Permanent Preservation

Different ways of preserving  and protecting natural areas--this list is publicly owned land:
Not National Parks and National Forests but real wilderness.
There were some areas in of wilderness in the national parks and forests, but for more permanent protection you need laws
Wilderness areas were set aside in the above kinds of public land, rather than creating a separate system
Punch Bowl Falls, Eagle Creek Wilderness Area
trends on a collision course
Wilderness Society:
valley in Dinosaur National Monument where Echo
                Park Dam would have been built
1950s controversy over planned Echo Park Dam in Dinosaur National Monument
The next hope of the preservationists was an official wilderness status that could be used to set aside land
Johnson signs the Wilderness Act
Lyndon Johnson signs the Wilderness Act
Bridge Canyon Dam Site
bridge canyon, where a dam was proposed
Next fight was against dams in the Grand Canyon
Marble Canyon dam site
Marble Canyon Dam Site
  1. New ideas that value wilderness
  2. groups like the boy scouts spread those to a broader public
  3. organizations formed to protect particular areas or wilderness in general
  4. those organizations are able to mobilize public opinion (letter writing campaigns)
  5. Congress was willing to stop projects if there was enough opposition
  6. Environmental groups have proved themselves to have political muscle
  7. public views are shifting significantly from believing in conquering nature to wanting to preserve it
  8. watch for that dramatic shift in public opinion in the 1960s



This page written and copyright Pamela E. Mack
last updated 10/16/09
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