Conservation, Preservation and the National Parks

Home , Hetch Hetchy, John Muir, Pinnacles National Park, Stephen Mather

bria_28_4:Layout 1 4/19/2013 3:55 PM Page 1 Bill of Rights Constitutional Rights in Action Foundation SUMMER 2013 Volume 28 No 4 CONSERVATION, PRESERVATION, AND THE NATIONAL PARKS

iiei Commons Wikimedia THE U.S. NATIONAL PARKS SYSTEM BEGAN IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY. OVER TIME, THE RATIONALE FOR NA- TIONAL PARKS HAS EXPANDED FROM SIMPLY MAINTAINING SCENERY FOR TOURISTS TO RESTORING ORIGINAL ECOSYSTEMS. The Eastern United States shares with Canada one of the world’s most spectacular places in nature: Niagara Falls. By the 1830s, most of the land next to the falls on the American side was privately owned and fenced. Tourists crowded into commercial viewing areas and souvenir shops. Those disheartened by the spoiling of this natural wonder referred to it as “the shame of Niagara Falls.” By the mid-1800s, most of the land in the Eastern U.S. was in private hands. But in the West, the federal government owned vast stretches of land. There the idea of national parks took root. First National Parks The beauty of California’s Yosemite Valley stunned early visitors to the area. They saw massive U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (left) and naturalist John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, cliffs, a rock dome sheared in half, stand on Glacier Point, Calif. Yosemite Falls is on the left. and one waterfall plunging 2,245 feet, the highest in North America. When settlers began claiming THE ENVIRONMENT land in Yosemite Valley, a public This edition of Bill of Rightsin Action focuses on the environment. The first outcry arose to protect it and also to article examines how the national park system developed in the United States. The second article profiles Rachel Carson, the author of Silent Spring, and preserve a nearby grove of giant se- explores her influence on the modern environmental movement. quoia trees threatened by loggers. U.S. History: Conservation, Preservation, and the National Parks Many feared a repeat of the shame of Niagara. In 1864, Congress and U.S. History: Rachel Carson and the Modern Environmental Movement

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President Abraham Lincoln en- In 1872, Congress and President Roosevelt lobbied Congress to acted a law that handed Yosemite Ulysses Grant made Yellowstone pass the Yellowstone Game Protec- over to California to manage as a the first national park — not only tion Act of 1894, which strength- state park for “public use, resort, in the U.S., but in the world. The ened enforcement of laws against and recreation.” law set aside 3,500 square miles of illegal hunting in the park. This ex- In 1868, John Muir arrived in federal land as “a public park or panded the rationale for national California. An expert on plants who pleasuring ground for the benefit parks beyond protecting scenery to had hiked many wilderness areas in and enjoyment of the people.” also protecting wildlife. the U.S., he discovered the wonders Meanwhile, John Muir was lob- of Yosemite. Muir published articles bying for Yosemite to be returned Saving the Wilderness on his spiritual experiences in the to federal control and made a na- Theodore Roosevelt had been a wilderness and also wrote scientific tional park. He made the same sickly child, but had relied on papers. Contradicting most geolo- “worthless lands” argument that willpower to force himself to gists, he argued correctly that gla- Hayden had used for Yellowstone. become, in his word, “manly.” He ciers had formed the Yosemite In 1890, Congress created three hunted, fished, hiked, and em- Valley. His fame as a naturalist California national parks. The Se- braced the outdoor life. After grad- spread throughout the U.S. quoia and General Grant (later uating from Harvard, he traveled Yosemite did not become Amer- King’s Canyon) parks protected throughout the West and started a ica’s first national park. That honor groves of giant redwoods. Yosemite ranch in North Dakota. went to Yellowstone, located National Park included mountain In 1890, the U.S. Census Bu- mainly in northwest Wyoming. and forest areas but not the spec- reau announced the West had been Reports of Yellowstone’s regu- tacular Yosemite Valley or nearby largely settled and the frontier had larly erupting water geysers, steam- Mariposa Grove of sequoias. They come to an end. This got Roosevelt ing rivers, and bubbling mud pools remained in California’s hands. thinking about the importance of had been dismissed as “Yellow- Disappointed, Muir founded the holding on to what was left of stone hallucinations” for many Sierra Club, in part to work toward America’s wilderness. years. Finally, a U.S. government including these jewels of nature When President William expedition led by geologist Ferdi- within the park. McKinley was assassinated in 1901, nand Hayden in 1871 documented Vice President Roosevelt moved these fantastic features and more. When settlers began into the White House. His top Hayden became the leading ad- wilderness priority was to make vocate for Congress to preserve Yel- claiming land in Yosemite Arizona’s Grand Canyon a national lowstone as a national park. He Valley, a public outcry park. But fierce opposition from warned against business interests local miners, ranchers, loggers, and planning to enter Yellowstone “to arose to protect it and tourist businesses killed his pro- fence in these rare wonders so as posal in Congress. to charge visitors a fee as is now also to preserve a nearby In 1903, Roosevelt toured the done at Niagara Falls.” West by train. At the Grand During the debate in Congress grove ofgiant sequoia Canyon, he pleaded with Arizo- over creating Yellowstone National trees threatened nans to “keep this great wonder of Park, many had to be convinced nature as it now is.” He then vis- that the federal public land in- by loggers. ited California and joined John volved was useless for home- Muir in a campout under the stars steading, farming, ranching, In 1887, Theodore Roosevelt, at Yosemite. Muir spent his time mining, lumbering, or other eco- then a federal civil servant, helped with Roosevelt arguing for the re- nomic purposes. For them, public organize the Boone and Crockett turn of the Yosemite Valley and lands were meant to be sold or Club. Originally for rich big game Mariposa Grove of giant trees to leased for settlement and their re- hunters, the club supported the cre- federal control as part of Yosemite sources. Hayden argued that Yel- ation of national parks as essential National Park. lowstone’s high altitude, harsh refuges for endangered wildlife. The In 1906, Roosevelt persuaded climate, and poor soil made it club took up the cause of saving a Congress to include the Yosemite Val- “worthless lands” except for their small herd of the vanishing buffalo ley and Mariposa Grove within park scenery and natural wonders. in Yellowstone National Park. boundaries. But he grew frustrated

