A watershed moment for river conservation and science

Abstract

We are in the midst of a wave of 50th anniversaries. Specifically, the wave consists of 50th anniversaries for legislative milestones in the United States. That’s because the 1960s were a time of profound social and environmental change. The Civil Rights Act, the Wilderness Act, and the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act were all enacted in 1964. The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. The National Historic Preservation Act was in 1966, and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 was signed into law on the same day as the National Trails System Act. Other groundbreaking legislation will be commemorated with golden anniversaries in the next several years - the National Environmental Policy Act (1970), the Endangered Species Act (1973), and the Clean Air (1970) and Clean Water (1972) Acts, to name a few.

Citation

Chesterton, Steve; Watson, Alan. 2017. A watershed moment for river conservation and science. International Journal of Wilderness. 23(2): 3, 9.