- 1634
- Boston Common is created as a place for Bostonians
to graze their livestock.
- 1840s
- Vermont Congressman George Perkins Marsh warns
of the destructive impact of human activity on the land, and advocates
a conservationist approach to forest management.
- 1849
- The U.S. Department of the Interior is established.
- 1854
- Henry David Thoreau's "Walden, or Life
in the Woods" is published.
- 1858
- New York City's Central Park is designed by
Frederick Law Olmsted.
- 1864
- George Perkins Marsh publishes "Man and
Nature."
- Congress passes a bill granting Yosemite Valley
to the State of California as a public park.
- 1865
- Frederick Law Olmsted develops Prospect Park in Brooklyn.
- 1866
- German biologist Ernst Haeckel coins the word
"ecology."
- 1872
- Congress establishes Yellowstone National Park.
- Nebraska observes "Tree-Planting Day"
on April 10. By 1907, Arbor Day is celebrated
nationwide.
- 1875
- Congress bans the unauthorized cutting or injury
of trees on government property.
- 1878
- Frederick Law Olmsted begins work on Boston's
"Emerald Necklace," a series of public parks around
the city. The Boston Public Garden is the first public botanical
garden in the country.
- 1879
- Congress establishes the U.S. Geological Survey
as a bureau of the Department of the Interior.
- 1885
- The state of New York establishes the Adirondack
Forest Preserve and the Niagra Falls Reservation.
- 1890
- Congress establishes three national parks in
California (Sequoia, Yosemite and General Grant National Parks)
in less than a week.
- 1891
- Congress passes the Forest Reserve Act, creating
the legislative foundation for what will become the National Forest
system.
- 1893
- President Benjamin Harrison sets aside 13 million
acres of forest reserves.
- 1892
- The Sierra Club is founded on June 4, with
John Muir as the organization's first president.
- 1896
- The Massachusetts Audubon Society is founded.
By the end of the following year there are Audubon Societies in
ten states and the District of Columbia.
- 1905
- Control of the national forest system is transferred
to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.
- The National Association of Audubon Societies for
the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals is founded in New York,
officially uniting the numerous state groups which have sprung
up since 1896, and establishing a strong national voice for conservation.
The organization's name was changed to the National
Audubon Society in 1940.
- 1905-1907
- President Theodore Rossevelt sets aside
more than 180 million acres of land for wildlife refuges and national
parks.
- 1907
- Organized opposition to U.S. conservation policy
arises. At the Denver Public Lands Convention, Western ranching
and mining interests call for cession of public lands to the states
and restriction of national forests.
- 1916
- The National Park Service is founded as a division
of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Stephen T. Mather is its
first director.
- 1917
- Dutch Elm Disease is first detected in Holland.
- 1919
- The National Parks Association (renamed the
National Parks and Conservation Association in 1970) is founded.
- 1930
- Dutch Elm Disease is first spotted in Cleveland.
- late 1940s
- After World War II, Americans flock to the suburbs, accelerating
deforestation around cities.
- 1950s and 60s
- Dutch elm disease devastates America's urban forests. Thousands of
tree-lined streets are completely clear-cut, and the population of
American Elm trees is virtually wiped out.
- 1970
- The first Earth Day is celebrated on April 22.
- 1980s
- The Reagan administration cuts funds for urban forestry and other
ecology programs.
- 1990
- Congress passes the Urban and Community Forestry
Assistance Act, which expands funds for urban forestry twentyfold,
and establishes a network of federal and state organizations dedicated
to urban and community forestry.
- 1993
- The Alliance for Community Trees is formed, uniting the dozens of
local urban forestry groups that have sprung up across the country.
- 1996
- The Asian long-horned beetle is detected in Brooklyn in August, and
in Amityville one month later. More than 500 trees are removed in six
months in an effort to one of the biggest threats to America's urban
forests since Dutch Elm Disease.
Based in part on The Evolution of the
Conservation Movement, 1850-1920, National Digital Library, Library
of Congress.
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