Conservation

David Starr Jordan's statement "It is homemaking, not money making, which builds up the republic" sums up the basis for his ideas on conservation (#1 p.37). He was concerned that in an effort to make money, the government would allow industry and people to exploit natural resources and spaces in the US. He understood that when the US was first founded, it was necessary to give away land, forests, coal, water power in order to speed the nation's development and generate wealth. Despite this necessity, he felt that "the nation grew at the cost of a waste without parallel in the history of the world" (#1 p. 32). In the early 1900s, Jordan declared that the time had come to preserve the natural resources and spaces of the US through conservation efforts. Jordan's apprehensions about environmental and natural degradation are similar to his fears about US immigration and imperialism. Jordan felt that ambitions of the US to expand its territories, production capabilities, and international markets would led to the racial deterioration of the Anglo-Saxon stock. Comparably, this drive to make money would destroy the ecosystem.

Aquatic Animal Conservation

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Fur Seal
In the late 1800s Jordan observed that fish populations were being depleted by overharvesting, habitat destruction, and pollution in the bodies of water between Canada and the US. In 1909, Jordan accepted an invitation to serve as the US representative to the International Fisheries Committee (IFC) in order to draft protective legislation.  While he lobbied passionately for his proposed regulations to get enacted into law, he was not successful and IFC eventually dismissed him from its ranks. Jordan was more successful in his efforts to protect the northern fur seal that spent its life in the international waters between the US and Russia. In 1896, he headed the US delegation to study the depletion of the fur seal population. The US government  appointed Jordan to chair a new Fur Seal Advisory Board. At this time, he held an international conference between Canada, Russia, and Japan to reverse the trend in fur seal depletion. In 1911, the delegation was successful in enacting a landmark agreement to protect the fur seal population (#2 p.221-223).