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by how long it took Congress to act and to approve new national parks he wanted like Grand Canyon. Congressman John F. Lacy (R- Iowa) became an ally of Roosevelt. A supporter of protecting cliff dwellings and other ruins of the ancient southwest pueblo people, he designed a bill modeled after an 1871 law that had given the president the power to create national forests on his own. The Antiquities

Act of 1906 gave the president the National Park Service authority to protect “historic land- A park ranger atop his car, c. 1935, keeps an eye on a herd of bison. marks, historic preservation struc- or expand national monuments, na- home, that wildness is a neces- tures, and other objects of scientific tional forests, game preserves, and sity, and that mountain parks interest” on public land as national bird reservations. Altogether, he left and reservations are useful not monuments. an astounding legacy: five national only as fountains of timber and The Antiquities Act proved to parks, 18 national monuments, 150 irrigating rivers, but as foun- be just the legal tool Roosevelt national forests (created or en- tains of life. needed to bypass Congress and larged), 51 bird reservations, and Pinchot and Muir became speed up the protection of Amer- four national game preserves. ica’s natural and man-made her- friends and allies during numerous itage. Within a year, he created Conservation vs. Preservation trips in the West. But they clashed seven national monuments by ex- In 1905, President Roosevelt bitterly when San Francisco pro- ecutive order such as New Mex- had put Gifford Pinchot in charge posed to dam the river running ico’s Chaco Canyon, the largest of the new U.S. Forest Service, through the Hetch Hetchy Valley of U.S. archaeological site of ancient which took over management of Yosemite National Park in order to pueblo ruins. the national forests. Pinchot had create a city water reservoir. Then, in 1908, Roosevelt de- studied forestry at Yale and in Eu- Preservationists like Muir declared Grand Canyon an “object of rope and was America’s first pro- scribed Hetch Hetchy as almost a unusual scientific interest” and fessional forest expert. twin to the magnificent Yosemite made it a national monument. In 1907, Pinchot proposed the Valley. But unlike it, Hetch Hetchy Shortly after he did this, Roosevelt word “conservation” to describe was a truly wild place not yet appealed to Americans that places Roosevelt’s wilderness protection spoiled by tourism. Preservationists like Grand Canyon should be “pre- campaign. Pinchot believed, and feared that if the Hetch Hetchy dam served for their children and their Roosevelt agreed, that federal was built, all the national parks children’s children forever, with lands, even national parks, should could be threatened by demands their majestic beauty all un- be useful by giving up valuable re- for their resources. marred.” sources when needed. In fact, this Conservationist Pinchot backed Before Congress realized it, had always been the prevailing San Francisco, arguing that na- Roosevelt was using the Antiquities view in Congress when national tional parks should be used to ben- Act to protect natural and historic parks were proposed. efit the people. Many asked why sites from private exploitation Preservationists like John Muir, scenery should be more important while awaiting full national park however, thought that mountains, than the growing needs of a city. protection. Under the Antiquities forests, and other wild places Both sides appealed to Presi- Act, the rationale for national parks should be left alone. He defended dent Roosevelt. In the end, he sup- again expanded to include protec- the usefulness of national parks in ported his trusted adviser Pinchot tion for places with historic and a different way: over his friend Muir. The fight scientific importance. Thousands of tired, nerve- dragged on until 1913 when Presi- In the last months of his second shaken, over-civilized people dent Woodrow Wilson signed the term, Roosevelt went on a frenzy, are beginning to find out that law that approved construction of using his executive powers to create going to the mountains is going the dam.

