Saving nature in protected areas

The world's first formal protected area was established on 1 March 1872, when US President Ulysses Grant designated 800,000 ha of north-west Wyoming as the Yellowstone National Park. The next to appear was in 1885 when the State of New York set aside 290,000 ha of the Adirondacks as a Forest Preserve. In neither case was the conservation of nature and wilderness the primary reason. At Yellowstone, it was to stop private companies acquiring the geysers and hot springs, and NewYork's concern was to maintain its drinking water supply.

These were followed by the 1890 designation of Yosemite National Park, and the 1891 amendment revising land laws to permit the creation of more forest reserves. Following this, the then President, Benjamin Harrison, proclaimed fifteen reserves over more than 5.3 million ha (Nash 1973). Reversals followed designations, such as the 1897 Forest Management Act that allowed reserves to be cleared for timber extraction. In the African colonies, authorities gazetted the first protected areas in the early twentieth century. The leading conservationists were foresters from the Imperial Institute of Forestry at Oxford, who dissociated themselves from development responsibilities. Their management philosophy emphasised that ‘the public good was best served through the protection of forests and water resources, even if this meant the displacement of local communities’ (McCracken 1987: 190).