Presenter(s): Trevor Meyer − Environmental Studies
Faculty Mentor(s): Sarah Wald
Poster 170
Research Area: Humanities
Modern environmental conservation initiatives are inseparable from centuries-old traditions, and attitudes toward nature. The purpose of this project is to present early conservation initiatives and interpretations, prior to the progressive era, that are especially foundational in the context of the contemporary conservation movement in the United States. It is critical
to acknowledge the parallelism between contemporary and traditional environmental conservation issues—deforestation, urbanization, and industrialization that spurred the first Euro-American conservation ideas during the 17th century. Despite the 18th and the 19th centuries being characterized mostly by the manifest destiny and the exploitation of natural resources, this time in history is also responsible for fostering immensely transformative valuations, understandings, and attitudes toward natural resources. During the 18th and 19th centuries the overuse and misuse of natural resources under traditional utilitarian conservation regimes was questioned, and contested by alternative conservation initiatives that perceived value in the preservation of nature, and wildlife habitat. From which values arose the nation’s first state parks, national parks, national forests, forest management practices, and wildlife protection organizations. In order to understand the complexities of decision-making in the contemporary environmental conservation movement we first ought to consider the age-old traditions and attitudes toward natural resources that provided foundation for the earliest conservation ideologies.