| 1864 |
|
George Perkins Marsh, father of
American environmentalism, publishes Man and Nature. This seminal
book explores the destructive impact of human action on the natural environment
and inspires future conservation movements. |
| 1878 |
|
John
Wesley Powell's influential Report on the Lands of the Arid Region
of the United States is published. Includes a proposed regional plan
that would both foster settlement of the arid west and conserve scarce water
resources. |
| 1879 |
|
Establishment of U.S.
Geological Survey to survey and classify all Public Domain lands. |
| 1891 |
|
General Land Law Revision Act—gave
President power to create forest preserves by proclamation. |
| 1892 |
|
Sierra Club founded to promote the
protection and preservation of the natural environment. John Muir, Scottish-American
naturalist, and a major figure in the history of American environmentalism,
was the leading founder. |
| 1896 |
|
United States v. Gettysburg Electric
Railway Co. The first significant legal case concerning historic preservation.
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the acquisition of the national battlefield
at Gettysburg served a valid public purpose. |
| 1897 |
|
Forest Management Act. Authorized
some control by the Secretary of the Interior over the use and occupancy
of the forest preserves. |
| 1898 |
|
Gifford
Pinchot becomes Chief Forester of the United States in the Department
of Agriculture. From this position he publicizes the cause of forest conservation. |
| 1902 |
|
U. S. Reclamation Act. Created fund
from sale of public land in the arid states to supply water there through
the construction of water storage and irrigation works. |
| 1903 |
|
President
Theodore Roosevelt appoints a Public Lands Commission to propose rules
for orderly land development and management. |
| 1906 |
|
Antiquities Act of 1906: First law
to institute federal protection for preserving archaeological sites. Provided
for designation as National Monuments areas already in the public domain
that contained "historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures,
and objects of historic or scientific interest." |
| 1907 |
|
President
Roosevelt establishes an Inland Waterway Commission to encourage multipurpose
planning in waterway development: navigation, power, irrigation, flood control,
water supply. |
| 1908 |
|
White House Conservation Conference.
State governors, federal officials, and leading scientists assemble to deliberate
about the conservation of natural resources. |
| 1916 |
|
A National Park Service established
with sole responsibility for conserving and preserving resources of special
value. |
| 1921 |
|
New Orleans designates the Vieux
Carre Commission, the first historic preservation commission in the U.S. |
| 1931 |
|
National Land Utilization Conference
convened in Chicago. Three hundred agricultural experts deliberate on rural
recovery programs and natural resource conservation. |
| 1933 |
|
The National Planning Board established
in the Interior Department to assist in the preparation of a comprehensive
plan for public
works under the direction of Frederick Delano, Charles
Merriam, Wesley Mitchell. Its last successor agency, the National Resources
Planning Board, was abolished in 1943. |
| 1933 |
|
Civilian Conservation Corps established
to provide work for unemployed youth and to conserve nation's natural resources. |
| 1933 |
|
Tennessee
Valley Authority created to provide for unified and multipurpose rehabilitation
and redevelopment of the Tennessee Valley, America's most famous experiment
in river-basin planning. Senator George Norris of Idaho fathered idea and
David Lilienthal was its most effective implementer. |
| 1934 |
|
Taylor Grazing Act is passed, its
purpose to regulate the use of the range in the West for conservation purposes. |
| 1935 |
|
Congress authorizes construction of the Grande
Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in Central Washington State. Finished
in 1941, it is the largest concrete structure in the U.S. and the heart
of the Columbia Basin Project, a regional plan comparable in its scope
to TVA. The project's purposes are irrigation, electric power generation,
and flood control in the Pacific Northwest. |
| 1935 |
|
Publication date of Regional
Factors in National Planning by the National Resources Committee, a
landmark in regional planning literature. |
| 1935 |
|
Soil
Conservation Act. Congress moves to make prevention of soil erosion
a national responsibility. |
| 1935 |
|
The Historic Sites, Buildings and
Antiquities Act, a predecessor of the National Historic Preservation Act,
passed. Requires the Secretary of the Interior to identify, acquire, and
restore qualifying historic sites and properties and calls upon federal
agencies to consider preservation needs in their programs and plans. |
| 1949 |
|
The National Trust for Historic
Preservation is created and chartered by Congress. |
| 1954 |
|
In Berman v. Parker, U.S.
