ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on three themes from the conservation movement. These include the irrigation movement invoked the arcadian myth; Pinchot conjured up the people versus the vested interests; and Muir tried to throw the money changers out of the temple of Nature. The progressive conservation movement was the most ambitious and comprehensive program to evolve from the multidimensional attempt to make a bureaucratic response to industrialism, and its chief architect, Gifford Pinchot, was one of the most creative and innovative leaders of his generation. No single individual was more representative of the link between progressivism and concern for the environment than Gifford Pinchot. Pinchot became a close and trusted presidential advisor, with influence unparalleled in a bureau chief—a conductor cutting across departmental lines, linking up the working agencies with the highest level of political power and investing them with extraordinary energy and direction.
