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Show Others in the conservation movement of the Progressive Era adamantly opposed Pinchot's vision. Most notable among the detractors was John Muir, first president of the Sierra Club. Environmental historian Roderick Nash explained the split that developed in the conservation movement, and between Pinchot and Muir: "Men who thought they were colleagues found themselves opponents. The schism ran between those who defined conservation as the wise use or planned development of resources and those who have been termed preservationists, with their rejection of utilitarianism and advocacy of nature unaltered by man."~ 7 Muir championed the preservationist definition of conservation while Pinchot championed the wise-use definition. That division in the American conservation movement defined land-use debates in the early 1900s, and it permeates the debate today.28 Despite the ideological divide, Pinehot led several government agencies overseeing land use, and his vision dominated federal land management and environmental policy throughout the first half of the twentieth century. I listorian Thomas G. Alexander explored the relationship between Mormonism and conservation from 1847, when Mormon settlers arrived in the state, until 1930.29 1lis research gives insights into the religious beliefs, environmental attitudes, and environmental practices of Mormon settlers and contrasts Utah conservation attitudes 27 Roderick Nash. Wilderness and the American Mind, 4th ed. (New Haven: Yale Nota Bene. 2001), 129. 21 1bid., 130 :N Thomas G. Alexander, ··stewardship and Enterprise: The LDS Church and the Wasatch Oasis Environment, 1847-1930." The Western His1orica!Q11arte1"!y 25, no. 3 (Autumn 1994): 340-364. |