Supreme Court upholds right of Washington, D.C., Redevelopment Land Agency
to condemn properties that are unsightly, though non-deteriorated, if
required to achieve objectives of duly established area redevelopment
plan. |
| 1955 |
|
The Air Pollution Control Act issues a national
wakeup call on the dangers of air pollution and grants $5 million annually
for five years of research on the problem. Later congressional acts (1963,
1970, and 1990) will be concerned with types of pollution source, standards,
and deadlines. |
| 1962 |
|
Rachel Carson's book, Silent
Spring is published and wakes the nation to the deleterious effects
of pesticides on animal, plant and human life. |
| 1964 |
|
President Lyndon Johnson signs into law a Wilderness
Act establishing a National Wilderness Preservation System "to be
composed of federally owned areas designated by Congress as 'wilderness
areas.'" Their pristine character is to be maintained by prohibiting
development, settlement, road-building and all forms of mechanized transport
within the boundaries of such areas. |
| 1965 |
|
A White House Conference on Natural Beauty
in America is convened on May 24 and 25, owing much to the interest and
advocacy of the First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson. |
| 1966 |
|
With Heritage So Rich,
a seminal historic preservation book, is published. |
| 1966 |
|
National Historic Preservation Act
passed. Establishes the National Register of Historic Places and provides,
through its Section 106, for the protection of preservation-worthy sites
and properties threatened by federal activities. This act also creates the
national Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and directs that each
state appoint a State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO). |
| 1966 |
|
Section 4(f) of the Department of
Transportation Act provides protection to parkland, wildlife refuges, and
other preservation-worthy resources in building national roads. Unlike parkland
and wildlife refuges, however, privately owned historic sites as well as
those in public ownership are protected by Section 4(f). |
| 1969 |
|
National Environmental Policy Act
requires an "environmental impact statement" for every federal
or federally aided state or local major action that might significantly
harm the environment. |
| 1970 |
|
First "Earth Day," January
1. |
| 1970 |
|
Federal Environment Protection Agency
established to administer main provisions of the Clean Air Act (1970). |
| 1972 |
|
The Earth Resources Technology Satellite ("Landsat")
is launched the first of several satellites for acquiring high resolution
images of the earth's surface, and a major advance in the efforts to identify,
evaluate, develop, and conserve the planet's natural resources. |
| 1972 |
|
The
Coastal Zone Management Act creates a voluntary National Coastal
Management Program in which participating states undertake to develop
coastal management programs meeting minimal federal standards. |
| 1972 |
|
The Clean Water Act is passed to keep pollutants
from point sources out of navigable waters. |
| 1973 |
|
Endangered Species Act. Authorized
Federal assistance to state and local jurisdictions to establish conservation
programs for endangers plant and animal species. |
| 1976 |
|
Historic Preservation Fund established. |
| 1978 |
|
Penn Central Transportation
Co. v. City of New York, 438 U.S. 104 (1978): U.S. Supreme Court upholds
New York City's Landmark Preservation Law as applied to Grand Central Terminal.
In this landmark decision, the Court found that barring some development
of air rights was not a taking when the interior of the property could be
put to lucrative use. |
| 1978 |
|
The Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Act
is passed by Congress, authorizing $725 million for matching grants to
rehabilitate parks and other recreational facilities in impoverished local
communities. |
| 1980 |
|
Superfund Bill passed by Congress
(Comprehensive Response, Compensation and Liability Act). Creates liability
for persons discharging hazardous waste into the environment. Taxes polluting
industries to establish a trust fund for the cleanup of polluted sites in
cases where individual responsibility is not ascertainable. |
| 1991 |
|
Passage of Intermodal Surface Transportation
Efficiency Act (ISTEA) includes provisions for a National Scenic Byways
Program and for transportation enhancements, each of which includes a historic
preservation component. |
| 2000 |
|
President Clinton Creates 8 new
national monuments in 5 western states: Canyons of the Ancients (Colorado);
Cascade-Siskiyou (Oregon); Hanford Reach (Washington); Ironwood Forest,
Grand Canyon-Parashant, Agua Fria (Arizona); Grand Sequoia, California Coastal
(California). He also expanded one existing national monument in California
(Pinnacles). |
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