October 2021 Law Wise

PUBLISHED BY

LAW WISE Coordinators:

OCTOBER 2021 • ISSUE 2

ethany J. Roberts, Chair, LRE Committee; B Lisa Leroux-Smith, Public Services Director; Nicolas Toledo Shump, Law Wise Editor; & Abbey Gilliland-King, Layout & Graphics

Greetings from the Kansas Bar Association (KBA)!

Welcome to the second edition of Law Wise for the 2021-2022 school year.

IN THIS ISSUE The Law and Environment Overview........................1 Environmentalism on the Local and State Levels.......2 The Birth of the National Park System..................... 3 Protecting Nature in Colonial America..............4 Silent Spring......................................................5 History of Alternative Enegry............................ 6-7 Theodore Roossevelt’s Impact..................................8 Lesson Plans.......................................................9-10 Terrific Technology for Teachers.............................11 Editor Bio & Contact Info...................................... 12

The Law and Environment Overview The vastness of the American continent likely overwhelmed the earliest European visitors from Cabeza de Vaca who wandered through Florida and the shorelines of the Gulf of Mexico before eventually reaching Texas to the French explorers who made their way through Canada to presentday St. Louis, Missouri. Early Massachusetts settlers embarked upon an “errand into the wilderness” near the end of the 17th century. Much of the appeal of the “new world” emerged from the abundant forests, plains, rivers, and other natural resources on what had previously been termed “Virgin Land.”

Once European exploration began in earnest, the new inhabitants of these lands developed strategies to protect these resources. This issue of Law Wise will trace the first environmental laws in the American colonies through the creation of foundational environmental laws like the Clean Air Act, Water Act, and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Other topics will include the birth of national parks, the integral efforts of President Theodore Roosevelt in the 19th century, and Rachel Carson’s efforts in her groundbreaking book titled Silent Spring and its role in jumpstarting the modern environmental movement. The issue will explore local and state environmental efforts and examine the origin and growth of renewable energy sources. With our planet inextricably linked on multiple fronts, our collective efforts and creative problem-solving will be essential to protecting our fragile planet. www.ksbar.org/lawwise

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Environmentalism on the Local and State Level

Since the establishment of Yellowstone National Park and the subsequent establishment of the National Park System, the federal government has established a rich legacy of environmental stewardship. Additionally, cities and states have demonstrated an admirable concern for the environment.

Many state and local efforts coincided with those on the national level. Plans to for what became New York City’s Central Park began in the 19th century. At the time, the site in Manhattan did not have the population density or a significant number of dwellings. The area consisted mostly of farms. Unfortunately, there were 1600 residents, including approximately 225 African American residents living in Seneca Village, who were displaced by eminent domain. The famed architect Frederick Law Olmsted partnered with Calvert Vaux to design the 843-acre park.

Central Park is a tourist and recreational destination, and its environmental benefits are notable. Over 18,000 trees clean the air and cool the atmosphere in Central Park. It serves as a habitat for 200 species of birds on their migratory path.

In the closing decades of the 19th century, Chicago passed the first anti-smoke air pollution laws. The 1909 International Boundary Waters Treaty created a commission to handle disputes over waters shared by the United States and Canada. Though only signed into law in 2008, the Great Lakes Compact marked the culmination of nearly a century of efforts to protect waterways in the region.

While national parks like Yellowstone remain popular tourist destinations, there are over 6600 state parks covering 14 million acres of land throughout the United States. Within Kansas, there are 28 state parks illustrating the important role states play in protecting these precious lands and resources throughout our nation.

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The Birth of the National Park System

As of January 2021, there are 423 national park sites in the United States. The park sites cover 84 million acres and span not only the United States, but include the territories of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam. In the United States, there are 63 national parks, with New River Gorge in West Virginia the newest edition. These sites and parks are administered by the National Park System.

In March 2022, the National Park System will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the establishment of Yellowstone National Park. The Yellowstone National Park Protection Act was signed into law on March 1, 1872 by President Ulysses S. Grant. A few years earlier the Yosemite Act of 1864 placed the Yosemite Valley under the control of California, which protected it from settlement. Both Acts set a precedent of protecting public lands.