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about such things as fighting all fires in the parks and removing predators like wolves. He con- cluded that park environments and wildlife should be largely left alone to take their natural course without interference from humans. In 1933, Wright was appointed to head a new NPS wildlife divi- sion. He immediately began to hire biologists to work on habitat protection. Tragically, he was killed in an auto crash two years later, and the NPS lost interest in his ideas. Restoring Ecosystems After World War II, with the dra- matic expansion of the national highway system, national parks became more popular than ever. Over- crowding led to demands for more Visitors to Cuyahoga Valley National Park (in Ohio) learn from a park ranger. roads and visitor facilities. But preservationists began to argue as The National Park Service parks self-supporting by promot- George Wright did that healthy park Well into the 20th century, the ing tourism. He encouraged park ecosystems were more important national parks had no single fed- hotels built by the railroads, roads than additional parking lots. eral agency to manage them. Re- for automobile access, and private In 1963, a team of scientists sponsibility was split among the concessions like restaurants and studied NPS wildlife management Department of the Interior, the For- tourist cabins. He supported park policies. The scientists recom- est Service, and the War Depart- tourist attractions like the giant se- mended restoring park ecosystems ment, which sent cavalry units to quoia with a car tunnel, bear feed- as much as possible back to their build roads and guard against ille- ing shows, and Yosemite’s “firefall” original natural condition. Congress gal hunting. where a stream of burning embers responded to this new thinking by After their Hetch Hetchy defeat, were dropped at night from Glacier passing the Wilderness Act of 1964. preservationists began to lobby for a Point to the valley far below. Wilderness areas established within new government agency dedicated Mather also introduced park national parks and other protected to protecting and promoting the na- rangers and championed new na- areas were to remain wild without tional parks. The preservationists tional parks such as Alaska’s roads or motorized vehicles. gained an unexpected ally in politi- Mount McKinley, Hawaii Volca- Following Alaska statehood in cally powerful railroads that wanted noes, and Arcadia in Maine, the 1959, a major battle erupted among to transport tourists to the parks. first park created east of the Mis- the state’s residents, native peoples, In 1916, Congress established sissippi. In 1919, he helped get commercial interests, and preserva- the National Park Service (NPS). Its Congress to finally upgrade Grand tionists over the distribution of mil- mission was to maintain the na- Canyon to a national park. lions of acres of federal land. Much of tional parks for the “enjoyment” of In the late 1920s, George it was untouched by humans and the people while leaving the parks Wright, a young naturalist at teeming with wildlife. The preserva- “unimpaired” for future genera- Yosemite National Park, began to tionists saw Alaska as their last tions. But how could the NPS both publicly question NPS policies that chance to get wilderness protection cater to tourist enjoyment and keep mainly focused on tourism. He right. Others saw it as a storehouse of the parks unimpaired and natural? pointed to the other NPS mission to natural resources like oil to be tapped. Stephen Mather, the first NPS leave the parks unimpaired for fu- After a decade of debate, Con- director, adopted policies heavily ture generations. gress passed a compromise act that on the enjoyment side. He Wright conducted studies that President Jimmy Carter signed in worked to make the national contradicted long-held NPS ideas

