ABSTRACT
Words change their meaning over time. Nowhere is this clearer than in the environmental field. Gifford Pinchot is sometimes referred to as ‘the father of conservation’ yet, as the quotation shows, used the term in a way which is quite different from that of today. Pinchot was responsible for the establishment of the US Forest Service in 1905, and had strong views on the need for managing the forests in the interests of longterm commercial development. Forests had to be managed like any other crop. Wanton exploitation was inefficient: good management involved sensible conservation. Pinchot had a strong influence on forestry policy, but his was not the only view being expressed about natural resources and the environment. Then as now, attitudes toward the environment varied widely. The traditional view had been that nature had to be conquered. Nature had to be defeated, or at least tamed. Land and natural resources seemed limitless: why conserve them? – there was always more over the next ridge. The cornucopia of the New World presented a huge market place for exploitation, development, and profit.
