History of Natural Resources Management in the United States
History of Natural Resources Management in the United States
By
Peter T. Smith
NR1
When North America was first settled and colonial development began, during the 1700s, forest covered about 40% (820,000,000 acres) of the nation not including Alaska. The eastern part of the states was the first to be settled. Settlers had many obstacles to overcome and most critical of such obstacles were how to feed, warm, and shelter themselves. The answer to these problems for them at this time was forest. Forest fixed these problems by giving fire wood for warmth, lumber for shelter, and the land that was left after the trees were gone could be used for farmland to feed them. The farmland that was left after deforestation wasn’t suited for long term farming. With that being said farmers had to continually cut forest down to have suitable farmland. At the time the idea was absurd that they could cut all the forest down, to them and their mind set, it was an inexhaustible resource.
The American Revolution War (1775-1783) created a huge demand on the country’s resource of forest. During that time and after the forest of the Southern states, Eastern mountains, and Middle West were used for resources for the war and after for farmland. Once again farmland that was not fertile and could not be used for very long and new fresh land had to be acquired by cutting more forest.
It was not tell the Civil War (1861-1865) that anyone really questioned the gross exploitation of the nation’s forest and the possible wood famine. George Perkins Marsh published Man and Nature (1864). It is one of the first works to document the effects of human action on the environment and it helped to launch the modern conservation movement. Marsh argued that ancient Mediterranean civilizations collapsed through environmental degradation. Deforestation led to eroded soils that led to decreased soil productivity. Additionally, the same trends could be found occurring in the United States. Politicians used
By
Peter T. Smith
NR1
When North America was first settled and colonial development began, during the 1700s, forest covered about 40% (820,000,000 acres) of the nation not including Alaska. The eastern part of the states was the first to be settled. Settlers had many obstacles to overcome and most critical of such obstacles were how to feed, warm, and shelter themselves. The answer to these problems for them at this time was forest. Forest fixed these problems by giving fire wood for warmth, lumber for shelter, and the land that was left after the trees were gone could be used for farmland to feed them. The farmland that was left after deforestation wasn’t suited for long term farming. With that being said farmers had to continually cut forest down to have suitable farmland. At the time the idea was absurd that they could cut all the forest down, to them and their mind set, it was an inexhaustible resource.
The American Revolution War (1775-1783) created a huge demand on the country’s resource of forest. During that time and after the forest of the Southern states, Eastern mountains, and Middle West were used for resources for the war and after for farmland. Once again farmland that was not fertile and could not be used for very long and new fresh land had to be acquired by cutting more forest.
It was not tell the Civil War (1861-1865) that anyone really questioned the gross exploitation of the nation’s forest and the possible wood famine. George Perkins Marsh published Man and Nature (1864). It is one of the first works to document the effects of human action on the environment and it helped to launch the modern conservation movement. Marsh argued that ancient Mediterranean civilizations collapsed through environmental degradation. Deforestation led to eroded soils that led to decreased soil productivity. Additionally, the same trends could be found occurring in the United States. Politicians used