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1980. The law created new national For Further Reading 2. Do you agree with President forests, wildlife refuges, wilderness Duncan, Dayton. The National Parks: Theodore Roosevelt’s decision preserves, and seven new national America’s Best Idea. New York: Alfred to back the building of a dam in parks. This was the single largest A. Knopf, 2009. [This is the compan- Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy Val- expansion of protected land in ion book to Ken Burns’s television se- ley? Explain. world history. It more than doubled ries of the same title.] 3. The National Park Service has two the national park system. Runte, Alfred. National Parks: The somewhat contradictory missions: The current rationale for national American Experience. 4th ed. Lan- to provide for the people’s “enjoy- parks has expanded again. It now ham, Md.: Taylor Trade Publish- ment” of the national parks and to includes restoring, where possible, ing, 2010. leave them “unimpaired.” Which original ecosystems. In 1967, the mission do you think is more im- NPS reversed its long-held policy of DISCUSSION & WRITING portant? Why? suppressing all fires in the parks be- 1. What is the difference between cause natural fires are necessary to “conservation” and “preservation” clear space for new growth and for as championed by Gifford Pinchot certain tree seeds to germinate. In and John Muir? Whose view do 1995, wolves were reintroduced into facebook.com/ you agree with more? Why? Yellowstone to restore nature’s way ConstitutionalRightsFoundation of weeding out weak animals and ACTIVITY reducing overpopulated elk herds. For nearly 150 years, the ration- National Park System Dilemmas ale for national parks expanded from Much controversy surrounds today’s national park system policies simply preserving scenery to pro- on preserving and restoring original ecosystem conditions. Form small tecting wildlife, objects of historical groups. Each group should discuss and decide one of the following and scientific value, endangered en- dilemmas. Each group will then report and defend its decision. vironments, and wilderness areas. 1. Lightning has ignited a forest in Yosemite National Park. Some want Today, the rationale goes beyond to let the fire naturally burn itself out. But this will scar the scenery protection to restoration of original for a decade or more, destroy many animals, and possibly threaten park ecosystems. communities outside the park. What should park authorities do? The national park system now 2. Wolves have been reintroduced in Yellowstone National Park. The includes 59 national parks and 76 state of Wyoming has set a limit on the number of wolves hunters national monuments. The NPS also may kill outside the park each year. After the limit is reached, manages or helps to administer 263 should ranchers near the park be allowed to kill a wolf that is historic parks and sites, battle- threatening livestock? fields, wildlife refuges, seashores, 3. An elk has broken through the ice on a lake in Grand Teton Na- lake shores, wild rivers, trails, and tional Park. The elk is weakening and will soon drown. Nearby is other special places. an NPS ranger with his vehicle that has a winch and rope. What President Theodore Roosevelt should the ranger do? declared Pinnacles, an area of un- 4. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge along Alaska’s northern coast usual rock formations in central is the largest protected wilderness in the U.S. Congress delayed California, a national monument in deciding whether to permit oil drilling in Area 1002, making up 1908. More than 100 years later, less than 10 percent of the refuge. Supporters say drilling is President Barack Obama signed the needed to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil and keep gas law making it the newest national prices from going too high. Opponents say that drilling sites, park in 2013. roads, pipelines and possible oil spills will harm the primitive Writer and environmentalist ecosystem of Area 1002, which includes a birthing ground for cari- Wallace Stegner once said, “National bou. What should Congress do? parks are the best idea we ever 5 In 2010, Congress and President Obama lifted the federal ban on had.” Evidence of this is that visitors carrying concealed and loaded guns into the national more than 100 nations have parks. Those in favor cited the need for self-defense and Second copied our national park idea to Amendment rights. Those against warned about shooting at establish some 1,200 parks and wildlife, illegal hunting, and park vandalism. As potential visitors preserves of their own. to national parks, what is your view?