While several other parks were established prior to Yellowstone, such as Yosemite, they were not designated national parks.

California designated Yosemite a state park, though in 1890 it became a national park. Hot Springs, Arkansas has often been cited as the first national park; however, its official designation was as a national reservation, the oldest in the United States.

Historians believe Yellowstone would have been a state park too, but its location within the three states of Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana led to the federalizing of Yellowstone, making it officially the first national park in American history.

Yellowstone had several superintendents but, they had trouble in effectively managing such a large territory. Yellowstone went through five superintendents within its first decade. Control of Yellowstone shifted from the Department of the Interior to the U.S. Army in 1886. By the turn of the century, the number of national parks grew to 15. Separate administration of each park proved ineffectual and provided momentum for the establishment of an independent agency to administer Yellowstone and the other national parks. Congress passed the National Parks Service Organic Act in 1916 and it was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson.

In nearly a century and a half, the National Park System has shown considerable growth throughout the United States. Parks exist in 28 states and two territories. California and Alaska have the most parks with nine and eight respectively. Currently, Kansas does not have any national parks, but it does have 28 state parks throughout the state. The legacy of Yellowstone serves an important role in the continued stewardship of public lands and natural resources in the United States.

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Protecting Nature in Colonial America In 1681 in Pennsylvania, William Penn issued an order requiring his colonists to preserve one acre of trees for every five acres removed in his new proprietary colony of Pennsylvania.

Two years later, in a letter to the Free Society of Traders, Penn noted, “[T]he country itself, its soil, air, water, seasons, and produce, both natural and artificial are not to be despised.”

With his 1681 order, Penn issued one of the first documents focused on the maintenance of the natural habitat.

imposed restrictions on the use of lumber in the colonies. Both the Massachusetts and New Hampshire charters imposed regulations and fines up to 100 pounds per tree illegally cut down. The crown issued a decree in 1702 stating “for the better preventing the further Spoil of those Woods, and for the preserving a Nursery of Such Trees.” Parliament passed the White Pine Act in 1711, covering New England colonies as well as New York and New Jersey.

Penn and other European settlers would inherit lands that the indigenous people such as the Lenape had carefully cultivated with sophisticated land management practices such as controlled forest fires to create what is known as the edge effect. The burnings helped to populate the forest with a variety of animal species hunted by indigenous communities. As the American Environmental History textbook notes, “[F]ire kept forests open and encouraged the growth of foods preferred by wildlife, creating the park-like woodlands so admired by European settlers.”

Various colonies in New England and in the southern colonies undertook a variety of drainage projects beginning in the middle of 17th century up to the time of the American Revolution. Historians debate whether the colonial authorities attempted to preserve natural wetlands, but there is documented evidence that colonies desired to keep the waterways clean.

A 1705 Virginia Law prohibited shipmasters from dumping gravel, ballast, and dead bodies into rivers, creeks, and harbors with a penalty of 10 pounds, later raised to 50 pounds.

Half a century later, another famous Pennsylvanian named Ben Franklin petitioned the Pennsylvania Assembly to stop dumping waste into the Philadelphia harbor. Franklin urged the closing of the tanneries and slaughterhouses polluting Dock Creek and the Delaware River. Franklin argued it had “poor smells” and violated “public rights.” An English visitor in 1769 described the Delaware River as “a mess.” In his will, Benjamin Franklin left funds to build a system for clean drinking water in Philadelphia. The Delaware River was no longer the pristine bay Henry Hudson explored in 1609 before departing in his search for the Northwest Passage.

Hudson named this waterway “South River,” while the Lenape and other indigenous people called it Pautaxat, Lenape, or Whittuck among other names. The Dutch following Hudson called it Zuyt, meaning South River. The river became known as the Delaware in 1610 when British Captain Samuel Argall named it after the Jamestown governor Lord De La Warre. In 1634, a Dutch settler wrote in his logbook, “[T]he river aboundeth with beavers, otters, and other meaner furs...I think few rivers of America have more.”

