Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
planning and practices
12
Conservation and
management: Wetland
12.1 The conservation movement
dubbed the Corps of Discovery, across the con-
tinent and back (Fig. 12-1).
Later, the ideas of key nineteenth- and early
twentieth-century American literary i gures such
as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau,
John Muir, and Aldo Leopold among others con-
tributed to intellectually articulating an environ-
mental ethic. Emerson's essay
Nature
, Thoreau's
essay
Walking
and more famous work
Walden
,
John Muir's passionate defense of a preserva-
tionist approach, and Leopold's much later
Sand
County Almanac
roused the idea of nature
requiring protection. These universally acclaimed
works provided ethical arguments for the more
careful use of the environment, with some
advocating the need for setting aside nature to
counterbalance developmental and urban ills
witnessed elsewhere.
The most explicit systematic scientii c
account of human impact on the environment
from this early period was geographer George
Perkins Marsh's work
Man and nature; or,
Physical geography as modii ed by human
action
(Marsh 1864). Marsh's careful and
detailed analysis using European and North
American examples of human inl uence in envi-
ronmental modii cation and his elaboration of
conservation guiding principles provided the
i rst comprehensive exploration. Adopting a
systems approach, he was able to identify how
elements within the environment interacted
with each other and how changes to one
The Merriam-Webster English dictionary dei nes
conservation as “a careful preservation and
protection of something; especially: planned
management of a natural resource to prevent
exploitation, destruction, or neglect.” Scientists
might dispute the inclusion of the word “pres-
ervation” in the dei nition above. Preservation
implies setting land aside for its intrinsic and
natural beauty, which is somewhat different
from the usual intent of conservation. In
general, however, the dei nition for conserva-
tion captures the term's essential elements
and its general usage over the past century and
a half.
Tracing the development of conservation
thought within the United States leads one to
several early inl uential works. These have
played enduring roles in molding the public's
collective understanding of the environment
and our place within it. The Lewis and Clark
expedition (1803-6) was the i rst signii cant
venture to chart and record the western lands
of the United States. It was also the last great
pre-industrial journey in the United States.
Lewis and Clark's meticulously detailed natural
history contributed substantially to our knowl-
edge of the dynamic American landscape prior
to large-scale European inl uence. Their travel
was accomplished entirely with human, animal,
and natural power to move the expedition,
