| This timeline is under construction. Please check back soon for the completed version! | |||
| History of Conservation Biology | |||
| Date | Event | Description | Source |
| 1832 | The idea of "national parks" was first suggested | George Catlin, an American artist and author, proposed the idea of national parks to preserve wild country as well as the Native Americans and their culture. Catlin was fascinated with the lifestyle of the Native Americans, and much of his artwork reflects this interest. Born July 26, 1796, died December 23, 1872. | |
| 1864 | The first conservation-like textbook, Man and Nature, was published | Emerson and Thoreau had previously written about the value of nature to humans, but George Perkins Marsh was the first to analyze the damaging effects of humans on their environment. The full title of his book was Man and Nature; or, Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action. This ground-breaking book was the first to show that humans were causing serious, and possibly irreversible, damage to the Earth. For example, Marsh explained how our agricultural methods had already resulted in extinctions, deforestation, loss of wetlands, desertification, and alteration of weather patterns. | "Environment," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001 http://encarta.msn.com> |
| 1871 | The United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries was formed | This was the first Federal agency in the U.S. that was concerned with the conservation of natural resources. Spencer F. Baird, Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, was appointed the first commissioner by President Grant. Since 1970, the commission has been known as the National Marine Fisheries Service. | http://www.nefsc.nmfs.gov/125th/timeline/1870.html http://www.nefsc.nmfs.gov/125th/history/century.html> |
| 1872 | The Yellowstone National Park was established by the U.S. Congress | Yellowstone National Park is the oldest national park in the world. Its establishment on March 1, 1872 marked the first time the national government accepted a role in the protection and administration of such areas. | http://www.nps.gov/yell/index.htm> |
| 1875 | The American Forestry Association was founded | This organization, now known as American Forests, was founded by physician and horticulturist John Aston Warder and like-minded individuals in Chicago in 1875. | http://www.americanforests.org/> |
| 1890 | The Yosemite National Park was established by the U.S. Congress | The designation of Yosemite as a national park was accomplished largely through the efforts of the American naturalist John Muir. However, the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of sequoias had earlier been granted to the state of California by President Abraham Lincoln in 1864, and so were not included in the Park. These two areas were given back to the federal government and added to Yosemite National Park in 1906. | "Yosemite National Park," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001 http://encarta.msn.com> |
| 1891 | The first national forest reserve was created in the U.S. | The area around Yellowstone National Park was named a national forest reserve by the Forestry Bureau of the Department of Agriculture. This designation was meant to preserve the area against private ownership, and was a precursor of the current system of national forests. | |
| 1892 | The Sierra Club was founded in the U.S. | John Muir was instrumental in the founding of the Sierra Club in May of 1892. The Club began with 182 members, and with John Muir elected the first Sierra Club President. | http://www.sierraclub.org/history/timeline.asp> |
| 1895 | The New York Zoological Society/Wildlife Conservation Society was founded | On April 26th, 1895, New York State chartered the New York Zoological Society & empowered it to create a zoo in New York City (now known as the Bronx Zoo). The original purposes of the society were to further the knowledge of zoology and to provide education and recreation to the public. In 1897, the society added the preservation of wildlife as one of its purposes. The New York Zoological Society was one of the first conservation organizations in the U.S. The society's name was changed to Wildlife Conservation Society in 1994. | http://wcs.org/home/about/history> |
| 1905 | The National Audubon Society was founded in the U.S. | The "Audubon
movement" began in 1886 when George Bird Grinnell, editor of Forest and Stream, formed
the
first bird preservation organization in the U.S., the Audubon Society
(named
after the American naturalist and wildlife painter John James Audubon
(1785-1851)). Overwhelmed by the response from his readers, Grinnell
disbanded the society in 1888. However, several other groups popped up in its place, including the Massachusetts Audubon Society and the Pennsylvania Audubon Society. By 1899, Audubon Societies had been formed in 15 other states. In 1901, some of the societies banded together to form the National Committee of the Audubon Societies, and in 1905, they incorporated into the National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals. William Dutcher was the first to be elected president. In 1940, the society adopted its current name, the National Audubon Society. |
http://www.audubon.org/nas/history.html> |
| 1908 | U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt hosted a White House Conference on conservation | During this week-long conference; Roosevelt & Gifford Pinchot argued for their utilitarian view of "optimal use" of the nation's resources. This view contrasts the idea that nature should be conserved for its own sake (rather than only for its value to humans). | http://www.edf.org/AboutEDF/f_birthof.html> |
| 1909 | U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt created the National Conservation Commission | This commission published the first inventory of the United States' natural resources. | "Conservation of Natural Resources," The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia http://www.encyclopedia.com> |