The earliest environmental protections covered the hunting of livestock, like deer, Rhode Island passed a 1640 law restricting this form of hunting. The last few decades of the 17th century witnessed the passage of laws restricting particular forms of hunting and fishing, and the protection of certain fish as well.

A final environmental and legal protection was the growth of nuisance laws defined as “an unreasonable interference with a right common to the general public.” Industries like butchering, distilling, candlemaking, and tanning were governed by these statutes. While these statutes did not have the same power and scope as laws and regulations passed in the 19th and 20th centuries, they demonstrate an awareness of the importance of natural resources and the importance of environmental stewardship.

In addition to the rivers and fish, timber proved to be a valuable resource for ship building, particularly masts. In 1645, members of the Winthrop family and other merchants began supplying Maine with pine trees for ship masts. When William and Mary assumed the English throne in 1688, they

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Silent Spring and the Modern Environmental Movement Some books serve as the catalyst for a movement or cause.

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle exposed the horrific working conditions of the meat-packing industry in Chicago. Though a work of fiction, the real-life conditions described by Sinclair led to the passage of major food legislation such as the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act within a year of publication.

Over fifty years later, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring had a similar effect. Unlike Sinclair, Carson wrote nonfiction works focused on nature and the environment. Prior to writing Silent Spring, Carson worked as a marine biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, she developed a love for nature and writing. Carson wrote brochures for the Fish and Wildlife Service and other works on nature and environmental topics like Under the Sea Wind, The Edge of the Sea, and The Sea Around Us, which was a New York Times best seller for more than a year and a half.

Carson’s most famous and impactful work, Silent Spring, described the devastating effects of dichloro-diphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) on the natural world. DDT proved to be one of the most powerful and destructive pesticides ever developed. It was not designed to target a specific insect, and instead, it killed hundreds at a time. Developed in 1939, it earned its inventor a Nobel Prize. It was used during World War II in the South Pacific to clear malaria-bearing insects, and it became available for civilian use in 1945 after the war.

Carson expressed concern about the indiscriminate use of DDT and wrote to Reader’s Digest seeking to author a series of articles about tests being conducted on DDT near Carson’s home in Maryland. Reader’s Digest declined.

of a brochure called The Desolate Year which parodied Silent Spring. The brochure described an apocalyptic world rife with famine, disease, and insect infestation because of a worldwide ban on pesticides.

Carson’s meticulous research allowed for her work to be vindicated. President Kennedy’s Presidential Science Advisory Committee confirmed her findings. As a result, the government placed restrictions on the use of DDT before banning it. In a documentary published shortly before her death from breast cancer, Carson provided the following testimony: “[M]an’s attitude toward nature is today critically important simply because we have now acquired a fateful power to alter and destroy nature. But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself? [We are] challenged as mankind has never been challenged before to prove our maturity and our mastery, not of nature, but of ourselves.”

Her death in 1964 did not diminish the impact of her work rather her commitment to environmentalism. The ensuing decade saw the passage of significant environmental legislation like the Clean Air Acts of 1963 and 1970, the National Environmental Policy Act that established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970, and the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Just as Upton Sinclair’s work paved the way for earlier industrial and environmental legislation, Carson’s work proved integral to these foundational environmental efforts.

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is arguably more important now than when it was written.

More than a decade passed before Carson resumed her project to write about the effects on DDT. This was spurred by a friend in Massachusetts who wrote about the death of birds on Cape Cod because of the use of DDT. Carson had amassed significant research about DDT and began the writing what became Silent Spring. It took four years for her to complete the book. Carson methodically described the process through which DDT entered the food chain by accumulating in the fatty tissues of animals, including humans. This resulted in genetic damage and even cancer.

The New Yorker serialized her work, and she faced intense criticism, mostly from the pesticide industry. Monsanto, the manufacturer of DDT, published and distributed 5000 copies

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History of Alternative Energy Sources in the United States Ethanol and Biofuels In 1937 in Atchison, Kansas the biofuel Agrol debuted.

