The enduring philosophical tension: Highest utilization versus the sacred ark in conservation

“ Conservation of resources means the highest utilization of them. It means, thanks to the achievements ol science and ovention and the more practical purposes of scholarship, that man has attained a more commanding position of control over the forces of nature, From beginning as a timid wasteful exploiter of a few of Nature’s goods he has become a clear-visioned, temperate and conservative use of resources. State Co-operation ThIS consenation novetnent conslitutes the trst great step for cooperution among the states ao4 of the sNtes with the wtion. ”

“ The matter of conservation of marine species in New Zealand has stemmed mainly from the recognition of the value of certain islands as refuges for whole ecosystems, as convenient areas for study, and as arks for the rescue of the threatened species that can be successfully established on them—an often highly hazardous and uncomfortable procedure for men as well as birds. ”

“ Conservation means a bringing into every-day service in the interests of the common people the best light of science and the most effective methods of engineering skill, The land, the rivers, the soil, the forests, and the mines arc viewed as the people's resources to he conserved so as to yield the largest utility, This means that the people must rise to the occasion of doing the highest things for themselves and their posterity through the use of the latest results of science and of engineering skill. ”

“ The Conservation to and by ourselves as trustees, and the dedication and perpetuation to our children and our children's children [Pg 14] as beneficiaries, of the tremendous natural resources of our country is a duty and trust too sacred and too imperative to be disregarded or lightly considered, once the situation stands revealed in its true light. ”

“ When the several forces act in harmony, beneficial results of a far-reaching and permanent value will be attained for the preservation and utilization of our resources. Practical and beneficial Conservation of natural resources on the part of the Federal Government and the State should include and provide for due and efficient utilization of the same for the benefit of the masses of the people. The mere conservation and retention of ownership, the mere securing of a larger price for the resource, may prove burdensome rather than a benefit to the public. ”

“ They never stopped to reason that Conservation without use means holding back from development the natural resources of the country and producing stagnation in business, and that if each succeeding generation should follow the same policy there never would be any improvement. ”

“ Conservation does not mean forbidding access to resources that could be made available for present use. It means the freest and largest development of them consistent with the public interest and without waste. A bag of gold buried in the earth is useless for any purpose. So is an acre untilled, a mine unopened, a forest that bars the way to homes and human happiness. ”

“ From the western arm that reaches out as though to penetrate to the sea-fiords not far away beyond the mountains, to the eastern bay, whence the deep volume of the Waiau flows out, there is nothing to spoil the charm. What Lucerne is to Switzerland Manapouri is to New Zealand. Man has not helped it with historical associations and touches of foreign colour. On the other hand, man has not yet spoiled it with big hotels, blatant advertisements, and insufferable press of tourists.
MANAPOURI
In one respect—their names—our South Island lakes are more lucky than our mountains. ”

“ It is of the greatest importance that water supplies be conserved by storage reservoirs and other means, but this Conservation should be accomplished in such a way as not to menace health or offend the eye or destroy the beauty of contiguous landscape; the impounding of waters without regard to preserving natural water-falls, streams, and other scenery, is a mark of a commercial and selfish age, and is a procedure that cannot be tolerated in a highly developed society. ”

“ It follows necessarily that any theory of Conservation which does not provide for the present as well as the future does not cover the entire field and cannot possibly bring the best results. (Applause) From every economic standpoint it is desirable that the present generation should be preferred, since future discoveries and inventions may render present resources of less value and importance to the coming generations. ”

“ Should it not be enjoined upon the people who live upon the earth today, while enjoying its benefits, to keep faithful stewardship of the interests of the inhabitants of tomorrow?
About the time Mr. Pinchot enunciated this famous definition, the New York State Conservation Department summed up the purposes of practical Conservation as: "The correction of past indiscretion, the perfection of present utilization, and the formation of future accumulation with respect to natural resources." ”

“ In considering the principles of Conservation, development comes first, using and improving the natural resources of our country for the benefit of the people. The second principle is the prevention of waste. Conservation comprehends the substitution as far as possible of materials for those that are exhaustible. Conservation reaches out into a wide field, and, as often said, it means the "greatest good to the greatest number for the longest time." Conservation advocates the use of foresight, prudence, thrift, and intelligence in dealing with public matters. ”

“ Failure to make use of our natural resources which are going to waste is the antithesis of Conservation. I believe that all non-forested lands adapted for agricultural purposes should be opened to settlement and homesteaders allowed to file upon them. Within the national forest reserves are vast areas with not a stick of timber on them, and on which timber can never be made to grow profitably. ”

“ It is becoming generally known throughout the east that the most oroductive and highest-priced lands are in those portions of the west where irrigation is practiced. Irrigation bonds are in great demand, and irrigation projects are being eagerly sought after. To hold in the face of existing facts that rrigation is not necessary in the Willamette Valley, is to drive away capital and retard settlement, rather than to encourage it. ”

