Conservation Acts

The conservationists in the progressive camp essentially had two sides: beauty vs. use. Beauty proponents included John Muir, who essentially wanted to leave the land untouched. Use proponents included Gifford Pinchot, who, while not opposed to beauty, wanted to protect the land in order to provide the greatest good to the greatest number (a bit of a utilitarian view). Following are some of the conservationist acts:

The Desert Land Act of 1877 offered desert land cheaply, so long as the buyer irrigate the land within three years:



The Forest Reserve Act of 1891 allowed the president to set aside public forests as national parks and reserves. This resulted in about 46 million acres being set aside in the 1890's alone:



The Carey Act of 1894 gave federal land to the states, so long as it was irrigated and settled (similar to the Desert Act but for any public land):



Finally, the Newlands Act of 1902 allowed the government to collect money from the sale of public land and use such revenue to fund irrigation projects: