Progressive Era Conservation Acts

The Progressive Era also saw an increase in conservation acts, however the Progressive idea of conserving land was not protecting it, so much as carefully utilizing it for future generations. Conservation acts included the Desert Land Act (1877), the Forest Reserve Act (1891), the Carey Act (1894) and the Newlands Act (1902).

The Desert Land Act was passed to preserve desert land by selling cheaply, provided that the purchaser irrigate the soil within three years.


The Forest Reserve Act was passed to preserve the nation's forests by authorizing the president to set aside public forests as national parks or reserves.


The Carey Act, similarly to the Desert Act, distributed federal land to the states on the condition that it be irrigated and settled.


The Newlands Act, imposed by Roosevelt, authorized Washington to collect money from the sale of public land in the West and use those funds to develop irrigation projects. Settlers then repaid the cost of reclamation from their fertile soil, and that money was put into a revolving fund to provide for further enterprises.