Wildlife conservation had to reorient toward cities because future voters knew only urban environments

Evidence

Perhaps most significantly, the bureau organized a pioneering conference in 1968 to consider the relationship of “Man and Nature in the City.” As director John Gottschalk explained, the subject was “complex, dynamic, and poorly understood. Yet we know … that many major problems of conservation and environmental management today stem from urban areas and their inhabitants. We also know that conservation decisions will soon be made by people who know only the environment of the city.” Accordingly, the agency had to do more to meet the needs of the ever-increasing metropolitan population. If the bureau continued to work only in the nation’s wide open spaces, Gottschalk told the conference participants, “I believe it would soon find itself in a very questionable orientation to society.” — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 846

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Suburban sprawl pulled established conservation groups toward urban environmental concerns — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 553; Wildlife preservation came to depend politically on metropolitan voters’ esthetic interest — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 841; Conservationist ideas carried into environmentalism through an urbanized land ethic — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 44 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Conservation concerns migrated from forests and farms into metropolitan areas #corroborates (0.92) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 1537
• Wildlife preservation came to depend politically on metropolitan voters’ esthetic interest #expands (0.90) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 841
• Conservationist ideas carried into environmentalism through an urbanized land ethic #expands (0.85) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 44
• Government wildlife experts could influence sprawl only by entering the development process directly #expands (0.75) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 849
• Urban competence develops only through exposure to risky new places #complicates (0.70) — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 638