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While technology allows man to dance ever-faster, it does not have the same effect on nature. The lands we consume with urban sprawl, the air and water we pollute with poisons and the living species we eradicate in the name of progress cannot be replaced in an instant.
Early in its history, America was seen as a vast wilderness that had to be conquered and tamed. Whole forests were cut down for building materials, vast prairies were plowed under to create farmland, rivers were harnessed for commerce and power, and countless living species were extirpated or driven off in the name of "progress."
Things began to change when Theodore Roosevelt was president around the start of this century. The first national wildlife refuge was established in Florida in 1903; the National Forest Service was created in 1905; and the National Park System was created in 1912. In Illinois, resident hunting licenses were first required in 1903; the first state park was established in 1908; and
Although Americans adopted a more enlightened view, resource conservation this century has seemingly been a case of two steps forward, one step back. We no longer condone the deliberate waste of resources, but we waste them nonetheless.
We're trying to stop people from littering the landscape and dumping hazardous waste. However, the list of sites needing cleaning grows longer while funding for clean-up remains basically static.
The Clean Air Act resulted in cars that emit less pollution, but there are more cars on the roads. The Clean Water Act has cut municipal and industrial pollutants entering our waterways, but surface runoffs still cause fish kills.
We've created successful programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program to help wildlife, and we have the cooperation of thousands of farmers who no longer plow fence to fence. Unfortunately, some still do.
Our recycling programs are extremely successful in many areas. Still, not everyone participates. Two steps forward, one step back. Things aren't perfect, but we have made substantial progress in the last 100 years in the way we think about and treat the world around us.
Our increasingly urban population mobilized in the last quarter of the century to save what remains outside the cities (and, in some instances, inside the cities as well). Numerous conservation-related organizations sprang up, and established groups saw their numbers increase as Americans recognized the need to preserve what remained for future generations to enjoy.
We've created partnerships among disparate groups of people that would never have been possible earlier. Strict preservationists are finding common ground with responsible use advocates; industries employ environmental consultants to help them eliminate pollution before it happens; scientists and average citizens work together to monitor the health of ecosystems. Government at all levels has also taken a more active role. Endangered and threatened species have been identified, protected and, where practical, reintroduced. Whole ecosystems that once might have been plowed under or paved over have been preserved. Open space is increasingly seen as an asset rather than a liability. This month we celebrate the conclusion of the 20th Century and the arrival of a new millennium. I foresee a continuation of our efforts to protect the planet we live on. It won't be done in an instant, but with your help it will be done.
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s this millennium ends, we find ourselves living in the "instant age"—instant meals, instant credit, instant communications, instant gratification. It seems everything must be done as quickly as possible.
the Game and Fish Commission (later to become the Department of Conservation and then the Department of Natural Resources) was established in 1913.
