The
preservation movement contrasted sharply with the conservation movement
of the progressive era.
The conservation movement looked to
the planned use of natural resources, whereas the
preservation movement looked to stopping the despoliation of natural
areas. The leading preservationist of these years was John
Muir (1838-1914).
Because of this difference, the
preservation movement and the conservation movement were sometimes
in conflict with one another. The most publicized controversy
of the early twentieth century was the plan of the city of San
Francisco to build a dam flooding the beautiful Hetch-Hetchy
valley in California's Sierra Nevada mountains in order to
supply the growing city with an adequate supply of fresh water. (Learn
more about the Hetch-Hetchy valley!)
The differences between conservation and
preservation were perhaps less acute in the early years of the twentieth
century than they were eventually to become after the population of the
United States expanded dramatically. In the absence of population
pressures, at least in the western part of the nation, the two movements
could co-exist peacefully except for incidents like the construction of
the dam.
Theodore Roosevelt supported both
conservation and preservation. Roosevelt moved vigorously to
expand the nation's infant system of national parks and national
monuments in order to prevent commercial and private exploitation of
important pristine natural areas.
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