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Contact Jim: jdipeso@rep.org (253) 740-2066 / 2009 Archive / 2008 Archive / 2007 Archive / 2006 Archive / 2005 Archive
Lincoln the Conservationist
February 12, 2009
Today, we celebrate the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. Among his vast contributions to the betterment of the human condition, one of the lesser known is his record in conservation.
In the summer of 1864, few people in the troubled United States gave much thought to a faraway mountain valley in remote California.
One who did was California Senator John Conness, who sponsored an unusual bill – to turn over that faraway mountain valley to his state for the unheard-of purpose of preserving it forever for “public use, resort, and recreation.” The idea was the brainchild of enterprising Californians, whom Conness described as “gentlemen of fortune, taste, and refinement.”
In speaking for the bill, Conness described the valley as both “worthless” and as containing “some of the greatest wonders of the world.” A forest grove to be included in the conveyance contained trees around 3,000 years old, he told his fellow senators.
This tree species grows so large, Conness continued, that when a section of a fallen specimen was taken to the 1862 London World’s Fair, the suspicious Brits branded the specimen a contrivance and dismissed the idea of such massive trees as Yank flimflam.
Congress passed the bill and on June 30, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed it into law.
The incomparable Yosemite Valley, a scenic wonderland hidden between granite massifs, and the spectacular Mariposa Big Tree Grove of giant sequoias were protected for future generations to cherish and enjoy.
As he did in so many ways to such lasting benefit, Lincoln moved America forward. Lincoln’s signature on the Yosemite law was the seed of our national parks, often described as America’s best idea.
From that remote mountain valley in California, the parks have been expanded since Lincoln's day to more than 84 million acres of grandeur and history, from the lonely ridges of Alaska’s Brooks Range to the coral reefs of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Thank you, Mr. Lincoln.
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