DRAFT Sportsmen--Part of America’s River Heritage
Prepared by J. Glenn Eugster 1/18/00
Introduction
Recently I’ve been working with the Friends of the Potomac on their “Nation’s River Bass Tournament”. The initiative was started by Mari Lou Livingood of the Friends and James Lee Witt Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the July 30, 1999 Potomac River Day event and has advanced rapidly.
My first reaction to the Friend’s proposal was to link the event to the progress the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the State and local governments have made, in cooperation with industry, cleaning up a polluted waterway. The fact that the Potomac is one of the ten best bass fishing rivers in the U.S. is a tangible example of the value and results of the clean-up effort.
Although I fished as a child, my lack of angling expertise pushed me toward experts to help the Friends design their program. The first call I made was to Joe DiBello, Chief of Planning of the Mid-Atlantic Region of the National Park Service. I called Joe because he is an expert in river conservation, heritage efforts and he is an active fisherman. Joe’s enthusiasm for the Tournament and the idea of American Heritage River efforts partnering with the fishing community caught my attention.
As I listened to Joe’s ideas and read the works of John F. Reiger ( author of the book American Sportsmen and the Origins of Conservation) I soon realized the important role that sportsmen have played in the conservation and environmental protection of our rivers and watersheds. Until I listened to Mr. DiBello and read articles such as “The Sportsman Factor in Early Conservation” by John F. Reiger I hadn’t realized the pioneering role anglers have played in protecting rivers from pollution, dams, dumping and nets. In fact, until Reiger’s writings, it was common to consider many sportsmen as more of a problem than protectors of nature.
My research relies largely on Reiger’s works, however, it’s interesting to see how sportsmen have influenced the conservation movement in the U.S. and how several American Heritage Rivers (i.e. Connecticut River, Hudson River, etc.) figured prominently in the evolution of river and watershed protection.
Environmental protection efforts, such as EPA’s, have certainly played a significant role over the last thirty years. However, sportsmen’s groups began calling for pollution prevention and watershed conservation as early as 1840. Interestingly, the Nation’s River Bass Tournament, and related events brings these various parties together to celebrate the accomplishments of today and recognize the heritage of sportsmen’s role in the conservation movement.
What follows are are my notes from reviewing the works of Reiger. Here’s hoping you will find them useful on your river and further recognize the importance of sportsmen in your river conservation and heritage efforts.
“Nation’s River Bass Tournament”
On June 8 & 9, 2000 the Friends of the Potomac, with the support of the Alexandria seaport Foundation and the Federal Emergency management Agency, will celebrate the Potomac River’s remarkable comeback, to its current status as one of the nation’s top 10 bass-fishing rivers.
The event will include an evening gala and auction, the Tournament launch from Gravelly Point along the historic George Washington memorial Parkway, and a picnic and awards ceremony on nearby Columbia Island. Endorsed by members of Congress throughout the four-state watershed, the Potomac Tournament will be promoted by ESPN as a model of citizen involvement in reducing and preventing pollution, and protecting and restoring aquatic habitats.
The Potomac River was recognized as an American Heritage River in July 1998 for its many values including its recreational fishery. Federal, State, local government and private sector efforts over the last twenty years have brought significant improvements in the water quality of the Potomac. One of the benefits of these efforts to reduce and prevent pollution and protect and restore aquatic habitats has been the increasing use of the lower portion of the Potomac River—from the District to Point Lookout, for bass fishing.
Early Interest in Rivers
Although many governments can legitimately claim credit for contributing to the clean water turn-around in our Nation’s River, the earliest advocate for cleaning up the Potomac-and other rivers in the U.S., were sportsmen. As early as the 1840’s, anglers such as Frank Forester were calling for the restoration of game fish to waters depleted by dams and pollution. Joined later by Robert B. Roosevelt, Thaddeus Norris and Genio Scott anglers protested against the dumping of sawdust; mine wastes; factory chemicals; and other pollutants into the country’s waterways. These and other leaders also demanded fish ladders and were opposed to commercial fishermen whose nets stretched across rivers, lakes and sounds.
From the 1870’s on sportsmen had been working for the restoration of commercial fishing and the adoption of a national fish culture program that included efforts to control water pollution.
The early American pioneers in fish culture modeled their efforts on English and French precedents. For example, early fish culturists like Theodore Garlick and Thaddeus Norris studied French discoveries in order to adapt them to the U.S.
