The US and Canada are known as one of the areas which lead the wildlife conservation action in the world. In Canada, there are governmental associations such as Canadian Wildlife Service (CWA). There are also some NGOs including Canadian Wildlife Federation, Nature Canada and WWF Canada are known as the national level and playing a significant role with government conservation agencies. In the US, there are also many governmental scientific institutions for research, laws and associations. There are also non governmental associations such as sportsman clubs. They both lead the international wildlife conservation. How wildlife conservation changed over time from European settlement until now in the US and Canada is an important historical questions of the investigation. Understanding of their history of wildlife conservation will provide good examples for the other countries or areas where currently working to develop their system and for the future. The US and Canada went through similar situations and solved in similar ways. The government first tried to protect wildlife and nongovernment organizations were founded to support protecting them. Finally, they started leading worldwide wildlife conservation by founding international organizations such as WWF.
Before the wildlife conservation started in the US, Native Americans lived with wild animals. Most of Native Americans such as Sioux, Arapaho and Blackfoot were hunting mainly small mammals with small amount of large animals. They also gathered nuts, berries and fruits, but the majority was planted crops. It is believed that there were about 3-5 million Native Americans in the area where now the US at that time. Many kinds of diseases from Europe caused depopulation of wildlife especially in dense populations of animals or humans because of lack of antibodies. Additionally, many indigenous people were forced to move like trail of tears which we learned in history class. This movement led to lose their ancient knowledge about wildlife and habitat in each specific areas and ecosystems were destroyed in some cases. After European arrived in the US, there were many issues such as diseases, furbearers, and market hunting. The exploitation of the furbearers in the northeast and Canada was mainly by the Hudson’s Bay Company. In the Pacific Northwest, the Russian-American Fur Company took seals and sea otters, and as the result, Steller’s sea cow went extinct by 1768. In 1748, South Carolina shipped about 160,000 deer pelts to England. Also in 1833, the American Fur Company shipped about 43,000 buffalo hides. Buffalo meat was used for camp towns and crews building railroads to the west. Because of that, there was a significant decline in buffalo numbers by the mid 1840s. When wildlife populations declined significantly, Europeans blamed it on its predators at first.
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The situation for wildlife changed a lot in Canada as well after European settlement. Wapiti, great auk and bison were the main three species that got impact badly from Europeans. Wapiti is the second largest deer. Before 1492, wapities were not popular species in the fossil record. However, after a while, their population rapidly grew as the result of depreciation of indigenous people’s populations due to Eurasian diseases and genocide. They reached their maximum geographic range before 1800. By 1835, however, wapities disappeared from their eastern areas which is now Ontario and Québec because of hunting. They also went extinct in Alberta before 1913, but they were reintroduced from Yellowstone National Park in 1917. Another species, great auk is the largest and flightless auk which is already extinct. The great auk was destroyed by human activities. As they are flightless and colonial during breeding season, it was easy to hunt them. Therefore, they were hunted heavily, for food by explorers, for bait by fishermen, and in the late 1700s, for feathers by commercial hunters. The last known breeding pair was at Eldey Rock off southwestern Iceland in 1844. Lastly, the depopulation of bison occured due to the European invasion of North America. The population decline in Canada began with the need for meat to the fur traders of the Hudson’s Bay Company and North West Company. Several significant developments from the North America slaughter was also the big reason for their depopulation. First, the development of a new hide-tanning process in Britain and Germany during the second industrial revolution which is from 1870 to 1914 resulted in an insatiable need for cow hides for leather. The development of new rifles made hunters to be able to kill large numbers of bison easily. Before their huge depopulation, bison were the most popular large mammal on the continent, it is estimated that there were about 30 million plains bison. However, when the North America slaughter was finished in the mid-1880s, there were only about 116 wild plains bison left in North America. This means that nearly all of the plains bison alive today are descendants of those 116 wild bison. Plains bison were extirpated from Canada by 1888.