A Midwestern product primarily, it used the slogan “try a tankful —you’ll be thankful.” The product was used from Indiana to South Dakota. Promotional material noted it was “made from American Farm Products.” Two types of fuel were available that Agrol 5 with between five to seven percent alcohol and Agrol 10 with 12% to nearly 18% alcohol. At its peak, Agrol could be found at over 2000 service stations across the greater Midwest. Atchison has the distinction of being the first ethanol plant in the U.S. However, the origin of ethanol and related biofuels stretches back a century earlier.

Before the discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania, the predominant fuel was camphene, also known as “burning fluid.” This fuel blended ethyl alcohol with 20% to 50% turpentine, which colored the fuel. Camphor oil was added to mitigate the turpentine odor. Distilleries during this era sold 33% to 80% of their product for fuel use. In 1834, S. Casey of Lebanon, Maine received the first patent employing alcohol as a lighting fuel. By 1860, distilleries produced more than 90 million gallons of alcohol as a fuel for lighting.

During the Civil War, in a move to fund the war, President Lincoln added a two dollar Spirits Tax which included ethanol. This tax effectively ended the use of ethanol as fuel source for nearly 45 years. Searching for an alternative for oil, President Teddy Roosevelt lobbied Congress to repeal the tax on ethanol. By the end of World War I, ethanol production reached 50 million gallons a year. Within the next few years, research demonstrated the superiority of alcohol to gasoline as a fuel source. Over 2000 tests conducted by the U.S. Geological Service and the U.S. Navy claimed much higher engine compression ratios were achieved by using alcohol instead of gasoline.

Though his name is today synonymous with petroleum diesel fuel, this was not the original aim of Rudolph Diesel, who did pioneering work on building an engine for the French government that would run on peanut oil. The French government planned to use these vegetable fuels in their colonial holdings around the world. Dr. Diesel died in 1913 shortly after the widespread availability of petroleum. This resulted in the invention to match the properties of petroleum diesel fuel.

In 2008, President Bush and the Department of Energy unveiled the National Biofuels Action Plan to help create a sustainable biofuel industry.

Wind Power Wind power for water-pumping windmills greatly aided

the settlement of the American West. The abundant wind allowed for the retrieval of groundwater in these dry regions.

Daniel Halladay’s model allowed him to form Halladay Wind Mill Company in 1857. The development of Halladay’s Wind Mill coincided with the construction of the transcontinental railroad as the water powered the locomotives. Additionally, western settlers made ample use of this technology. One estimate puts the number of windmills used in the American west at this time at over six million.

Approximately 30 years later, Cleveland, Ohio reported the use of the first windmill to use electricity in 1888. Known as the Brush Wind Turbine, an article published in Scientific American in 1890 noted, “[I]t has been in constant operation more than two years and has proved in every respect a complete success.” Building upon the work of Charles F. Brush, the Jacob brothers, Marcellus and Joe, started their Jacobs Wind Electric Company in 1927. For approximately 30 years, they sold over 30,000 units.

In 1975, several governmental organizations funded the development of 13 wind turbines, marking the first federal involvement with wind power. In 1980, U.S. Windpower installed 20 wind turbines in New Hampshire, creating the world’s first wind farm. The company eventually filed for bankruptcy in 1996 because of issues with the turbine technology.

Hydroelectric The middle and late 19th century saw the development of other energy sources beyond biofuels and wind power. In the evening on September 30, 1882, the first hydroelectric power station in North America opened in Appleton, Wisconsin. This plant initially lit three buildings, one residence and two paper mills. Citizens of Appleton described them “as bright as day.”

The purchase of a second dynamo allowed for the Waverly House to be the first hotel illuminated by electric light in the western United States. Fifty years later, construction on the Hoover Dam began and the project was completed in 1935.

When it opened, Hoover Dam was the largest hydroelectric producer in the world, a distinction it retained until 1948.