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Sources Standards Addressed National Parks National Parks “A Brief History of Pinnacles National Park.” KCET. 16 Jan. 2013. National High School U.S. History Standard 20: Understands how Progres- URL: www.kcet.org · Brinkley, Douglas. The Wilderness Warrior: sives and others addressed problems of industrial capitalism, urbanization, Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America. NY: Harper, 2009. and political corruption. (2) Understands major social and political issues · “Call of the Wild.” The Economist. 22 Dec. 2012. · Duncan, Day- of the Progressive era (e.g., . . . the Hetch Hetchy controversy). ton. The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, National High School Civics Standard 23: Understands the impact of signifi- 2009. [This is the companion book to the Ken Burns TV series by cant political and nonpolitical developments on the United States and other the same title.] · ___. “Pinnacles — It’s a Good Start.” LA Times. nations. (5) Understands historical and contemporary responses of the 10 Feb. 2013. · Egan, Timothy. The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and American government to demographic and environmental changes that the Fire that Saved America. Boston: Mariner Books, 2009. · Hea- affect the United States. cox, Kim. An American Idea: The Making ofthe National Parks. California History /Social Science Standard 11.2: Students analyze the rela- Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2001. · Lowry, Wm. Re- tionship among the rise of industrialization, large-scale rural-to-urban migra- pairing Paradise: The Restoration ofNature in America’s National tion, and massive immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe. (9) Parks. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Inst. P, 2009. · National Park Understand the effect of political programs and activities of the Pro- Service. U.S. Department of the Interior. 25 Jan. 2013. URL: gressives (e.g., federal regulation of railroad transport, Children’s Bu- www.nps.gov · O’Keefe, Ed. “Federal Government to Lift Restric- reau, the Sixteenth Amendment, Theodore Roosevelt, Hiram Johnson). tions on Guns in the National Parks.” The Washington Post. 19 Feb. 2010. URL: www.washingtonpost.com · Runte, Alfred. National California History /Social Science Standard 11.11 Students analyze the major social problems and domestic policy issues in contemporary American society. Parks: The American Experience. 4th ed. Langham, Md.: Taylor (5) Trace the impact of, need for, and controversies associated with envi- Trade Publishing, 2010. · Wikipedia articles on “Arctic Refuge ronmental conservation, expansion of the national park system . . . . Drilling Controversy,” “History of the Yosemite Area,” “National Park,” “Yellowstone National Park.” URL: http://en.wikipedia.org California History /Social Science Standard 12.7: Students analyze and com- pare the powers and procedures of the national, state, tribal, and local gov- ernments. (5) Explain how public policy is formed, including the setting Rachel Carson of the public agenda and implementation of it through regulations and Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1962. · executive orders. Griswold, E. “How ‘Silent Spring’ Ignited the Environmental Move- Common Core Standard SL.11–12.4: Present information, findings, and support- ment.” NY Times. 21 Sept. 2012. · Kline, Benjamin. First Along the ing evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners River: A BriefHistory ofthe U. S. Environmental Movement. 4th ed. can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are ad- Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2011. · Koehn, Nancy F. dressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appro- “From Calm Leadership, Lasting Change.” NY Times. 17 Oct. 2012. priate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks. · Lear, Linda. Rachel Carson, Witness for Nature. NY: Henry Holt, 1997. · Levine, Ellen. Rachel Carson. NY: Viking, 2007. · Lytle, Mark Hamilton. The Gentle Subversive: Rachel Carson, Silent Rachel Carson Spring, and the Rise ofthe Environmental Movement. NY: Oxford National High School U.S. History Standard 26: Understands the economic U P, 2007. · Magoc, Chris J. Chronology ofAmericans and the En- boom and social transformation of post- World War II United States. (1) Un- vironment. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2011. · Meiners, Roger. derstands scientific and technological developments in America after “Silent Spring at 50: The False Crisis of Rachel Carson (Reassess- WorldWarII.... ing environmentalism’s fateful turn from science to advocacy).” 21 Sept. 2012. Master Resource. URL: www.masteresource.org · National High School U.S. History Standard 30: Understands developments in foreign policy and domestic politics between the Nixon and Clinton presiden- Neimark, Peninah and Mott, Peter Rhoades, eds. The Environ- cies. (1) Understands how the Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations mental Debate: A Documentary History. Westport, Conn.: Green- dealt with major domestic issues . . . . wood P, 1999. · Souder, William. “Rachel Carson Didn’t Kill Millions of Africans.” Slate. 4 Sept. 2012. URL: www.slate.com · California History /Social Science Standard 11.8: Students analyze the eco- Shabecoff, Philip. A Fierce Green Fire: The American Environmen- nomic boom and social transformation of post-World War II America. (6) Dis- tal Movement. Washington, D.C.: Island P, 2003. · “Stockholm cuss the diverse environmental regions of North America, their Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).” URL: relationship to local economies, and the origins and prospects of envi- www.pops.int/documents/ddt/default.htm · Wikipedia articles on ronmental problems in those regions. “DDT” and “Environmental Impact of Pesticides.” URL: California History /Social Science Standard 11.11: Students analyze the major http://en.wikipedia.org social problems and domestic policy issues in contemporary American Soci- ety. (2) Discuss the significant domestic policy speeches of [presidents] (e.g., with regard to . . . environmental policy). (5) Trace the impact of, need for, and controversies associated with environmental conservation, . . . and the development of environmental protection laws . . . . Common Core Standard SL.11–12.4: Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are ap- propriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks. Common Core Standard W.11–12.9: Draw evidence from literary or informa- tional texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

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