Arizonans embrace the Conservation Movement

 

Jo Baeza - The Independent

The Turn of the Century marked a turning point for Arizona and the nation. Americans began to realize that the country’s natural resources were being used up faster than they were being replenished. Far-sighted individuals saw that something had to be done at a national level to save what was left of the nation’s antiquities, wildlife, water, soil, timber, and unique natural landscapes.

Entire species had been hunted to near extinction. America’s largest land mammal, the bison, and the sea’s greatest creature, the whale, were nearly eliminated to supply people with buffalo robes and oil lamps. Millions of beaver were trapped and killed so vain gentlemen could wear expensive hats. Passenger Pigeons were shot en masse for cheap food. America’s indigenous people, their cultures and languages, were disappearing as well, victims of diseases to which they had no immunity.

In Arizona the small, olive-green native Apache trout were fished nearly out of existence in the cold clear streams of the White Mountains by early day settlers and soldiers stationed at Fort Apache. The game bird population was decimated. Mountain people killed off thousands of Merriam’s Elk for food; thousands more were killed to feed railroad crews who were laying ties across northern Arizona in 1881-82. Wolves, bears and mountain lions were trapped and killed indiscriminately because they preyed on domestic cattle and sheep when their natural prey became scarce. Grizzlies were hunted to extinction.

Soils and waters were being polluted by mining activities. In some areas exotic species of grasses and brush were introduced to the detriment of native species. Priceless archeological artifacts, skeletons and mummies were removed to museums and private collections around the world. And, petrified logs that had taken 200 million years to form were being transported to a mill where they were ground up to make industrial abrasives.

A new consciousness arose when the people realized it was necessary to manage America’s natural resources on federal lands in the West. Some of the first to cry out for federal protection were the Southwest’s pioneer archaeologists who had been exploring and excavating prehistoric sites in Arizona, New Mexico and Sonora.

Dean Byron Cummings, who visited Rainbow Bridge in northern Arizona with rancher John Wetherill, warned, “a commercial spirit is leading to careless excavations for objects to sell, and walls are ruthlessly overthrown.” The first Arizona site to be set aside for preservation was the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument that was named an Archaeological Reserve in 1892.

President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act in 1906. The act enabled the President to designate sites as National Monuments, and made it illegal “to excavate, injure, or destroy any historic or prehistoric ruin or monument, or any object of antiquity, situated on lands owned or controlled by the government of the United States” without permission from a federal agency. 

Roosevelt, for all his beloved bluster, was an intellectual sort of fellow, well educated and well traveled in the West. He and his friend, Gifford Pinchot, initiated what is known as the Conservation Movement in the U.S. It was a science-based political, social and environmental movement created to protect important natural resources from exploitation. It began with America’s forests.

Pinchot advocated what he called “the art of producing from the forest whatever it can yield for the service of man.” He invented the term “Conservation Ethic.” He and Roosevelt aimed at long-term economic benefits for the people of the United States. Natural resources were to be developed on a sustainable basis so they could be used for generations to come.

Roosevelt believed that damming the rivers of the West was necessary to supply water and electricity to a growing population and develop flood control systems and irrigation networks. He signed the Newlands Reclamation Act of 1902 that promoted the building of dams for irrigation.  Roosevelt Dam in Arizona was the first dam built under the new act.

Opposition came from a Scot named John Muir, who held that nature is sacred and humans are trespassers. People should be allowed to visit federal lands, but leave them in as pristine a state as possible. He opposed cutting timber, building dams, and using any kind of mechanized equipment in national forests, parks and monuments. Muir was the founder of the Sierra Club and the Environmental Movement.

By 1900 even those individuals who resented federal rules and regulations looked to the government to manage the federal lands and water in the West. The bulk of Arizona was federal land or federal trust land in the form of Indian reservations. The government controlled the watersheds of the major rivers. If ranchers, miners and others wanted to stay in business, they had no choice but to conform to federal regulations. 

During Roosevelt’s administration, 1901-1909, 230 million acres came under federal protection. More lands were set aside for national parks and reserves under Roosevelt than under all of his predecessors. He designated five national parks, 18 national monuments, including the Grand Canyon;  51 bird reserves; four game preserves; and 150 national forests. Before he left office, he had added 16 millions acres to the national forest system.

Today, Arizona has more national monuments than any other state. National monuments in northern Arizona are: Canyon de Chelly, Grand Canyon Parashant, Montezuma Castle, Navajo, Pipe Spring, Rainbow Bridge, Sunset Crater, Tuzigoot, Walnut Canyon, and Wupatki. In southern Arizona national monuments are: Casa Grande Ruins, Chiricahua, and Tonto, as well as Coronado National Memorial and Tumacacori National Historic Park.

Historic parks and districts are scattered throughout the state. There are 1,362 historic places listed on the National Register, and 41 national historic landmarks..

Arizona has four national parks – the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Saguaro and Organ Pipe Cactus. In addition there is a National Heritage Area, nine National Natural Landmarks, Lake Mead National Recreational Area, Glen Canyon National Recreational Area, and Fort Bowie National Historic Site.

Surprising to those who are not familiar with the abrupt changes of altitude in the state, Arizona has six national forests: Apache-Sitgreaves; Coconino; Kaibab; Prescott; Coronado; and Tonto.

To Nineteenth Century immigrants the abrupt contrasts of Arizona’s topography presented seemingly impenetrable barriers to what they knew as civilization. Countless humans died crossing her deserts and mountains. It would take generations for Arizonans to learn how to become one with the awesome beauty of their land.

© Copyright 2012, White Mountain Independent, Show Low, AZ.