The world of today is very different from the world before the conservation movement. In the name of advancing technology and the human race, society in the early 19th century was doing an immense amount of damage to the earth, especially regarding the use of its natural resources. With very limited scientific knowledge about the natural world, many people didn’t know, let alone care, that their actions were harming the earth. It took the influence of some key people to help to change the direction of not only society’s practices but also its mind set. Three of the most influential people involved in the formation and perpetuation of the conservation movement were John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and Aldo Leopold.

John Muir was born on April 21st, 1838 in Dunbar Scotland. With an immense respect for the natural world and an undying curiosity, Muir grew up to be very self sufficient and independent (White, 1996). In his early twenties Muir left his home of Scotland for the North American continent to finally explore so many of his curiosities. Traveling almost entirely on foot, Muir traversed most of the US and Canada with little more than a small knapsacks worth of belongings.

It is rumored that he didn’t even carry a blanket with him, but instead burrowed under leaves at night to keep warm. Muir was said to walk incredibly fast; so fast that he rarely had company because no one could keep up. It was not unusual for him to travel upwards of 20 to 40 miles a day (White, 1996). During this journey, what Muir referred to as a botany quest, he first began to notice the practices of harvesting and treatment of public forested lands which was taking place. He recognized that if this continued at the same rate, the land would suffer irreparable damages (Butler, 2004).

Muir’s passion and dedication to the idea of conservation were addicting to many people at the time. Even if for romanticized reasons, people began to agree that the earth’s natural resources were worthy of protection. In 1892, Muir co founded and became president of the Sierra club, an environmental activist and watch group (Butler, 2004). It wasn’t long until the conservation minded President Theodore Roosevelt took notice of Muir and began to take advice on public land policy and practice. Together, Roosevelt and Muir successfully established 5 national parks; Sequoia and Yosemite in 1890, Mt. Rainier in 1899, Petrified Forest in 1906, and Grand Canyon in 1908. In addition to the national parks, Muir helped Roosevelt establish 148 million acres of National Forest, and 23 National Monuments during his term of office (Butler, 2004). Muir was an accomplished writer and left his legacy through the publishing of over 300 articles and 10 books. Muir was still writing when he died in 1914 (White, 1996). He left the world overly committed to sustainable use of its natural resources.

Gifford Pinchot was born into a very wealthy family on April 11, 1865 in Connecticut. With a strong interest in the natural processes of the earth and specifically the resources of wood, Pinchot attended Yale, but later went on to L’Ecole Nationale Forestiere in Nancy, France to study forestry, a discipline not even heard of yet in the US (PA DEP, 2001). Upon returning to the US, Pinchot was appointed Chief Forester of the newly formed US Forest Service under President Roosevelt. During his government service the number of National Forests increased from 32 in 1898 to 149 in 1910 (PA DEP, 2001). Pinchot, who coined the phrase “Conservation Movement”, later became the two time republican governor of Pennsylvania. He used his position there to further his ideas of conservative resource and land management (PIC, 2004). On October 4th, 1946, at the age of 81, Gifford Pinchot died of Leukemia. He is fondly remembered as the father of US forestry.

A contemporary of Muir and Pinchot, Aldo Leopold was born to a middle income family in Burlington, Iowa. Like Muir, Leopold’s early days were filled with a fascination of the natural world. It is said that by the age of 13, Leopold had already been regularly studying the nesting habits of local birds. His love of nature and knowledge of forest destruction through the stories of Jack London, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ernest Thompson Seton breed him for a major role in the conservation movement (LCSA, 2004). After graduating from Yale University’s School of Forestry, Leopold spent many years working for the US Forest Service in Arizona and New Mexico. Later he was a game consultant and chaired the country’s first Department of Game Management at the University of Wisconsin. As a driving force behind the perpetuation of the conservation movement at the time, Leopold helped to found the Wilderness Society and the Wildlife Society, and was active in many other conservation organizations (Slack 2004). By the time of his death in 1948, Leopold had left a library of nearly 500 works, including such things as speeches, technical writing, textbooks, newsletters, reviews, essays and poems. He is best remembered for his collection of essays entitled, A Sand County Almanac, published a few months after his death (LCSA, 2004).
It is often through the hard work and dedication of a handful of people, that amazing things are accomplished. This is not to say that these three men were solely responsible for the conservation movement but their influences combined created and perpetuated a way of thinking that all life should be grateful for. Even in their death, people remember them fondly and live by many of the precedents they set.