0.24 Issues and options  (Page 2/6)

However, this tradition of exploitation began to change as the United States became industrialized and urbanized.  As early as the late 18th century, people such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson began experimenting with crop rotation and soil conservation techniques. During the 19th century, growing cities developed waterworks to supply clean water.  Some people began to realize the importance of conserving natural resources such as water. By 1900, various American scientists, politicians and business leaders voiced concerns about the depletion of the forests, soil and other natural resources. 

The term conservation was first applied to water resources.  Much of the western United States was arid, and government scientists developed the idea of building dams to impound water from spring floods. They reasoned that the water could then be used year round for irrigation and other purposes. Use of the term quickly spread to include all natural resources. Conservation emerged from the 19th century as a form of applied science. It involved the scientific planning of the use of natural resources.  Conservation leaders came from fields like forestry, agronomy, geology, and hydrology.  An early proponent was Gifford Pinchot, the first head of the United States Forest Service. The conservation principles of that time contrasted with those espoused by proponents of preservation.

Preservationists wanted natural areas preserved and protected from any type of human development.  The leading preservationist of the time was John Muir. Because of their different views, the preservation movement and the conservation movement were sometimes at odds with each other. The most publicized controversy of the early 20th century concerned the plan to build a dam to flood the beautiful Hetch-Hetchy valley to supply the city of San Francisco with fresh water. The dam, supported by conservationists and opposed by preservationists, was eventually built. President Theodore Roosevelt supported both conservation and preservation.  He vigorously expanded the nation's infant system of national parks and monuments in order to protect pristine natural areas from exploitation

The main issues of resource conservation today differ from those at the turn of the 20th century. During the 1960’s the general public became concerned with the problems of pollution. The effects of pesticides such as DDT on wildlife were documented in a book (Silent Spring) by Rachel Carson. There were highly publicized environmental incidents in Lake Erie (severe water pollution), New York City (air pollution) and Santa Barbara (oil spill). Events such as these fueled the start of a new environmental movement. This movement generally supports the concept that resource conservation includes maintaining the quality of those resources. This movement continues today and supports such issues as government clean-up of old areas of pollution, reduction of current emission levels of pollution and protection of remaining pristine environments.