Conservation vs Preservation: Managing Public Lands for Sustainability

As the human population grows and grows, natural resources are being used at a rapid rate and large areas of forest are

being converted for human use. How do you think public land should be managed to deal with these types of

environmental issues? Over the years, there have been many opinions on how to manage public lands. Two of the major

points of view include conservation and preservation of the environment. People often use these two terms

interchangeably when in fact they are two very different views and methods for managing land. Let's explore these two

terms and how they vary from one another. Some people believe that public land should be managed by the method of

conservation. Meaning that the environment and its resources should be used by humans and managed in a

responsible manner. These types of people see the value of the environment as the goods and

services that it can provide to people. This viewpoint requires that the environment be used in a way that is

sustainable and ensures that the natural resources will be used in a manner that will meet the present-day needs for the

resource without jeopardizing the supply of the resource for future generations. By using the environment sustainably,

the environment and the natural resources it provides will not be depleted or destroyed permanently and

will be available for human use for a very long time. If people do not manage the land

properly and the resources are not being used sustainably, then the environment can be destroyed and the conservation

method will have failed. Gford Pincho who lived from 1865 to 1946 was a leader in the conservation

movement. As the United States expanded and more land was being converted for human use,

Pincho was bothered by the method used in transforming the land. At the time, most forests were being clearcut, which

is when all of the trees are removed at the same time. Pincho did not like this method because he saw the forest as a

valuable resource of timber and thought that it should be managed in a way that enabled human development of the land

but also ensured use of the natural resources. He later founded the organization that would become the US

forest service and served as chief of the organization while Theodore Roosevelt was president. While Pincho

was in charge, the federal government adopted the conservationist method for managing land and drastically increased

the amount of land managed by the government. On the other side of the argument of how to effectively manage

public land are the preservationists. The method of preservation is much stricter than the conservationist

approach. Under preservation of the environment, lands and their natural resources should

not be consumed by humans and should instead be maintained in their pristine form.

Preservationists believe that humans can have access to the land but should only utilize it for its natural beauty and

inspiration. They think that the value of the land is not what you can use from it, but

instead that land has an intrinsic value, meaning that it is valuable in itself simply by existing.

One of the most famous preservationists in US history is John Muer. John Mure was a Scottish immigrant who lived from

1838 to 1914 and had a large admiration for California's Yusede Valley. Similarly to Gford Pincho, Mure was

motivated by the deforestation and destruction of land as the human population moved west across the

country. Mure was a strong advocate for the complete protection of land and believed

that people should only use the environment for enjoyment and not as a resource for goods.

Mir was involved in the creation of the Sierra Club in 1892, which is an environmental organization

that advocates for the preservation and protection of public lands. The