Geothermal Boise, Idaho was home to the first geothermal heating system. Built in 1892, it created heat for 200 homes and 40 businesses in downtown Boise. Presently, Boise has four district heating systems that provide heat to over 5 million square feet of residential, business, and government spaces.

Discovered in the 1800s north of San Francisco, it was only in the 1920s that John D. Grant attempted to harness

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History of Alternative Energy Sources in the United States (cont.) the energy of the geysers. Grant drilled a geothermal well and used a direct current generator to light the geysers resort.

Problems with the ability of the equipment to withstand the geothermal steam and other technical hurdles prevented this from becoming a viable alternative at the time, but it remains the first use of geothermal power in the world. Fourty years later, a full-scale plant was built at this location in the early 1960s.

In 1970, Congress allows the leasing of public lands for geothermal energy development but excludes territory in the National Park System.

Nuclear Power Five years after the passage of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 and the establishment of the Atomic Energy Commission, the first nuclear reactor for energy production was built at Argonne National Laboratory in Idaho. In 1954, Congress passed the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, which permitted the use of nuclear power for peaceful means. In December 1957, the first commercial nuclear power plant opened in Shippingport, Pennsylvania. The Duquesne Light Company operated this plant until its decommissioning in 1982.

Solar Power Scientists at Bell Laboratories developed the first silicon solar cell capable of producing electricity in 1953. A story in the New York Times proclaimed “the beginning of a new era, leading eventually to the realization of harnessing the almost limitless energy of the sun for the uses of civilization.” A short five years later in 1958, Dr. Hans Ziegler convinced the U.S. Navy to use solar cells and chemical batteries to power a secret satellite orbiting earth. The batteries die quickly, but the solar cells successfully power the satellite.

In the 1970s, the Exxon Corporation funded work by Dr. Eliot Berman that reduced the cost of solar cells from $100 a watt to $20 a watt making this technology more cost-effective and feasible for use. In 1977, the Solar Energy Research Institute is founded in Golden, Colorado making it the first federal facility dedicated to the development of solar power.

In this same year, President Carter creates the Department of Energy. A year later, the Tohono O’odham Reservation in Schuchuli, Arizona becomes the world’s first solar powered village.

In 1991 the Institute is designated a national laboratory and the name is changed to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. In 1996, a solar plant outside of Barstow, California named Solar Two demonstrates the viability of the storage of solar energy.

The 2009 Recovery Act signed by President Obama designated $467 million for solar and geothermal energy development. In 2014, the world’s largest concentrated solar power plant opens in the Mohave Desert. It is named Ivanpah and has the capacity to fuel over 94,000 homes using clean fuel.

Other Energy Alternatives In the Apollo and Gemini space missions of the 1960s and 1970s, technology is developed to use hydrogen and oxygen to power fuel cells for these missions. Fuel cell technology provides yet another renewable energy source.

In 1990 and 1996, Congress passed legislation aimed at expanding hydrogen power development in the United States.

In 2003, President George W. Bush authorized $1.2 billion of research and development through the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative.

Conclusion The breadth and scope of the various forms of alternative energy demonstrates that the U.S. has a long history of attempting to develop alternative fuels to replace fossil fuels.

While this transition will take time, these and other measures by some of states demonstrate a commitment to alternative energy development. In 2019, the governor of New Mexico signed into law a goal of being 100% reliant on renewable energy by 2050. California has committed to banning gaspowered cars by 2035. The next few decades should see advancements in a variety of these alternative sources of energy throughout the United States.

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“There is a delight in the hardy life of the open”: Theodore Roosevelt’s Environmental Impact Though other Americans have influenced American environmental efforts and policies throughout our nation’s history like Henry David Thoreau, Aldo Leopold, John Muir, Rachel Carson, and others, none may have exhibited a more widespread and lasting legacy than Theodore Roosevelt.

According to the Department of the Interior, after becoming President in 1901, Roosevelt established 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, 18 national monuments, five national parks, and four national game reserves. Combined, they span over 230 million acres of public land. Today, at least six national park sites are either fully or partially devoted to Roosevelt.

