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William Penn ordered colonists to conserve one acre for every five they cut down.
William Penn saw value in the forests and ordered colonists to do this. The conservation of these trees was important because in the 1900s lumber was in great demand. -
Yellowstone Act
When this act was passed, Yellowstone became the first National Park. It was not only a public park, but it was there to conserve minerals, timber, natural curiositues and wonders. This is park is important because of its preservation. Yellowstone is still visited today by tourists and scientists. -
Raker Act
Enviornmentalists and Californians, who were seeking water rights, debated for seven years. The Raker Act ended this and allowed the Hetch Hetchy Valley to be flooded and the building of a dam in Yosemiti Park. This is important because it still gives Californians today water. -
Congress established the National Park Service.
Congress established the National Park service to preserve certain parts of America's land. Today people visit these parks to see America's natural world. There are 400 national parks today and 86.4 acres are preserved. -
Emergency Conservation Work Act
President Franklin Roosevelt requested that Congress pass the Emergency Conservation Act during the Great Depression. This act was important to Franklin Roosevelt because it recruited unempolyed young men to be in the Civilian Conservation Corps. This helped many families during the Great Depression. -
Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act
The act was an effort to control the Dust Bowl storms, land use, and erosion. The Dust Bowl storms caused a 2.5 million people migration from the area. This is important because it is the largest migration in the history of the United States. This has left the area quite unpopulated today. -
Rachel Carlson published Silent Spring.
Silent Spring warned people of what pesticides had been doing to birds' eggs. It specifically focused on DDT. This book caused the federal government to outlaw DDT several years later. -
Clean Air Act
The Clean Air Act was passed to regulate air polluation and emissions. It has greatly reduced air pollution and is improving people's health. The problem of air pollution has not been completely solved though. Today people's health are still jepordized by the air. -
Wilderness Act
The Wilderness Act was passed by Congress to perserve the American Wilderness for the present and future generations. It created the National Wilderness Preservation System. Today there are over 90 million acres of preserved wilderness in the US. -
Water Quality Act
The act was signed by President Johnson to strengthen federal water pollution laws and water laws for states. This was required states t establish a minimum water quality. The law was often not enforeced until more recently. -
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
This act passed by President Johnson created the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. The purpose of the act was to preserve the way that the rivers looked and keep them from development. Many rivers may have looked different today if it were not for this act. -
National Enviornmental Policy Act
The act was one of the first laws to establish broad enviornmental policy to protect the enviornment. Under the act, all branches of government were suposed to think of the enviornment before building something. This caused an increased appreciation for the enviorment. -
Cleveland's Cuyahoga River ignited
The river ignited because of chemicals and pollution that was floating ontop of the water. The fire cost almost $50,000 in damages. This showed people how bad the pollution in the river and pollution in general. really was. -
Environmetal Protection Agency created
The agency was established to "create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony." It protects human health and the enviornment by writing and enforcing regulations on laws that have been passed by Congress. -
Endangered Species Act
This act was passed to protect the endangered species of the US. The reason for the act was the extiction of animals because of human development. It created two federal agencies: the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Today, they attempt to hault extenction "at whatever cost." -
Safe Drinking Water Act
The purpose of this act was to make sure that the public had clean drinking water. The EPA administered this act and still regulates the water today. The act does not include bottled water, which is regulate by the Food and Drug Administartion. -
Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill
The federal government spent $80 million to contruct a dam in the Tennessee Valley. Hill said that the dam would harm the snail darter and wanted the snail to be added to the endangered species list so the dam could not be made. Hill won the case and the dam was not built and the snail was added to the endangered species list. -
Long Island Garbage Barge
Mobro 4000 followed the East Coast and looked for a dumping spot. This barge became a symbol of the waste crisis, It actually could not dump because of legal problems. -
Comprehensive Enviornmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
The act was to provide funds for cleaning hazordus waste sites. This act gave the EPA the power to prosecute people who polluted. Today, the EPA still uses their power given in this act to prosecute people. -
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act
The act causes over 100 million acres of land to be seperated off for parks, wildlife refugees, and wilderness areas in Alaska. The act allowed the creation of several Conservation System Units. This preserved much of Alaska's natural land from being expoloited by humans. -
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
The oil spill dumped 11 million gallons of oil into the Prince William Sound. Many of the animals and ocean life were affected by the oil spill. The spill caused a court case: Exxon v. Baker. The animals in the Prince William sound are still recovering today. -
Oil Pollution Act
The Oil Pollution Act's creation was caused by the Exxon Oil Spill. This act caused the EPA to be able to clean up oil spills. Now any vessel has caused an oil spill over more than 1 million gallons of oil may not enter the Prince William Sound. -
Kyoto Protocol
The protocol's goal was to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and gases that contribute to global warming. The US did not sign this unlike many other countries in the world. -
New Air Quality Standards Issued by the EPA
The goal of the new standards were to control small or fine particle matter. This matter can come from cars, smokestacks, and coal-fire power plants. -
San Francisco Oil Spill
A contain ship bound for South Korea hit a tower spilled 58,000 gallons of oil into the San Francisco Bay. The oil threatened the organisms that lived in the bay. This proves how important is to be careful with oil close to water.
