Human alteration of the environment is inevitable. It has gone
on since earliest people learned to use fire. But only in the latest
century of our short tenure on the planet has most of the seri-
ous damage to air, soil, water, plants, and animals taken place,
and only very recently has it reached crisis proportions.

In recent decades a few dedicated conservationists have
aroused a growing number of concerned citizens in support of
a more enlightened land policy. It is my hope that the story of
their efforts, both triumphs and defeats, will promote a better
understanding of the rise of conservation in the United States
and perhaps encourage others to follow in their footsteps.

Robin W. Winks, Thomas R. Cox, Donald C. Swain, Susan
L. Flader, and Horace M. Albright all provided helpful criti-
cism of portions of an earlier, shorter version of this book: The
Conservationists (Menlo Park, Calif.: Addison-Wesley Publishing
Co., 1971). The first six chapters of the earlier book have been
revised and four new chapters have been added. A selected an-
notated bibliography (excluding major publications cited in the

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