| 1910 | The Glacier National Park was established in the U.S. | This park, consisting of over one million acres in Northwestern Montana, was established on May 11, 1910. In 1932, Glacier and the adjoining Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada were together designated "Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park". | http://www.nps.gov/glac/>
"Glacier National Park" Encyclopædia Britannica http://www.britannica.com/> |
| 1915 | The Rocky Mountain National Park was established in the U.S. | Through the efforts of inventor/hotel owner F.O. Stanley and naturalist Enos A. Mills, this park was established on January 26, 1915. The park's Trail Ridge Road is the highest paved roadway in the U.S., reaching an elevation of 3,713 m (12,183 ft). | "Rocky Mountain National Park," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001 http://encarta.msn.com> |
| 1916 | A National Park System was founded in the U.S. to preserve landscapes with important aesthetic value | By 1916, the Interior Department was in charge of 14 national parks and 21 national monuments, but had no specific organization to manage them. So President Woodrow Wilson approved legislation creating the National Park Service within the Interior Department in August of 1916, with Stephen T. Mather as the Park Service's first director. The mission of the Park Service was ³to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life 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.² The U.S. National Park System now includes 384 parks. | http://www.cr.nps.gov/history_nps.htm> |
| 1919 | The Grand Canyon National Park was established in the U.S. | The Grand Canyon National Game Preserve in northern Arizona (established in 1906) became Grand Canyon National Park by an act of Congress on February 26, 1919. The Grand Canyon has a maximum width of 29 km (18 mi) within the park, and is approximately 1,500 m (5,000 ft) deep. | http://www.grand.canyon.national-park.com/>
"Grand Canyon National Park," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001 http://encarta.msn.com |
| 1919 | The National Parks & Conservation Association was founded as a watchdog for the U.S. National Park Service | The NPCA is the only private non-profit citizen organization dedicated solely to protecting, preserving, and enhancing the U.S. National Park system. | http://www.npca.org/about_npca/> |
| 1924 | The Soviet Union established the first Russian natural reserve | Kavkazsky Nature Reserve was established at the Western end of the Caucasus Mountains, in Southwestern Russia. | "Kavkazsky
Nature Reserve" Encyclopædia Britannica http://www.britannica.com/> "conservation" Encyclopædia Britannica http://www.britannica.com/> |
| 1926 | Kruger National Park was established in South Africa | This park, occupying roughly 19,485 sq km (7,523 sq mi), is the largest national park in South Africa, and one of the ten largest national parks in the world. It was originally founded in 1898 as the Sabi Game Reserve by Paul Kruger (former president of the South African Republic (or the Transvaal) and builder of the Afrikaner nation). In 1926, it was enlarged and made a national park. | "Kruger National
Park," Encyclopædia Britannica http://www.britannica.com/> "Kruger National Park," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001 http://encarta.msn.com> |
| 1949 | A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold was published | In this book, conservationist/philosopher Aldo Leopold proposed the idea of the "land ethic," in which humans become stewards of the land and foster a balanced relationship between the land and the organisms that live upon it. Another classic work by Leopold was the textbook Game Management, published in 1933. Born January 11, 1887; died April 21, 1948. | "American Literature: Prose," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001 http://encarta.msn.com> |
| 1933 | The Civilian Conservation Corps was established by the U.S. Congress as a measure of FDR's New Deal program | The CCC was established to accomplish two goals: create jobs during the Great Depression, and protect and develop the country's natural resources. The CCC provided work for unemployed single young men through such projects as planting trees, maintaining forest roads and trails, fighting forest fires, and building flood barriers. At its peak in 1935, the CCC employed more than 500,000 members. Against President Franklin D. Roosevelt's wishes, the CCC was disbanded by Congress in 1942. | http://www.cr.nps.gov/history_nps.htm>
"Civilian Conservation Corps," The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia http://www.encyclopedia.com> "Civilian Conservation Corps," Encyclopædia Britannica http://www.britannica.com/> |
| 1936 | The National Wildlife Federation was founded | In 1936, participants of the North American Wildlife Conference (launched by President Franklin D. Roosevelt) created the General Wildlife Federation. This organization, which focused on educating the public about the need to protect nature, later changed its name to the National Wildlife Federation. | http://www.nwf.org/> |
| 1939 | Swiss chemist Paul Müller recognized DDT's usefulness as a pesticide | DDT was first isolated in 1874 in Germany. Its first major usage was during World War II -- areas were sprayed prior to invasion to reduce the local populations of disease-carrying insects. Later, DDT was used extensively throughout the world to combat yellow fever, typhus, and other insect-vectored diseases. The use of DDT allowed India to reduce the incidences of malaria from 75 million cases to less than 5 million cases in 10 years. DDT also greatly increased agricultural yields when sprayed on crops and livestock. | "DDT," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2000 http://encarta.msn.com> |
| 1945 | UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) was founded | UNESCO, an agency of the United Nations, was signed into existence in London on November 16, 1945 by 37 countries, and came into force on November 4, 1946 after ratification by 20 countries. UNESCO is headquartered in Paris, France. The U.S. later withdrew from UNESCO in 1984. | http://www.unesco.org/>
"United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001 http://encarta.msn.com |