Though a rather sickly child growing up in New York City, in adulthood Roosevelt became an ardent outdoor enthusiast who engaged in hiking, rowing, swimming, horseback riding, bird watching, and hunting. Many of the specimens Roosevelt exhibited in his home, and he donated part of his collection to the Smithsonian.

President Roosevelt’s love and appreciation of nature can be seen in this excerpt from a speech he delivered in Osawatomie, Kansas in 1910 at the dedication of the John Brown Memorial Park. “There is a delight in the hardy life of the open. There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy and its charm. The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased and not impaired in value.”

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The Exxon Valdez Lesson Plan American Bar Association Division for Public Education Middle and High School Overview: This lesson highlights the Exxon Valdez story, including a photograph presentation, maps, personal stories, and Supreme Court documents. Individual parts may be selected or combined for use in the classroom depending on classroom needs. The entire unit is designed to teach students about the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989 and its impact on the environment and larger society. Students learn that seemingly isolated incidents—in both time and place—affect larger areas for years beyond the event. The Exxon Valdez disaster affected all of the United States as victims came from every state and continues to impact America today, as seen in recent Supreme Court decision.

Time Frame: One - two class periods Learning Objectives: During this lesson, students will: • Analyze the historical significance of events and how historical events impact present circumstances • Develop historical empathy by perceiving past events as they were experienced by people at the time • Appreciate the role of the accidental in history • Understand the relationship between geography and history, and its context for historic events • Recognize the roles of popular culture, federal, state, and local governments and how such roles and relationships demonstrate change and continuity over time • Appreciate and articulate the importance of the Rule of Law for protecting the environment Lesson Materials: • Exxon Valdez PowerPoint • Exxon Valdez Distress Call • Exxon Valdez Project Jukebox Oral History • Exxon Shipping Supreme Court Brief • Grant Baker Supreme Court Brief • Exxon Shipping Supreme Court Reply Brief Lesson Activities: • Use the Exxon Valdez PowerPoint presentation as an introduction to or entire lesson on the disaster, the clean up, the impact on wildlife, and the long-term effects on Alaska residents.

• Choose a few personal stories about the oil spill’s impact on local communities from the Hard Aground, Anchorage Daily News website to share with your students. Have them read the stories and discuss them as a class.

• Ask students to create a “Found Poem” using the personal stories that they read. “Found Poetry” involves students selecting words right from a document, in this case the newspaper articles with personal stories, and creating a poem.

Only words from the document, or newspaper article, may be used.

• Have students read portions of the Exxon Shipping v. Baker Supreme Court briefs and stage a debate between the two parties, or perhaps even some third-party amicus brief authors. Incorporate some of the personal stories from earlier activities to add their perspectives to the debate.

• Ask students to create a concept web, individually, in small groups, or as a class, using the Exxon Shipping v. Baker case.

Put the 1989 oil spill in the middle of the web, and branch out by brainstorming possible effects, followed by more effects, followed by more effects, and so on, to illustrate the complexity of this particular incident and case. Draw the web on notebook paper, chart paper, or the white board in front of the class, depending on your needs and preferences. Concept webs templates are available online here.

Debrief: • Ask students what they learned about the far-reaching and long-term effects of seemingly isolated environmental disasters, such as an oil spill • Talk with students about the role of laws and government at all levels in this particular situation and ask what can be learned for other situations. What might be learned from this case? www.ksbar.org/lawwise

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Environmental Laws: Then and Now Lesson Plan Adapted from the American Bar Association Division for Public Education Middle School Overview: The presentation uses modern environmental images juxtaposed with historic images and facts and asks students “is Going Green new?” While it is clear that environmentalism and the environmental movement, even environmental law, are historic, it is worth discussing how today’s movement is different from the past. Today, there are stricter laws, policy initiatives, social networks, and new technologies.