Another example of an idea transferred from European experience was the game preserve. Dating back to early Colonial days, game preserves were established by outdoorsmen who desired to perpetuate game and habitat in spite of the utter indifference of a nation seemingly obsessed with economic development. Instead of waiting for the indolent state and federal governments to assume their responsibility for natural resources, sportsmen decided to take the initiative themselves and create preserves.
The fish-culture movement was the very first environmental crusade to capture a significant percentage of the American public’s interest. Seven years before George Perkin’s Marsh published “Man & Nature” (1864) the Vermont legislature, at the request of sportsmen, commissioned Marsh to study the feasibility of restoring the state’s depleted fishing stocks. This action was prompted when sportsmen and non-sportsmen became alarmed over the disappearance of game and food fishes and the elimination of shad and salmon in the Connecticut River.
Vermont and other New Englanders concerns led to the creation of the U.S. Fish Commission in 1871.
Twentieth century fish culturalists began to understand that the best way to produce more fish was to have a healthy habitat. In addition to their services in stocking the nation’s waters and protecting them from dams, pollution, and nets, sportsmen also made an important contribution in the private sector by establishing numerous game preserves. Virtually all of the sportsmen’s clubs controlled, by leasing or direct ownership, large acreage that was kept in a natural condition, thereby maintaining the ecosystems of those areas.
Game preserves date back to early Colonial days. Two of the earlier, better known preserves were:
* Blooming Grove Park in PA. Blooming Grove (which appears to either be in the Susquehanna or Delaware River watersheds) was the first game preserve belonging to an incorporated association. It was established in 1871 and its 1,200 acres were used for the purpose of “preserving, importing, breeding and propagating game animals, birds, and fish, and furnishing facilities to the members for hunting, shooting, and fishing on its grounds”.
The concept and implementation of the Blooming Grove Plan provided the first large-scale demonstration of integrated natural resource planning for primarily recreation purposes in America. This type of effort was something that would not be approached in the public sector for another 20 years.
For example, Yellowstone Park, created a year after Blooming Grove Park, had no effective game protection until 1984. Moreover, Blooming Grove had no public counterparts until the National Forest System provided for multiple use of timber and game resources.
* Bisby Club, in NY. Blooming Grove’s success encouraged sportsmen in other areas to emulate its example. One of these was Bisby Club established in Hudson River watershed of the Adirondack Mountains in 1877. A group of sportsmen leased a large tract of land fearing that the State would never take action. By 1882 the club leased 9,000 acres of Herikimer County, NY.
National Movement
In 1887 George Bird Grinnel, with Theordore Roosevelt and other sportsmen formed the Boone and Crockett Club—the first private organization intended to deal with conservation issues of a national scope. Grinnel, earlier the editor of Forest & Stream magazine and founder of the Audubon Society, was an advocate for recognizing the interrelationships of all natural resources (i.e. No woods, no game; no woods, no water; no water, no fish) and foreshadowed the science of ecology.
Week after week Grinnel reminded people what rapid industrialization was doing to the natural environmental. Forest & Stream, as well as other sportsmen magazines such as American Sportsman (1871), Field & Stream (1874) and American Angler (1881) supported the sportsmen’s efforts to challenge the myth of inexhaustibility and arouse a substantial segment of the public to understand that in region after region game fishes, birds and mammals were disappearing.
As the editor of Forest & Stream he fought for the protection of the Adirondack forests on a watershed basis. He contended that the area had to be set aside because it protected the sources of the Hudson River. With the help of other sportsmen and the NY City Chamber of Commerce and other business leaders Grinnel helped the Governor and NY legislature to establish a 715,000 acre Forest Preserve in the Adirondack Mountains.
John F. Reiger’s writings illustrate that the American sportsmen-those who hunted and fished for pleasure rather than commerce or necessity, were the real spearhead of conservation.
For further information:
- The Sportsman Factor in Early Conservation, Reiger, John F.; American Environmentalism, Nash Roderick; 1990, McGraw Hill, NY.
- American Sportsmen and the Origins of Conservation, Reiger, John F. 1986, University of Oklahoma Press, OK
- Explorations in Environmental History, Hays, Samuel, P. 1998, University of Pittsburgh Press, PA.
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