Editing Conservation movement (section)

=== Racism and the Conservation Movement ===
The early years of the environmental and conservation movements were rooted in the safeguarding of game to support the recreation activities of elite white men, such as [[Trophy hunting|sport hunting]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Hellegers |first=Desiree |date=December 2017 |title=The Rise of the American Conservation Movement: Power, Privilege and Environmental Protection by Dorceta E. Taylor |url=https://utpjournals.press/doi/10.3138/cjh.ach.52.3.rev22 |journal=Canadian Journal of History |language=en |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=609–611 |doi=10.3138/cjh.ach.52.3.rev22 |issn=0008-4107|url-access=subscription }}</ref> This led to an economy to support and perpetuate these activities as well as the continued wilderness conservation to support the corporate interests supplying the hunters with the equipment needed for their sport.<ref name=":5" /> Game parks in England and the United States allowed wealthy hunters and fishermen to [[overhunting|deplete wildlife]], while hunting by Indigenous groups, laborers and the working class, and poor citizens - especially for the express use of sustenance - was vigorously monitored.<ref name=":5" /> Scholars have shown that the establishment of the [[U.S. national park]]s, while setting aside land for preservation, was also a continuation of preserving the land for the recreation and enjoyment of elite white hunters and nature enthusiasts.<ref name=":5" />

While Theodore Roosevelt was one of the leading activists for the conservation movement in the United States, he also believed that the threats to the natural world were equally threats to white Americans. Roosevelt and his contemporaries held the belief that the cities, industries and factories that were overtaking the wilderness and threatening the native plants and animals were also consuming and threatening the racial vigor that they believed white Americans held which made them superior.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |author=Powell, Miles A. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/973532814 |title=Vanishing America : species extinction, racial peril, and the origins of conservation |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-674-97295-7 |oclc=973532814}}</ref> Roosevelt was a big believer that white male virility depended on wildlife for its vigor, and that, consequently, depleting wildlife would result in a racially weaker nation.<ref name=":2" /> This lead Roosevelt to support the passing of many immigration restrictions, [[eugenics]] legislations and wildlife preservation laws.<ref name=":2" /> For instance, Roosevelt established the first national parks through the Antiquities Act of 1906 while also endorsing the removal of Indigenous Americans from their tribal lands within the parks.<ref name=":6">Purdy, Jedediah (August 13, 2015). "Environmentalism's Racist History". ''The New Yorker''.</ref> This move was promoted and endorsed by other leaders of the conservation movement, including [[Frederick Law Olmsted]], a leading landscape architect, conservationist, and supporter of the national park system, and [[Gifford Pinchot]], a leading eugenicist and conservationist.<ref name=":6" /> Furthering the economic exploitation of the environment and national parks for wealthy whites was the beginning of [[ecotourism]] in the parks, which included allowing some Indigenous Americans to remain so that the tourists could get what was to be considered the full "wilderness experience".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Merchant |first=Carolyn |date=2003-07-01 |title=Shades of Darkness: Race and Environmental History |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.2307/3986200 |journal=Environmental History |language=en |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=380–394 |doi=10.2307/3986200 |jstor=3986200 |issn=1084-5453|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Another long-term supporter, partner, and inspiration to Roosevelt, [[Madison Grant]], was a well known American eugenicist and conservationist.<ref name=":2" /> Grant worked alongside Roosevelt in the American conservation movement and was even secretary and president of the Boone and Crockett Club.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Peter. |first=Spiro, Jonathan |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/227929377 |title=Defending the master race : conservation, eugenics, and the legacy of Madison Grant |date=2009 |publisher=University of Vermont Press |isbn=978-1-58465-715-6 |oclc=227929377}}</ref> In 1916, Grant published the book "The Passing of the Great Race, or The Racial Basis of European History", which based its premise on eugenics and outlined a hierarchy of races, with white, "Nordic" men at the top, and all other races below.<ref name=":3" /> The German translation of this book was used by Nazi Germany as the source for many of their beliefs<ref name=":3" /> and was even proclaimed by Hitler to be his "Bible".<ref name=":6" />

One of the first established conservation agencies in the United States is the [[National Audubon Society]]. Founded in 1905, its priority was to protect and conserve various waterbird species.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |date=2015-01-09 |title=The History of Audubon |url=https://www.audubon.org/about/history-audubon-and-waterbird-conservation |access-date=2022-03-29 |website=Audubon |language=en}}</ref> However, the first state-level Audubon group was created in 1896 by Harriet Hemenway and Minna B. Hall to convince women to refrain from buying hats made with bird feathers- a common practice at the time.<ref name=":02" /> The organization is named after [[John Audubon]], a naturalist and legendary bird painter.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |date=2020-07-31 |title=The Myth of John James Audubon |url=https://www.audubon.org/news/the-myth-john-james-audubon |access-date=2022-03-29 |website=Audubon |language=en}}</ref> Audubon was also a slaveholder who also included many [[racist]] tales in his books.<ref name=":12" /> Despite his views of racial inequality, Audubon did find black and Indigenous people to be scientifically useful, often using their local knowledge in his books and relying on them to collect specimens for him.<ref name=":12" />

The ideology of the conservation movement in Germany paralleled that of the U.S. and England.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last=Landry |first=Marc |date=February 2010 |title=How Brown were the Conservationists? Naturism, Conservation, and National Socialism, 1900–1945 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0960777309990208/type/journal_article |journal=Contemporary European History |language=en |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=83–93 |doi=10.1017/S0960777309990208 |issn=0960-7773|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Early German naturalists of the 20th century turned to the wilderness to escape the industrialization of cities. However, many of these early conservationists became part of and influenced the [[NSDAP|Nazi party]]. Like elite and influential Americans of the early 20th century, they embraced eugenics and racism and promoted the idea that Nordic people are [[White supremacy|superior]].<ref name=":7" />