American Conservation Philosophy and its Critique

09_10.ppt American Conservation Philosophy and its Critique Professor Bob Sandmeyerbob.sandmeyer@uky.edu https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Two Remarks I have your second exam and am grading it now • "language, we can discuss this, if you'd like" • For those who want to come to my office hours next week to discuss the exam • Plagiarism / copying – an issue that could affect your grade • From text • From websites Email change • bob.sandmeyer@uky.edu • change affects only those things you email me from this point forward https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Review Conservation Philosophies II Leopold – Land Ethic; Collaborative Conservation https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Two: Conservation Philosophies II Aldo Leopold – The Land Ethic • What is land according to Leopold? • By what criteria does Leopold consider a thing (i.e., an act or a policy) right? Leopold – Collaborative Conservation • What lesson does the Coon Valley Cooperative teach? • What does conservation mean to Leopold? https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three Public Lands Agencies https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Public Lands Agencies; Wilderness Agencies • What are the major public lands agencies in the U.S. Federal Government? • Do the conservation philosophies discussed in the last unit define (in part or in whole) the mission statements of any of these agencies? Wilderness Act • What is the human place in wild nature as defined by the Act? • What agencies administer the wilderness areas as defined by this Act? https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies The Federal Government – A Primer • Three Branches of Government • The Legislature • The Executive • The Judiciary https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies The Federal Government • Three Branches of Government • The Judicial Branch • Function of Judiciary • Interpret the Constitution of the United States • Administer the Federal court system https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies The Federal Government • Three Branches of Government • The LegislativeBranch • "bicameral" – two chambers • House of Representatives (438) • The Senate (50) • Function of Legislature: • to write laws • establish the budget https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies The Federal Government • Three Branches of Government • The Executive Branch • Function: • sign legislative bills into law & execute laws of the nation • defense of the nation • foreign relations The Federal Lands Manager https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies US Lands Agencies • Department of Agriculture • USFS – United States Forest Service • Department of the Interior • NPS – National Park Service • BLM – Bureau of Land Management • USFWS – US Fish and Wildlife Service https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies USFS – the United States Forest Service • History • 1881, Forest Reserves Act signed into law • Division of Forestry established in the General Land Office (GLO) (in the Department of Interior) • SECTION 24—The President of the United States may, from time to time, set apart and reserve, in any state or territory having public land bearing forests, in any part of the public lands, wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not, as public reservations; and the President shall, by public proclamation, declare the establishment of such reservations and the limits thereof. • Chief of Division of Forestry, Bernhard Fernow. Replaced by Pinchot in 1898. https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies USFS – the United States Forest Service • History • 1897, the Pettigrew Amendment or "Organic Act" • provided that any new reserves would have to meet the criteria of forest protection, watershed protection, and timber production, thus providing the charter for managing the forest reserves, later called national forests, for more than 75 years. • Gifford Pinchot, hired in the summer of 1897, as a special forestry agent • Replaced Bernhard Fernow as Chief of Division of Forestry in 1898 https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies USFS – the United States Forest Service • History • 1881, Forest Reserves Act signed into law • Division of Forestry established in the General Land Office (GLO) • 1901, Division renamed Bureau of Forestry - Gifford Pinchot assigned as Chief Forester • 1905, forest reserves transferred from GLO to Department of Agriculture • 1907, forest reserves rename National Forests • 1911, the Weeks Act signed authorizing funding for purchases https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies USFS – the United States Forest Service • History • 1911, the Weeks Act signed • authorized additions to the public land base through purchase of private lands • 1990s, "ecosystem management" approach becomes official policy under G.H.W. Bush presidency • Integrated preservation and multiple-use conservation paradigms https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies NPS – the National Park Service • History • Yellowstone National Park, 1872 • Congress established Yellowstone National Park in the Territories of Montana and Wyoming "as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people" and placed it "under exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior." • The founding of Yellowstone National Park began a worldwide national park movement. Today more than 100 nations contain some 1,200 national parks or equivalent preserves. https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies NPS – the National Park Service • History • Yosemite Park • 1864: Valley ceded to the state of California by Lincoln • 1890: Mountains around valley designated a national