The first step of wildlife conservation in the US occurred in Portsmouth, Rhode Island where enacted the first closed season on deer hunting in 1646 when the deer did not rebound from their depopulation. Sportsman clubs were also formed to encourage comradeship for ethical hunting practices. The first sportsman’s club in the US was the Carroll’s Island Club in 1832, for waterfowl hunting. Eventually, a lot of local sportsmen’s clubs were formed across the country and game laws were passed as well to protect wildlife. In addition, some states banned the use of dogs and traps for hunting and they also limit hunting by making illegal to hunt at night. During the 1870s and later, many additional hunting and conservation organizations were formed, such as the League of American Sportsmen, the American Ornithologists Union, the Camp Fire Club, the New York Zoological Society, the Audubon Society, and the American Bison Society. These groups campaigned for stricter laws to stop market hunting for meat and the millinery trade, and to ban unethical sport hunting. The Constitution Act in 1867 was the beginning of wildlife conservation in Canada. This is a move which was made to develop wildlife conservation and protected areas. It was provided for the union of three colonies, the Province of Canada which is Ontario and Québec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick into a federal state with a parliamentary system modelled from Britain. This Act shows the distribution of powers between the central Parliament and the provincial legislatures.
Wildlife conservation became towards success around 1900 both in the US and Canada. There are many famous US presidents who worked on wildlife conservation. US 16th president, Abraham Lincoln signed the Land Grant Act in 1862. This act was to educate young people about the environment by establishing agricultural and technical colleges in all states in the US. In the US history, President Theodore Roosevelt was one of the most active presidents for wildlife conservation. Roosevelt established the Agriculture Department’s Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy, which became the Bureau of Biological Survey, and worked on surveying its biota. It was also given powers with the passage of the Lacey Act. In 1900, Lacy Game and Wild Birds Preservation and Disposition Act was passed which is the first national legislation for wildlife conservation. This law banned to transport wild game across the state borders for animals that were taken illegally. This law also controlled the importation of exotic species. President Franklin Roosevelt also worked for wildlife conservation. During the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was formed to solve unemployment. It employed lots of of factory workers and farmers, and they helped to develop huge waterfowl breeding grounds. In 1934, he also established the Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit Program, the American Wildlife Institute, the North American Wildlife Federation, and the North American Wildlife Institute. In addition, Endangered Species Act (ESA) was made to provide a framework to protect endangered and threatened species and their habitats in 1973.
In Canada, wildlife conservation became more popular during 1900s as well. The first bird sanctuary was created in 1887 at Last Mountain Lake and 98 migratory bird sanctuaries are now administered. Migratory Birds Convention in 1916 and Canada Migratory Birds Convention Act in 1917 were made to implement the Convention by protecting and conserving migratory birds. The Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) is a directorate of Environment Canada. The CWS focuses on 3 key things which are migratory birds, endangered species and habitat. The CWS is responsible for Canada Wildlife Act, the Species at Risk Act, the Migratory Birds Convention Act and the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act. There are also several non governmental associations in Canada. Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF) was established in 1961 to spread an understanding of wildlife in Canada and ensure that all species would be preserved for the future. CWF now has over 500 000 members and supporters across Canada and has a wildlife affiliate in all provinces and territories. In addition, Nature Canada was created to protect wildlife and its habitats in Canada. This association was made to influence people on important issues such as bird conservation, wilderness protection, and endangered species.
Finally, from around 1970, international wildlife protection began and the US and Canada took huge part to lead theses conventions and associations. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was made in 1973 to control the trade of wild animals and plants especially for endangered species which are threatened by international trade. The Convention on Biological Diversity was created in 1992 for the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of biological diversity and equal share of the benefits from utilization of genetic resources. Another famous worldwide known association is World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF). This is the largest independent conservation organization in the world. Since 1967, WWF Canada has been working with business, government and the public to stop destroying natural environment, and to build a future which humans and nature live together. In conclusion, wildlife conservation in the US and Canada is closely related to their history and they went through similar situation. Conservation both began when European settlement and continue to industrialization. Europeans first thought that natural resources were unlimited and they used these sources not only for food source, but also for military purpose as well. After wildlife depopulated significantly, several people started thinking about wildlife conservation. They started from small associations and developed them to even for international associations over time.
Timeline is slightly different between the US and Canada, the US usually started little bit earlier and Canada follows after. Some acts and associations are closely related to huge historical events which we learned in history class. For example, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was created to solve unemployment during the Great Depression and it actually took a role for wildlife conservation by developing waterfowls breeding grounds. Additionally, extremely famous people in history such as President Lincoln, President Theodore Roosevelt and President Franklin Roosevelt actually took huge role in the history of wildlife conservation. They made the importance of wildlife conservation widely known by establishing many scientific research institutions and educated people, especially for young generation about wildlife conservation. Both Canada and the US are considered that they succeeded in wildlife conservation with good combination of non governmental associations and government acts and effort to preserve our environment are continuing to next generation.
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