Preservation Acts
Land, Water & Wilderness
An In-Progress Guide
Vital National Conservation*
*Headline above is from the National Park Service Organic Act
This in-progress guide highlights preservation Acts that have informed some of the topics for my drawings and the writing in my forthcoming book. The resources that follow are a few of many that I have used for better understanding pathways to protecting land and water. Each Act protects a lengthy list of objectives; the definitions or protections that I find to be primary or significant have been excerpted. Over time, more preservation Acts, including Acts from other regions, may documented here.
Protected Planet
A comprehensive map resources of global protected areas.
1990s
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Act
1996
S. Rept. 104-376
From the 1996 Act
Congress finds that:
(1) of the 400,000 square miles of tallgrass prairie that once covered the North American Continent, less than 1 percent remains, primarily in the Flint Hills of Kansas.
1970s
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act
(BWCAW or BWCA)
1978
PL 95-495
The BWCAW is based on The Wilderness Act of 1964
USDA Forest Service
From the original 1964 Act
Congress finds that:
In order to assure that an increasing population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing mechanization, does not occupy and modify all areas within the United States and its possessions, leaving no lands designated for preservation and protection in their natural condition, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness.
Sand Dunes Protection & Management Act
1976
Public Act 222
Now part 353 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act 451 of 1994
From the 1994 amended 1976 Act
The legislature finds that:
The critical dune areas of this state are a unique, irreplaceable, and fragile resource that provide significant recreational, economic, scientific, geological, scenic, botanical, educational, agricultural, and ecological benefits to the people of this state and to people from other states and countries who visit this resource.
Endangered Species Act
(ESA) 1973
16 U.S.C. §1531 et seq.
From the original 1973 Act (now amended)
Congress finds that:
(1) various species of fish, wildlife, and plants in the United States have been rendered extinct as a consequence of economic growth and development untempered by adequate concern and conservation;
1960s
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
(WSR)
1968
16 U.S.C. 1271 et seq.
National Wild & Scenic Rivers System
From the amended 1968 Act
Congress finds that:
It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States that certain selected rivers of the Nation which, with their immediate environments, possess outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural, or other similar values, shall be preserved in free-flowing condition, and that they and their immediate environments shall be protected for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Congress declares that the established national policy of dam and other construction at appropriate sections of the rivers of the United States needs to be complemented by a policy that would preserve other selected rivers or sections thereof in their free-flowing condition to protect the water quality of such rivers and to fulfill other vital national conservation purposes.
1910s
National Park Service Organic Act
(NPSOA)
1916
6 U.S.C. l 2 3, and 4
Consists of the amended Act of Aug. 25 1916 (39 Stat. 535)
From the original 1916 Act
Congress finds that:
It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States that certain selected rivers of the Nation which, with their immediate environments, possess outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural, or other similar values, shall be preserved in free-flowing condition, and that they and their immediate environments shall be protected for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations.
The Congress declares that the established national policy of dam and other construction at appropriate sections of the rivers of the United States needs to be complemented by a policy that would preserve other selected rivers or sections thereof in their free-flowing condition to protect the water quality of such rivers and to fulfill other vital national conservation purposes.
