Milestones in Environmental Protection

1872 Yellowstone National Park is created

A bill is passed by Congress and signed by President Grant to create the world's first national park at the headwaters of Yellowstone River in Montana and Wyoming. The parkland now comprises more than 2 million acres, mainly in northwest Wyoming.

1864 Lincoln creates Yosemite Park

A bill is passed by Congress and signed by President Lincoln that creates the nation's first state park, setting aside for public recreation 20,000 acres in California's Yosemite Valley.

1970 League of Conservation Voters

A bipartisan political action committee (PAC) of environmental activists, it publishes a scorecard of House and Senate member votes for every Congress.

1985

A team of British scientists led by Dr. Joe Farman reports that there is a hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic.

1997 Thirty-eight industrialized nations sign the Kyoto Protocol

Agreeing to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by about 5% over 15 years. The United States, which has the world's highest emission levels, agrees to reduce by emissions by 7%.

1849 The U.S. Department of the Interior is established

Among its duties (which are so diverse that it is nicknamed "the Department of Everything Else") is the management of public parklands. It is now the nation's main conservation agency.

1887 The Boone and Crockett Club is founded by George Grinnell and Teddy Roosevelt

An elite group of outdoorsmen. To promote ethical hunting laws and wildlife conservation. Among their achievements was the defense of Yellowstone Park against railroad and mining interests; at that time, the park was still open for commercial exploitation.

1970 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

By Nixon to enforce laws that protect the environment and public health. Two days later William D. Ruckelshaus is sworn in as the agency's first administrator.

1970 April 22

Earth has its first official birthday celebration in the United States. More than 20 million people marched, demonstrated, and attend teach-ins on environmental topics.

1864 Naturalist and Vermont congressman George Perkins Marsh, sometimes called the father of the conservation movement, publishes Man and Nature; or, Physical Geography as modified by Human Action.

From travel in Europe, Africa, and Asia, Marsh describes human damage to the natural world that he believes is irrevocable—then a new idea. He also warns against the dangers of future technological innovation.

1971 The international organization Greenpeace is founded.

Greenpeace proves adept at using the media to raise awareness about industrial pollution, endangered species protection, and other environmentalist concerns.

hHazardous materials transortation act

Hazmat, standardized and regulated tranpsortation of materials

1918 Migratory Bird Act

In order to implement the convention for the protection of migratory birds between the United States and Great Britain (acting on behalf of Canada[1]). The statute makes it unlawful without a waiver to pursue, hunt, take, capture, kill or sell birds listed therein ("migratory birds"). The statute does not discriminate between live or dead birds and also grants full protection to any bird parts including feathers, eggs and nests.

1898 The European-trained forester Gifford Pinchot becomes the head of the U.S. Division of Forestry.

In this role, and as head of the Forest Service after its founding in 1905, Pinchot shapes U.S. conservation policy—and becomes the bane of radicals who object to his emphasis on managing, rather than preserving, natural resources.

1886 The Audubon Society is founded by George Grinnell, publisher of Forest and Stream magazine.

It is dedicated to the protection of birds and their natural habitats. Grinnell's original group soon folds, but local chapters take up the mantle and reconstitute the National Audubon Society in 1905.

1854 Henry David Thoreau's Walden is published

It laments the rise of industrialization and the destruction of wilderness, and raises questions about humans' relationship to nature that influence naturalists and political activists more than 150 years later. Among its famous lines is, "In wildness is the preservation of the world."

1892 Sierra Club is established.

Naturalist and writer John Muir co-founds (with Robert Underwood Johnson) and becomes president of the Sierra Club, which is dedicated to wilderness preservation and outdoor recreation.

1995 Environmental Bill of Rights to the U.S. Congress.

On Earth Day, a student-led campaign delivers This petition asserts that "every American has the right to a safe and healthy environment" and describes how elected officials should protect that right. It is signed by 1.2 million Americans.

Earth Day 2 is celebrated on April 22.

One hundred million people around the globe participate. The tradition of celebrating Earth Day annually on or around April 22 is begun.

National Parks anf Forests

Parks. Preservation of prestine areas unimpaired for future generations Forests. Resource preservation with permissible uses

1969 National Environmental Policy Act

States impact of federal plans, how bad are they?