park • 1906: Valley receded to federal authority • 1906 – Earthquake and great fire of San Francisco • 1913: Raker act, authorized a dame for water and power for San Francisco in Yosemite Park’s HetchHetchy Valley https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies Two years after the death of John Muir • On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the National Park Service • 40 national parks and monuments then in existence NPS – the National Park Service • The "Organic Act" of 1916 • "The service thus established shall promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks, monuments, and reservations hereinafter specified by such means and measures as conform to the fundamental purposes of the said parks, monuments, and reservations, which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies NPS – the National Park Service • The "Organic Act" of 1916 • Secretary of Interior may • sell or dispose of timber … in order to control the attacks of insects or diseases • provide … for the destruction of … animals and of … plant life • grant privileges, leases, and permits … for periods not exceeding thirty years • Such private leases may not interfere with free access by the public • grant privilege to graze livestock • grant contracts and leases to private companies within the system https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies NPS – the National Park Service • Additions – National Park designation • generally made through Acts of Congress • national parks can be created only through such acts. • The Secretary of the Interior is usually asked by Congress for recommendations on proposed additions to the System. The Secretary is counseled by the National Park System Advisory Board, composed of private citizens, which advises on possible additions to the System and policies for its management https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies NPS – the National Park Service • Additions – The Antiquities Act of 1906 • POTUS has authority, under the Antiquities Act of 1906, to proclaim national monuments on lands already under federal jurisdiction. • signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt • Authorizes presidents to proclaim and reserve "historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest" on lands owned or controlled by the United States as "national monuments." https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies NPS – the National Park Service • Other important acts • Reorganization of 1933 • Franklin Roosevelt signed two important executive orders transferring • War Department's parks and monuments to NPS • USFS National Monuments to NPS • Preservation of Historical Sites Act of 1935 • Wilderness Act of 1964 • Endangered Species Act of 1973 https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies USFWS – US Fish and Wildlife Service • History • 1871, U.S. Commission on Fish and Fisheriescreated • 1896, Division of Biological Survey formed • 1900 – Lacey Act bars shipment or importation of wildlife • 1903, Pres. Th. Roosevelt establishes first wildlife refuge, Pelican Island National Bird Reservation • 1905, Bureau of Biological Survey (BBS) established in Department of Agriculture https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies USFWS – US Fish and Wildlife Service • History • 1905, Bureau of Biological Survey (BBS) established in Department of Agriculture • 1913, The Federal Migratory Bird Law • 1929, Migratory Bird Conservation Act • 1931, Animal Damage Control Act https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies USFWS – US Fish and Wildlife Service • History • 1933, Aldo Leopold writes Game Management • 1934, Division of Game Management created in BBS • 1936, Bureau of Fisheries hires Rachel Carson • Carson publishes Silent Spring (1962) – beginning of US environmental movement • 1940, Fish and Wildlife Service established in Dept. of Interior • Combined Bureau of Fisheries and Bureau of Biological Survey • 1956, The Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies USFWS – US Fish and Wildlife Service • History • 1973, Endangered Species Act • Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service in charge of enforcing it. • 1980, Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies BLM – Bureau of Land Management • History • 1812, General Land Office established within the Treasury Department • 1862 • Homestead Act entitles Western settlers to 160 acres of public land • Transcontinental Railroad Act – right-of-way & land rights https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies BLM – Bureau of Land Management • History • 1872, General Mining Law • 1877, Desert Land Act • 1878, Timber and Stone Act • 1934, Taylor Grazing Act • authorizes grazing districts, regulation of grazing, and public rangeland improvements in Western states (excluding Alaska) • establishes Division of Grazing within the Department of the Interior https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Lands Agencies BLM – Bureau of Land Management • History • 1946, BLM established in Department of Interior • consolidation of General Land Office and U.S. Grazing Service https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three See next presentation The Wilderness Act of 1964 https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

Unit Three: Public Lands Agencies Agencies • What are the major public lands agencies in the U.S. Federal Government? • Do the conservation philosophies discussed in the last unit define (in part or in whole) the mission statements of any of these agencies? Wilderness Act • What is the human place in wild nature as defined by the Act? • What agencies administer the wilderness areas as defined by this Act? https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

American Conservation Philosophy and its Critique