Conservation of Natural Resources

1828-31 federal forestry management experiment, Santa Rosa Island, Fa.
1832 George Catlin proposes a national park for wild things.
1849 US Department of Interior est. (USDI)
1858 Mount Vernon purchased privately as an historical site.
1862 Homestead Act passed giving away western land.
1862 US Department of Agriculture (USDA) est. to assist farm research.
1862 Morril Land Grant College Act for the study of agriculture & manufacture.
1863 National Academy of the Sciences founded to advise federal government .
1964 George Perkins Marsh published MAN & NATURE.
1864 Yosemite Valley, Ca., reserved by Lincoln as a State park.

1869 Transcontinental railroad was established.
1869 John Wesley Powell descended the Colorado River via Grand Canyon.
1871 US Fish Commission created to restore fisheries.
1872 Yellowstone national Park reserved by act of Congress in perpetuity.
1872 J. Sterling Morton designates April 10, as Arbor Day (tree planting).
1879 US Geological Survey created to inventory western lands.
1881 Division of Forestry created in USDA (1862).
1885 New York & Ontario create Niagara Reservation at the falls.
1885 New York State creates the Adirondack Forest Preserve.
1885 The origins of the Biological Survey est. in the USDA.
1891 The Forest Reserve Act permits Presidents to set aside public forests.
1891 California transfers Yosemite State Park to the National government.
1897 Forest Management Act defines the purpose of Forest Reserves.

1900 Lacey Act prohibits the interstate shipment of illegally killed game.
1902 Reclamation (Newlands') Act establishes the Bureau of Reclamation/USDI.
1905 Transfer of the Forest Reserves from USDI to USDA.
1906 Antiquities Act creates a system of National Monuments.
1906 Pelican Island wildlife refuge among the earliest est. in the lower 48 states.
1907 Inland Waterways Commission created to improve river navigation.
1908 Grand Canyon preserved as a National Monument.
1908 Teddy Roosevelt hosts the Governor's Conference on Conservation.
1908 National Conservation Commission created by President and Congress.
1909-10 Ballinger (USDI) - Pinchot (USDA) controversy divided the movement.
1911 Weeks Act permits land purchases for forest & water protection in east.
1912 Los Angeles Water & Power Dept. takes water from the Owens Valley
1913 Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite Park given to San Francisco for water.

1916 National Park Service est. for management of parks.
1918 Migratory Bird Treaty with Canada & Mexico protects nursery grounds.
1920 Federal Water Power Act passed to regulate hydropower on federal lands.
1924 Teapot Dome oil scandal in California & Utah is revealed.
1926 Restoration of Williamsburg began.
1928 Construction of Boulder (Hoover) Dam begun on the Colorado River.
1933 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) created to train unemployed.
1933 Soil Conservation Service (USDA) created as an emergency (dust bowl).
1933 Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) created to revitalize 7 states.
1934 Taylor Grazing Act regulates the end of homesteading on the public land.

1940 US Fish and Wildlife Service (Wildlife Refuge System) created.
1946 US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) established to regulate public land.
1948 Federal Water Pollution Control Act passed to regulate waste disposal.
1949 National Trust for Historic Preservation chartered by Congress.
1953 Controversy over the Hydrogen Bomb fallout brings science to the public.
1956 Echo Park Dam controversy in Dinosaur National Monument erupts.
1960 Multiple Use Act defines the purposes of the National Forests.
1963 Clean Air Act passed Congress to attack air pollution.
1964 Land & Water Conservation Fund est. to buy park land and open space.
1964 Wilderness Act passed to est. a National Wilderness Preservation system.
1965 Lyndon Johnson hosts a White House Conference on Natural Beauty.
1966 Controversy erupts over two dams proposed in the Grand Canyon.
1968 National Wild & Scenic Rivers Act passed.
1968 National Estuarine Preservation Act passed.
1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill blackens beaches killing sea birds & mammals.
1969 Landing on the Moon.
1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) passed to create the EPA.

1970 April 22 designated as the first Earth Day as a college teach-in.
1970 Clean Air Act reauthorized funds to stop air pollution.
1971 Congress refuses to support the supersonic transport airplane (SST).
1972 Stockholm International Conference (UN) on the Human Environment.
1973 Congress authorizes the Alaskan oil pipeline crossing 800 miles.
1974 Arab Oil Embargo precipitates the "energy crisis."
1974 Freon gas (F-CFC) is predicted to endanger the protective ozone layer.
1974 Safe Drinking Water Act passed by Congress sets national standards.
1975 The use of synthetic estrogens is linked to cancer.
1975 World Population passes 4 billion.
1975 55 nuclear plants provide 7.5% of the US electricity needs.
1976 Worst west coast drought in 70 years ends (.5" of rain in s. Ca.).
1977 a 3.5 billion year old bacterial life form discovered; methanogens.
1977 The trans-Alaska oil pipeline costing $7.7 billion begins working.
1978 Chromosomes (previously nucleic material) found in the mitochondria.
1978 first successful in vitro fertilization of a human zygote.
1979 Three Mile Island, Pa. nuclear power plant damaged by an accident.
1979 Astronomers detect a "black hole" at the center of the M.W. Galaxy.

1980 US Population exceeds 226.5 million people.
1980 State of Emergency declared in the Love Canal in Niagara Falls, N.Y.
1980 President Carter est. 40 million acres of Alaskan wildlife refuges.
1980 National Herb Garden opened in Washington, D.C.
1981 Keeping his campaign promises Pres. Reagan dismantles conservation.
1986 Chernobyl, nuclear power plant, in Ukraine exploded and melted down.
1989 Collapse of the USSR (Soviet Union) and the break-up of Russia.
1990 Clean Air Act passed as a compromise est. 2010 as a compliance deadline.
1991 President Bush and Congressional Repub. seek to drill oil in refuges.
1992 United Nations C. on Env. & Development (UNCED) holds Earth Summit.
1992 Over 100 Nations (exc. USA) sign the Biodiversity & Ozone Treaties.

1840s | 1869 | 1900 | 1916 | 1940s | 1970s | 1980s

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