1916 The National Parks Service is established.

a branch of the U.S. Department of the Interior, At its founding, the bureau is responsible for managing 14 national parks and 21 national monuments.

1987 The United States is one of 24 nations to sign the Montreal Protocol

an agreement to phase out production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). It was discovered in the 1970s that CFCs destroy the ozone layer.

1960 Multiple use act

an amendment to allow various activities in national forests... Timber, watershed, mining, range, outdoor recreation, wildlife and fish protection

1866 The word ecology is coined by German zoologist Ernst Haeckel

describe the study of the relationship between organisms and where they live. The word comes from the Greek logos (study) and oikos (home)

1949 A Sand Country Almanac by naturalist and former Forest Service employee Aldo Leopold

describes the complex relationships within nature. His work does much to educate the general public about natural science. It also marks the beginning of a shift from a conservation movement dominated by wilderness lovers to the emerging environmental movement, which brings together scientists from different fields.

1935 Soil Erosion Act

establishes US soil conservation service * checks for salinity too

1968 The National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act

establishes a system for protecting pristine, free-flowing rivers from development.

1964 The Wilderness Preservation Act

establishes the National Wilderness Preservation System. The system can grant wilderness areas protected status that excludes them from mining, timber cutting, and other operations.

1969 The Endangered Species Conservation Act

expands the protection of the 1966 act to some invertebrates and introduces a new category: threatened species—those that are "threatened with worldwide extinction.

1925 Industrial Poisons in the United States by Alice Hamilton

explores the dangers of industrial pollution to American laborers. Hamilton's groundbreaking work reflects a broader understanding of conservation issues, with concern not just about wilderness but about human health.

1962 Silent Spring by aquatic biologist Rachel Carson

exposes the harm caused by insecticides such as DDT. The book leads to the development of safer insecticides and to a ban on the sale of DDT within the United States. More significantly, it heightens the awareness of ordinary people, who demand new legislation aimed at protecting the environment—a word that enters common parlance around this time.

1960 Federal Hazardous Substance Act

hazardous household be regulated

Federal lands

lands for which ownership is claimed by the U.S. Federal government 28%

pollution prevention act

limits on materials for industries, polluted material, how processes are done minimizing pollution

1956 Fish and Wildlife Act

national industries pollution effects on fish and shellfish, all about them

1957 Price-Anderson Nuclear Inemity Act

nonmilitary facilities against libility till 2026

1974 Safe Drinking Water Act

outlaws pollutants to ensure that people drink safe water.

1966 National wildlife refuge system act

protected less then parks. Pelican island was first NWR, free access

1970 Clean Air Act

regulating air emissions and granting the EPA the power to set air quality standards. Amendments to the act in 1977 and 1990 raise standards even higher, in order to counter problems like acid rain and ozone depletion.

2008 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

reports that China has exceeded greenhouse gas emission estimates, and thus may nullify efforts made by the Kyoto Protocol. By 2010 China's carbon dioxide emissions are expected to increase 11% per year instead of 2.5-5% as previously anticipated.

1900 Lacey Act

restores birds to areas where they are rare

1980 Superfund

setting aside large amounts of money to clean up hazardous waste sites across the United States. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act

low-level radiation policy act

states deal with their own radioactive waste

1966 The Endangered Species Preservation Act

the nation's first law to protect endangered species, permits the government to take land into federal custody in order to protect "selected species of native fish and wildlife." It does not ban, however, the killing of endangered species, except within national wildlife refuges.

1935 The General Wildlife Federation is established

to educate the American public about American wildlife and natural resources; the following year, the name is changed to the National Wildlife Federation. It is now the nation's largest grassroots conservation organization.

fish and wildlife coordination act

train enforcement personnel, develop conservatory act

1982 Nuclear waste policy act

where should the waste be stored? proposed Yucca

1906 The Antiquities Act

which aims to preserve ancient Indian artifacts under a new rubric of protected "national monuments," is passed by Congress and signed by President Roosevelt. The act becomes a watershed in wilderness preservation thanks to the creativity of Roosevelt, who uses it to proclaim millions of acres-including the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, and Katmai—"national monuments."

1903 President Roosevelt orders the creation of Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge

—the first national wildlife refuge—in Florida.