“ But agricultural communities cannot grow unless the development of land and water resources are encouraged. The highest type of agricultural development is found in irrigated sections. Here intensified farming make agricultural pursuits so profitable that three to ten acres of land can be made to support a single family in comfort, and it is this almost unlimited subdivision of land into small units that forms the basis of our national prosperity. ”

“ State action will hasten results, secure them on lands otherwise likely to remain waste, and is peculiarly profitable as a public enterprise both because the State has the competitive advantage of freedom from taxation and because it has not the freedom of private enterprise in profiting by highly remunerative business projects which involve corresponding risk. Old countries have proved that forest growing affords the State a large, safe and permanent revenue which, of course, reduces taxation upon all citizens. ”

“ The State also advanced the well-being of its people by conserving their natural resources, material or acquired, through the creation of a Public Utility Commission, whose work has since demonstrated the need and value of its existence by its influence in behalf of the public of their use and service. We hold here that one of the most effective Conservation measures is that which gives the people the best service at the lowest cost of all the applications of natural resources, as interpreted by science, which nature bestows in the way of power, water, light, and drainage. ”

“ Settlement should be encouraged by every legitimate means on all the land that will support homes. That is a fundamental proposition. Thus the tillable land in public ownership, within and without the National Forest, should be disposed of in fee simple to actual settlers, but never to speculators. ”

“ Let us first consider the confusion of Conservation with hostility to corporations; of encouragement to enterprise, with license to destruction of natural resources. It is true that we have heard and read some vigorous protests recently against grants of timber and water-rights to certain business corporations, whose profits would be sharply curtailed by preventing or limiting their free use of the country's forest and river wealth. Perhaps those protests were stronger because a combination was to profit by the grants than they would have been had the beneficiaries been dissociated individuals ”

“ While it is true that exhaustible resources like mineral wealth cannot be conserved for both future and present use, except by economic regulations and the prevention of wasteful methods, Conservation deals with their distribution in such a way as to prevent their control by grasping corporations and individuals, who would monopolize them for their own exclusive benefit at the expense of the general public. ”

“ The second principle is that the natural resources still owned by the people which are necessaries of life, like coal and water-power, should remain in the public ownership and should be disposed of only under lease for limited periods and with fair compensation to the public for the rights granted (applause) . I have never sympathized with the ideas we have heard so much of that the people must not try to protect themselves because they are not fit to handle their own affairs, and especially that they cannot handle their affairs in the matter of Conservation. ”

“ Let us concede that Conservation means that we, as a people, should manage all our resources with the intelligence and prudence that an individual should devote to managing his own property. Let us use them profitably, as he would; neither destroying or wasting them unnecessarily, nor giving them heedlessly to anyone who needs them less and will use them less to our advantage. But let us not, during excursions into Constitutional problems, State rights, and other bewildering issues, forget that first of all comes protection from destruction and waste! ”

“ The essence of Conservation is to utilize our resources with the least waste consistent with good progress, and with an honest care for the children of all generations.
While we not infrequently state the problem to be the reservation of our resources for all the people, and then assume that if all the resources were in private ownership the problem would thereby be solved, yet, in fact, the Conservation question is one thing and the ownership of property quite another. A corporation may be the best as well as the worst conservator of resources ”

“ The Conservation of our natural resources is a subject of intensely practical importance to the D. A. R. Representing as we do the motherhood of the Nation, we feel that it is for us to see that the children of this and future generations are not robbed of their God-given privileges. It is our high privilege and mission to see to it that the future shall be the uncankered fruit of the past. The ideal democracy solemnly dedicated by the Founders, we, as their Daughters, declare shall not be forestalled. ”

“ The natural resources of the earth are the heritage and the property of every one and all of us. A man has no moral right to skin the earth, unless he is forced to do it in sheer self-defense and to enable him to live in some epoch of an unequally developed society; and if there are or have been such epochs, then is society itself directly responsible for the waste of the common heritage.
The man who plunders the soil is in very truth a robber, for he takes that which is not his own and he withholds food from the mouths of generations yet to be born. No man really owns his acres ”

“ We can do little to control or modify the atmosphere or the sunlight; but the epidermis of the earth is ours to do with it much as we will. It is the one great earth resource over which we have dominion. The soil may be made better as well as worse, more as well as less; and to save the producing powers of it is far and away the most important consideration in the Conservation of natural resources.
No man has a right to plunder the soil
The man who owns and tills the soil owes an obligation to his fellowmen for the use that he makes of his land ”

“ The fertility of the soil must be saved not only that products may be raised with which to feed and clothe the people, but also that the beauty of thrifty and productive farms may be saved to the landscape. The property-right in natural scenery is an asset to the people, and the best Conservation of natural resources is impossible until this fact is recognized. ”

