care to stabilize water levels during waterfowl nesting
navigation, agriculture, and most other purposes. The
season, and to create 194,000 acres of wildlife refuges
Corps officers composing the California Debris Com-
from f o r m e r l y - s t a g n a n t s l o u g h s a n d b a c k w a t e r s . T h e
mission regulated hydraulic mining effectively, thereby
new water level greatly benefited the river's fish resources
saving California's rivers from being choked with sand
and gravel.12
a n d many of the ducks, geese, and shorebirds of the
Mississippi wildfowl flyway. Furthermore, the Corps
In 1899, t h e R i v e r a n d H a r b o r A c t authorized t h e
built scenic drives and parks along the new lakes, and
Corps to regulate activities which could obstruct U.S.
planted dogwood, hawthorn, and redbud trees for their
navigable waters. Although that statute was designed pri-
beauty and wildlife food value. Famous conservationist
marily to protect navigation from unregulated bridges,
Ira Gabrielson said the Corps' project benefited wildlife
piers, and filling, the broad language of that Act allowed
in the region more than any conservation organization
the Corps to control the degradation of U.S. waters from
could have, since the Corps had greatly increased
refuse, oil, and other pollutants.13 One must r e c o g n i z e ,
w i l d l i f e a n d r e c r e a t i o n values along the upper Missis-
nonetheless, that these environmental accomplishments
sippi.14
of the Corps were "ahead of their time" in the sense that
they were atypical of the 19th Century. The Corps could
Modern-Day Impacts on the Environment
only carry out those missions which Congress and the
President prescribed, and most of those were intended to
One thus sees that the Corps' conscientious engineer-
"develop" rather than to "preserve" the nation's natural
ing was assisting the conservation movement for many
resources.
years before the term "environmentalism" had even been
Theodore Roosevelt's presidency elevated the conser-
coined. Nevertheless, one must recognize that environ-
vationist ideas of the Progressive Movement to respect-
mental preservation was never a dominant priority for
ability within the Federal Government, so from his ad-
the United States for the first half of the 20th Century,
ministration onward the Corps did at times find oppor-
any more than it had been during the 19th; thus it was
tunities to incorporate conservationist objectives into its
not and could not be made a paramount mission of the
projects. For example, the several projects which im-
Corps. Instead, this nation concentrated far more of its
proved the upper Mississippi River for navigation during
resources and attention to economic growth, the im-
the 1930's w e r e c a r e f u l l y d e s i g n e d t o c r e a t e f i s h a n d
provement of our citizens' material standard of living,
wildlife habitat and human recreation opportunities.
and the development of our natural resources, in addi-
Congress had authorized development of the river's 9-
tion to defending itself during two World Wars, a num-
foot navigation channel primarily to ensure new
ber of smaller wars, and an uneasy peace. If one merely
economic growth for the region and to give work to many
calls to mind the more noteworthy events and trends of
unemployed persons. The project consisted of a series of
each decade of the 20th Century prior to 1970, one must
locks and dams, creating a series of navigation pools, and
agree that the economic values and concerns of the 19th
other appropriate works to ensure a 9-foot channel.
Century still predominated. Most of the century's new
developments were hardly beneficial to environmental
While accomplishing the project's economic goals,
preservation, since most entailed rapid and large-scale
the Corps designed the necessary large dams with great
application of new technologies which consumed energy
voraciously and polluted air, water, and the land itself.
The mechanization of transportation via trucks and pri-
vate autos used up most of our petroleum reserves and in-
spired the mushrooming of suburbs which covered the
American countryside. The technological revolution in
American agriculture brought tractors, other extremely
costly machinery, and an "agribusiness" founded upon
chemical pesticides and massive consumption of energy.
American manufacturing industries began to use and
discard thousands of new chemicals which polluted our
water and air and used up our natural resources rapidly.
New packaging and marketing techniques, plus a grow-
ing population, led to problems in disposing of solid
wastes; and these are but a few examples of 20th Century
trends hostile to environmental preservation.
The Corps of Engineers carried out many vital mis-
were
sions from 1900 to 1970, but most of them
"developmental" rather than "environmental" in nature.
From Corps efforts in World War II to Corps contribu-
tions to the U.S. space program; from continued work for
flood control, water supply, and navigation, to creation of
hydroelectric energy, the Corps helped build the U.S.
economy; but because the public interest priorities were
The upper Mississippi River navigation project greatly benefited
focused cm development, the Corps was less frequently
waterfowl by stabilizing water levels during the nesting season and
expected to preserve the American environment during
by creating refuge areas.
this period.
5
D-5