Watershed

The year 2016 witnessed two events significant to the future of conservation in America. One was the centennial of the National Park Service. The centennial was celebratory, marking the hundredth anniversary of its creation as the federal agency assigned to care for the growing number of America's national parks and historic sites.

The anniversary generated wide public interest and support for national parks, public lands, and conservation. It led to over 330 million visits to the National Park System, a record, and more than major league baseball, football, basketball, NASCAR, and the Disney amusement parks combined. President Obama established nine new national monuments during the centennial year, including the historic home of the National Women's Party in Washington, DC; the eighty-seven thousand–acre Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maine; and Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah. Other federal agencies, cities, state park systems, corporations, and many conservation groups joined the celebration.

Beyond the centennial activities, 2016 saw the federal government and many states advancing progressive and scientifically grounded agendas to confront the challenges of climate change. World conservation leaders welcomed a renewed American presence and leadership within the international conservation movement. Over two hundred countries signed the Paris Accord on climate change, including the United States. Conservation was gaining ground on many fronts.

The other momentous event was a national election of a new president and Congress. The election was divisive, profane, and intensely fought over the course of the year. Political expression was coarsened, ugly, and often malevolent. Donald Trump's rallies unleashed long-contained public anger, as he encouraged chants of "lock her up!" aimed at his opponent. Hillary Clinton cast Trump's supporters as "deplorables," and the far right and alternative fringe media amplified the viciousness of the campaign.

Attacks on conservation were a constant feature of the Republican side, framing conservation as "job-killing" or "government overreach." Specific targets included Environmental Protection Agency regulations, the Paris Accord, and the Obama administration's denial of permits for the Keystone Pipeline. Environmental and climate scientists were labeled as fraudulent (Trump had declared them "hoaxsters" as early as 2012). President Obama's proclamations establishing national monuments were portrayed as unjust and ill-done takings of local rights. Members of Congress and local, vocal activists fervently disputed federal management of public lands. Opposition turned violent when armed militiamen and ranchers staged a hostile takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon, established in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt to protect habitat for birds.

These two events, the centennial and the election, converged on October 22, 2016, when candidate Trump visited Gettysburg National Military Park. The park commemorates one of the most devastating battles of the American Civil War, with fifty thousand casualties during three days of brutal fighting. It also commemorates a revered speech in American oratory, President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Historian David Voelker describes the scene of Lincoln's remarks:

Four and a half months later, the process of reburying the thousands of bodies that had been shallowly interred on the battlefield had begun but was not yet complete. In this sobering setting, Lincoln delivered a brief address to an audience of about 15,000 people, who interrupted him five times to applaud. Newspapers across the North also responded very favorably. Lincoln's comments that day, however, comprised only a brief moment in the cemetery's dedication. Prior to Lincoln's three-minute speech came music, a prayer, and a featured oration, a two-hour discourse delivered by Edward Everett, retired Massachusetts politician and former president of Harvard. While Everett's speech dwelled on the details of the battle, Lincoln attempted to give meaning to the events at Gettysburg, indeed to the Civil War itself, by speaking about the ideals for which he believed the Union stood.

Using the same historic battlefield as stage and lectern, Donald Trump gave a speech that quickly "curdled into bitter resentment," reflecting a strident contrast to the sacrifice symbolized by the park and the ideals of Lincoln. Trump railed against his perceived enemies, particularly the media, the government, the opposition party, and the intellectual elite. The irony of the setting was perhaps not noticed by the candidate.

The election was held less than three weeks later. A stunning amount of money had been spent — over $2.2 billion in the presidential race alone. Nevertheless, overall voter turnout was modest, representing 58 percent of eligible voters. Donald Trump was elected president, winning the Electoral College while losing the popular vote by three million votes.

* * *

The clash of these two events — the centennial of the National Park Service and the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States — reflect much larger forces and divisions operating within American society. Conservation of natural resources such as forestlands and preservation of scenery such as mountains, hot springs, and waterfalls have long been traditions in America. The well-told story describes a movement initiated by 1890s' business interests (some linked to the railroads and firearms manufacturers) and wealthy individuals. The movement grew to include both of the major political parties and middle- and working-class Americans (mostly white) and has recently expanded to include persons of color, Native Americans, underrepresented communities, and the millennial generation. Still, many Americans perceive conservation as driven by and for the economic and cultural elite.

There has always been an anti-elite and populist strain in American politics, beginning with Andrew Jackson's rise, the contested election of 1824 (which he labeled "corrupt"), and Jackson's election as president in 1828. Current populism has recycled themes of previous populist risings — the People's Party of the 1890s, Huey Long's popularity in the 1930s, the racially divisive presidential campaign of George Wallace with his slogan "Stand Up for America" (1968), and Pat Buchannan's two presidential campaigns (1992 and 1996) with his claims that "the news media lies!" The political fuel driving these cycles of American populism has been working-class resentment at being disrespected, forgotten, and placed at unfair disadvantage in securing economic opportunity. In 2016, the resentment was loosely targeted at the intellectual and financial elites, scientists, the media, minorities and immigrants, and the Washington, DC–centered federal government. The...