement;
the Club eventually publishes several volumes of writings on hunting and
conservation, including American Big Game In Its Haunts: The Book of the Boone
and Crockett Club, in 1904.
Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux prepare a detailed plan for the
restoration of the landscape immediately surrounding Niagara Falls; published
as a Supplemental Report of the Commissioners of the State Reservation at
Niagara, the plan shows how the challenges and paradoxes posed by scenic
preservation and the accommodation of visitors in a carefully-conserved
natural setting intersected with those of the emerging profession of landscape
architecture, of which Olmsted was the nation's greatest practitioner.
Charles Sprague Sargent founds and directs Garden and Forest, a literate,
thoughtful, and informative weekly which does much to foster awareness of and
interest in American forests, trees, horticulture, landscape design, and
scenic preservation during the ten years of its publication.
In an early act of wildlife conservation, Congress passes legislation granting
the Seal Rocks off Point Lobos to San Francisco in trust for the people of the
United States, on condition that the city "shall keep said rocks free from
encroachment by man, and shall preserve from molestation the seals and other
animals now accustomed to resort there."
1889
William Temple Hornaday publishes The Extermination of the American Bison, a
report to the Secretary of the Smithsonian which had originally been printed
in the Smithsonian's annual report for 1887, severely criticizing the
near-extermination of bison in the West, and advocating protection of what
remained of the herds.
Congress passes "An act to provide for the protection of the salmon fisheries
of Alaska," the first of several such Federal statutory attempts to protect
this economically valuable resource.
1889-91
Editorials by Robert Underwood Johnson in Century magazine help turn public
opinion in favor of Federal forest conservation.
Photos by daxphotography.com