About this Collection
The conservation movement began in the United States with concerned sportsmen who realized that wanton waste of wildlife and their habitat had led to the decimation of many game species and even the extinction of some. The movement’s earliest champions included Theodore Roosevelt, who founded the Boone and Crockett Club, a hunting conservation organization, in 1887, and John Muir, who founded the Sierra Club five years later.
While there are many others who have gone on to shape the history of conservation in the United States, the five individuals highlighted above have made indelible marks on how we view the conservation of the land and its resources today. Click on each photo or name to visit a page dedicated to each conservationist, with text, video, photographs, and links to explore their lives and their work.