| 1947 | Everglades National Park established in the U.S. | The Everglades National Park in Florida is North America's only subtropical preserve. It was established on December 6th, 1947. | http://www.nps.gov/ever/> |
| 1947 | The Defenders of Wildlife organization was founded in the U.S. | "Defenders employs education, litigation, research, legislation and advocacy to defend wildlife and its habitat. In each program area, an interdisciplinary team of scientists, attorneys, wildlife specialists and educators works to promote multi-faceted solutions to wildlife problems." | http://www.defenders.org/> |
| 1948 | The IUCN (a.k.a. The World Conservation Union) was founded | The mission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources is "to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable." Headquartered in Switzerland, the IUCN has assisted over 75 countries in preparing and implementing conservation strategies. | http://www.iucn.org/> |
| 1951 | The Nature Conservancy was founded | This organization uses its funds to purchase (and thereafter conserve) valuable lands and waters worldwide. Its membership is currently over one million, and over 92 million acres are under the Conservancy's protection. | http://nature.org/> |
| 1957 | The Friends of Animals organization was founded in New York | Now an international organization, Friends of Animals works to protect animals from cruelty, abuse, exploitation, and habitat loss. | http://www.friendsofanimals.org/> |
| 1961 | The World Wildlife Fund was founded | Formed on September 11, 1961, the WWF is the world's largest privately funded international conservation organization. The WWF was founded by such notable figures as Sir Julian Huxley (renowned biologist in Africa), Sir Peter Scott (Vice President of the IUCN), and E. M. Nicholson (director-general of the British Nature Conservancy). It was created to raise funds for conservation efforts worldwide. In 1986, the international organization changed its name to the "Worldwide Fund for Nature", but the U. S. group retained the name "World Wildlife Fund". | http://www.worldwildlife.org/>
http://www.wwf.org/> http://www.panda.org/> "World Wildlife Fund," The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia http://www.encyclopedia.com> |
| 1962 | Silent Spring by Rachel Carson was published | The publication of Silent Spring sparked a worldwide debate on the use of agricultural pesticides, specifically DDT. Considered by many to be the turning point in the public perception of our relationship with the environment, this book made is frighteningly clear that pesticidal pollutants were accruing to catastrophic levels in the environment. | http://iisd.ca/rio+5/>
http://www.edf.org/AboutEDF/f_birthof.html> |
| 1963 | The U.S. President's Science Advisory Committee released its findings on "The Uses of Pesticides" | To address the wave of controversy created by Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring, President Kennedy commissioned his Science Advisory Committee to study the issues involved in the pesticide debate. The committee's report, "The Uses of Pesticides," vindicated Rachel Carson's claims about the dangers of pesticides. | http://www.majbill.vt.edu/history/barrow/hist3706/readings/lear.html |
| 1967 | The Environmental Defense Fund was founded in Brookhaven, New York | In 1967, three conservationists on Long Island and one in Michigan joined with an attorney to stop Suffolk County Mosquito Control Commission from spraying DDT on the marshes of Long Island. This group was the first to use the U.S. court system to fight for environmental goals. They won. (Though the judge had to look up the word "ecology".) In 2000, the organization shortened its name to Environmental Defense. | http://www.edf.org/AboutEDF/> |
| 1968 | Biological Conservation journal first published | Biological Conservation was the first journal strictly dedicated to conservation biology. | http://www.ase.tufts.edu/biology/bguide/classes/conbio/journal.htm |
| 1968 | Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich | This book launched a worldwide debate on the problem of human overpopulation. | http://www.pbs.org/kqed/population_bomb/> |
| 1970 | The National Resources Defense Council was founded in the U.S. | Using funding from the Ford Foundation, this national organization of scientists and lawyers was launched to protect public health and the environment. | http://www.nrdc.org/> |
| 1970 | The first Earth Day was held in the U.S. | On April 22, 1970, an estimated 20 million people participated in peaceful demonstrations across America. This was the first nationwide environmental protest, but is now held each year on April 22nd. In 1990, Earth Day's activities went worldwide. The founder of Earth Day, Gaylord Nelson (then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin), was later given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S. | http://www.earthday.net/about/history.stm> |
| 1970 | The Clean Air Act was passed by the U.S. Congress | This law was enacted to reduce air pollution in the U.S. It ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to establish (and meet) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) in every state by 1975. The act was later amended in 1977 and 1990. | http://www.epa.gov/region5/defs/html/caa.htm> |
| 1971 | Greenpeace was founded | Greenpeace
was founded on September 15, 1971, specifically to oppose U.S. nuclear
testing in Alaska. Through civil protests and non-violent interference,
Greenpeace was victorious in their first struggle. Greenpeace is now an
international organization. the Clean Air Act of 1970, became the model for future measures. The act established national air-quality standards, gave states the responsibility for developing and enforcing plans to use these standards, and set up compliance schedules. Additionally, the act made federal funding available to states to assist in their efforts. |
http://www.greenpeace.org/> |
| 1971 | UNESCO's MAB (Man and the Biosphere) program was launched | The first session of the MAB International Coordinating Council was convened in Paris on November 9, 1971. | http://www.unesco.org/mab/> |