Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R 2 0 1 9 18 e wildlife situation was most dramatic close to home. When Lewis and Clark passed through they described "...an aggregation of wildlife,... that exceeded anything the eye of man had ever looked upon." As the 19th century neared its end, eodore Roosevelt (TR) recorded the following. "A ranchman who... had made a journey of a thousand miles across Northern Montana, told me that... he was never out of sight of a dead buffalo, and never in sight of a live one." We were the wildlife bone-yard of North America. At the time there was little indication that we would find a conser- vation ethic big enough to create an American-commons out of which: national forests, a wilderness system, parks, national monuments, wild- life refuges, game ranges, a wild and scenic river system, and hunting for every American with the desire, might evolve. While the tragedies of the 19th century were occurring, two major events happened that made conservation possible. e first was an 1842 Supreme Court ruling that fish and wildlife were public re- sources to be managed as a public trust. e second was an 1891 Act of Congress allowing presidents to set aside unclaimed lands for conservation purposes. ese realities soon found their way to Montana. MONTANA CONSERVATION TIME LINE GRANVILLE AND JAMES STUART (1864-1872) ere is no better example than Montana pioneers Granville and James Stuart. When the first Montana ter- ritorial legislature convened in 1864 they were there and passed legislation "… restricting the taking of fish to a hook and line." is conservation measure was put in place 12 years before Colonel Custer bit the dust on the Little Big Horn. In 1872, the Stuarts legislated closed season protection for big game. Four years later: Custer dies, America celebrates its first centennial, and buffalo hide shipments out of Fort Benton peak at 80,000. Realization of Stuart's vision would take time, but they planted seeds of hope. YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK In 1872, Congress created Yellowstone National Park primarily because of its geo- thermal wonders. Since its inception, the park played a significant role in the conservation and restoration of wildlife. In the late 1880s it became sanctuary for the last wild bison. In 1886, Captain Moses Harris and the First U.S. Cavalry rode in to protect them, a mere 10 years after the Custer battle on the Little Big Horn. e military stayed, protecting the park's features and wildlife for 30 years. Yellowstone continues to affect, contribute to, and challenge the evolution of Montana's conservation ethic. by JIM POSEWITZ O NE CANNOT ADDRESS THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICA'S CONSERVATION ETHIC without noticing the role Montana's landscape and its people played in a uniquely American drama. Before we do that however, we need note how our nation, when it was new treated nature. Early in our history a French Nobleman studied our radically new form of government, to see how democracy was, or was not working. He also made observations on how we were treating our "New World." Writing in Democracy in America (1835) Alexis de Tocqueville observed: "In Europe people talk a great deal of the wilds of America, but the Americans themselves... are insensible to the wonders of inanimate nature. eir eyes are fired with another sight; they march across these wilds, clearing swamps, turning the courses of rivers..." 1 ACHIEVEMENT 2 ACHIEVEMENT CODY BROWN In 1872, the U. S. Congress created Yellowstone National Park primarily because of its geothermal and hydrothermal wonders. Teddy Roosevelt at Bozeman Depot 10 M O N T A N A C O N S E R V A T I O N A C H I E V E M E N T S

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