“ The methods of lumbering are as wasteful as in our own country, the fallen timber being allowed to thunder down the mountain side, tearing up all the smaller trees in its path. Since the large kauris are thousands of years old, some estimates running as high as 5,000 years, a timber company could hardly be expected to make any serious attempt at reforesting. However, there are a few government preserves, so that the big tree will not become entirely extinct. New Zealand has advanced ideas on conservation, for its recreation, forest and scenic reserves already include about 3,000,000 acres. ”

“ Conservation for disuse, in this case, becomes an absurdity. Even as to mineral resources, which cannot be replaced when once withdrawn, Conservation calls only for economical use, not for neglect or insufficient use. The argument is that we have quite as good a right to the enjoyment of the gifts of Nature as our successors have, but not a right so much better than theirs as to render a wanton waste of our patrimony justifiable, or even pardonable. ”

“ The Conservation of natural resources does not consist merely in the preservation of these resources for the benefit of future generations, but rather such present use thereof as will result in the greatest general good and yet maintain that productive power which insures continued future enjoyment. ”

“ Wise Conservation with use means the maximum of efficiency and profit with the minimum of waste and cost. We do not wish the few to have unfair advantage. [Pg 330] We desire each and all to have opportunity according to their talents and their physical or financial abilities, that the known and unknown resources of a country shall not be gobbled up by a few without an equal opportunity to others who can furnish the same needed measure of requirements to insure success. We realize that corporations are necessary to develop a country ”

“ Since the conserving of forests and the conserving of water supplies are interdependent, the General Federation of Women's Clubs through its committee on waterways is disseminating information, creating interest, and urging legislation for the further protection of these resources.
But the Conservation of natural resources, important as it is, is not the work which represents our heart interest, which appeals to our highest nature; it is not the thing for which we make our greatest effort. ”

“ On the other hand, it is within the scope of possibility that our forests might be destroyed to all practicable purposes, and history points out that soil and water supply would then be of slight utility in a mountainous country. The forest is the controlling resource, like the governor of an engine without which the engine would destroy itself. Hence forests in New York State by their influence upon soil and water flow occupy the position of first importance among our natural resources to be conserved. ”

“ Moreover, the National forests protect the water supply of a thousand cities and towns, about 800 irrigation projects, and more than 300 power projects, not counting the use of water for these and other purposes by individual settlers. I think that hereafter we may safely disregard any statements that the National forests are withdrawn from settlement and usefulness (applause) .
Conservation has to do not only with natural resources; it has to do with the lives of those who enable the rest of us to make use of those natural resources. ”

“ After this good start and the setting aside of conservation reserves of various kinds, active conservation measures depend on making careful and comprehensive surveys of the species and its ecosystem—often none too easy a task in the New Zealand region because of the rough seas, the relative inaccessibility of many of the important islands and their ruggedness, and the near-impenetrability of some of the vegetation types they support. ”

“ In the North Pacific and Bering Sea areas, the most urgent conservation needs are effective regulation of prospective oil exploitation, control of introduced predators, and public education. Regional management plans should be developed. Public access to bird colonies should be managed carefully to combine protection with public education.
Conservation programs for seabirds can be justified as a response to increasing public demand for rational management of natural resources. Conservation programs are inexpensive in relation to the economic values generated by oil and mineral development. ”

“ In considering the economics of conservation, we have to weigh the costs of conservation against the value of the resource being exploited. Full-scale development of oil reserves on the Alaskan continental shelf would generate economic values on the order of ten billion dollars per year. Of this total, 0.1% would support a reasonably sized management program for the threatened resources. About 1% of the total, or 12¢ per barrel of oil, would not only support an ample management program but also permit management of many other coastal zone resources. ”

“ In judging the costs and benefits of a conservation program, we should not look just at the value of the birds as meat, or oil, or indicators of pollution. The real issue here, as in all economic problems, is the rational allocation of resources. ”

“ Every consideration of natural resources for the purpose of eliminating wasteful methods, preserving and increasing productive power, as well as regulating operation and control, has for its ultimate object the conservation of human energy, health and life, the securing of equal opportunities for all, and such dissemination of knowledge as will guarantee the continual possession and enjoyment of these blessings. ”

“ Of what value would Conservation be without human life? For the benefit of man's life are given all these energies which are devoted to the Conservation of our natural resources. So at the very foundation of Conservation must lie the preservation of that for which Conservation exists. ”

“ The development and conservation of our national character and our free institutions must go hand in hand with the development and conservation of our natural resources, which the Governors' Conference so well called the foundations of our prosperity. Whatever progress we may make as a Nation, whatever wealth we may accumulate, however far we may push mechanical progress and production, we shall never reach a point where our welfare can depend in the last analysis on anything but the fundamental qualities of good citizenship—honesty, courage, and common sense (applause) . ”

“ If you want Conservation to amount to anything—if you wish it to go forward in the fullness of development so that what is left of the public domain, of the coal lands, the phosphate lands, the oil and gas lands and the forests belonging to the United States may be preserved and conserved and utilized without present waste and handed down to our children and children's children without exhaustion, then I say the power that should lead in this movement is the mighty power of the Federal Government. ”