conservation of natural resources Conservation in the United
States Conservation became part of U.S. government policy with
the creation (1871) of a U.S. commissioner of fish and
fisheries. The Forestry Bureau of the Dept. of Agriculture
created the first national forest reserve in 1891. The
Irrigation Division in the U.S. Geological Survey developed into
the Bureau of Reclamation. The Geological Survey has cataloged
and classified the resources of the public domain. In 1906 an
act protected the Alaskan fisheries. Conservation as part of a
total approach to the use of natural resources was first
introduced by President Theodore Roosevelt and his chief
forester, Gifford Pinchot. In 1907 President Roosevelt appointed
the Inland Waterways Commission, which emphasized the connection
between forests, water supply, and stream flow. In 1909 he
appointed the National Conservation Commission, which published
the first inventory of the country's natural resources.
Roosevelt in 1907 began withdrawing large areas of west