Time Frame: One class period Learning Objectives: Students will: • Prioritize historical facts and events in order to develop the “discerning memory” needed for critical thinking and judgments • Analyze the historical significance of events and how historical events impact present circumstances • Appreciate the significance of history in their own lives • Recognize the roles of popular culture, federal, state, and local governments and how such roles and relationships demonstrate change and continuity over time • Appreciate and articulate the importance of the rule of law for protecting the environment Lesson Materials: • Environmental Laws Then and Now PowerPoint Presentation Lesson Activities: • Use the presentation as an introduction to talking about environmentalism, debunk myths that students are the “first” generation to advocate for the environment, and generate discussion about the similarities and differences between today’s green movement and yesterday’s environmentalism.

Debrief: • Ask students how today’s environmentalism is similar to and different from the historic environmental movement.

• Ask students about the role of government and the law in protecting the environment, historically, and compare similarities and differences.

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Terrific Technology for Teachers Birth of a National Park - https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/historyculture/yellowstoneestablishment.htm A website from the National Park Service on the history behind the establishment of Yellowstone National Park in 1872.

Central Park History - https://www.centralparknyc.org/park-history The Central Park Conservancy provides a wealth of information regarding the planning and construction of New York City’s Central Park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux.

Clean Air Act - https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/evolution-clean-air-act The EPA website provides an overview of the Clean Air Act and the evolution of the act over the last 50 years.

Clean Water Act - https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/history-clean-water-act The EPA website provides a historical overview of the Clean Water Act of 1972.

The Conservation Legacy of Theodore Roosevelt - https://www.doi.gov/blog/conservation-legacy-theodore-roosevelt The Department of the Interior explores the legacy of President Theodore Roosevelt, who used his authority to create national forests, reserves, and national parks.

Endangered Species Act - https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/the-us-endangered-species-act A site from the World Wildlife Fund on the impact and continued importance of the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

Environmental Protection Agency - https://www.epa.gov/ The website for the Environmental Protection Agency established by President Richard Nixon in 1970.

National Environmental Policy Act - https://www.epa.gov/nepa This website provides information and resources regarding the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1970. The website contains historical information about the NEPA and resources for filing Environmental Impact Statements (EIS).

Quick History of the National Park Service - https://www.nps.gov/articles/quick-nps-history.htm The website covers the history of the National Park Service created by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916.

The Story of Silent Spring - https://www.nrdc.org/stories/story-silent-spring A website from the National Resources Defense Council devoted to the seminal writing of Rachel Carson’s 1962 work, Silent Spring, which is credited with jumpstarting the modern environmental movement.

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iCivics: Resources for Getting Involved & Taking Action www.icivics.org

This site provides teachers with free resources that improve students’ civic knowledge, civic attitudes, and core literacy skills. iCivis provides wonderful tools for educators and students. Take advantage of this great resource!

The KBA has resources for teachers. Visit: https://www.ksbar.org/page/educator_resources.

About the Law Wise Editor Nicolas Toledo Shump is a social studies teacher at St. Teresa’s Academy in Kansas City, MO,

where he teaches courses in US Government and Politics and Psychology. He is an online instructor for Constellation Learning, where he teaches classes in American Electoral Politics, AP Comparative Government and Politics, AP European History, AP US Government and Politics, AP US History, and AP World History. He served as a columnist for the Topeka Capital-Journal and Gannett Kansas from 2005-2020. Since 2012, he has been a Talk About Literature in Kansas (TALK) Discussion Leader for Humanities Kansas.

He can be reached at nicshump@gmail.com

Is Law Wise Helpful to You? We are always open to receiving comments, ideas and suggestions.

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Let us know: • Topics you would like to explore; • Projects and lessons you have developed that you would like us to feature; • Questions you would like to ask an attorney or judge.

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The Kansas Bar Foundation, with Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts (IOLTA) funding, provides support for this publication. Law Wise provides general information about law-related matters of interest to teachers, students, and the public in Kansas, but does not provide any legal advice, so readers should consult their own lawyers for legal advice. For further information about any projects or articles, contact Lisa Leroux-Smith, public services director, llerouxsmith@ksbar.org or 785-234-5696. Law Wise is published by the Kansas Bar Association, 1200 SW Harrison St., Topeka, KS 66612-1806, during the school year.

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