Origins of Conservation Movement

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Besides Native land claims, the other major issue involving Alaska's land since statehood has been the conservation of natural lands. Alaska has always been renowned for its wilderness, and conservationists have been interested in it since the early years of the territorial period. John Muir, one of America's most influential naturalists, traveled to Alaska in the last decades of the 19th century and wrote vividly and dramatically about its wildness, natural beauty, and wonder.

After the turn of the century, many major national conservationists, like George Bird Grinnell, Charles Sheldon, Belmore Browne, and Bernard Fernhow, worked to protect Alaskan wilderness areas. Their efforts led to the creation of national parks or monuments at Denali, Katmai, and Glacier Bay between 1917 and 1925. They also worked to protect the Alaska brown bear and the Dall sheep. In 1925, Congress passed a game law for Alaska, limiting the killing of Alaska species.

In 1933, Robert Marshall, founder of the Wilderness Society, published his account of his year in Wiseman, Alaska. Titled Arctic Village, it was a romantic description of the wonders of Alaska's wilderness. From then on, conservation groups such as the Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club were interested in Alaska and its natural wonders. They campaigned for the creation of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge both in and outside Alaska, and President Eisenhower signed the order creating ANWR in 1960.

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

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