Date |
Event |
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Era: |
"Origins of the Conservation Movement" |
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1869 |
Congress designates the Pribilof Islands in Alaska as a national reservation for the protection of fur seals. Authority for managing the reservation is placed in the Department of Treasury. |
1871 |
The U.S. Commission on Fish and Fisheries established by Congress, with Spencer Fullerton Baird is appointed as its Commissioner. The Commission becomes the first Federal agency concerned with natural resources conservation and is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution. It is directed to study "the decrease of the food fishes of the seacoasts and lakes of the United States, and to suggest remedial measures." |
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1872 |
Yellowstone National Park is created by an Act of Congress. The Secretary of the Interior is assigned responsibility for managing the park and charged, in part, with preventing the wanton destruction and commercial taking of wildlife and fish |
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1883 |
The American Ornithologists Union is created. A special 1883 committee is organized with the responsibility to investigate the migration of birds in the United States and Canada. The committee seeks the assistance of the U.S. Lighthouse Board, ornithologists and other individuals to complete questionnaires on observed species of birds and their migration patterns. |
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1885 |
George Bird Grinnell proposes a new organization for the protection of birds, the Audubon Society |
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1885 |
The Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy is established in the Department of Agriculture. With Clinton Hart Merriam appointed as its first chief, much of the divisions early work is devoted to defining the geographical distribution of animals and plants throughout the country and studying the positive effects of birds in controlling agricultural pests. The division later expands and is renamed the Bureau of Biological Survey, a forerunner of the Fish and Wildlife Service. |
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1886 |
The New York Audubon Society becomes the first state chapter of the organization. |
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1887 |
The Boone and Crockett Club is founded by Theodore Roosevelt, George Bird Grinnell and other acquaintances to help stem the loss of nations natural resources and conserve wildlife habitat |
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1891 |
Congress passes the Forest Reserves Act granting the President authority to establish forest reserves on public lands by proclamation under the management of the Secretary of the Interior. |
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1892 |
Alaskas Afognak Island is proclaimed by President Benjamin Harrison as a "fish cultural and forest reserve" under the Forest Reserves Act. |
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1896 |
The Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy is renamed the Division of Biological Survey within the Department of Agriculture. |
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1899 |
Industrialist Edward H. Harriman charters the S.S. George Eider and invites a number of scientists, painters and naturalists on an all-expenses paid cruise to Alaska. Division of Biological Survey Chief, Clinton Hart Merriam, is placed in charge of the scientific aspects of the Expedition. The Harriman Expedition visits and studies extensively wildlife and habitat for the first time in many areas that become national wildlife refuges 80 years later. |