| This dissertation examines the growth and evolution of the National Wildlife Refuge System in the half century between the end of the Progressive Era and the beginning of the environmental movement. Best known today as a protector of endangered biological species, American policymakers originally institutionalized the refuge system in the 1920s to assist in the perpetuation of large-scale migratory waterfowl flights and attendant duck and goose hunting. This study begins by carefully reviewing the decade-long legislative fight for the original refuge system authorization, the Migratory Bird Conservation Act of 1929. Subsequent legislation, including the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp (Duck Stamp) Act of 1934, Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration (Pittman-Robertson) Act of 1937, the Duck Stamp Act Amendments of 1949 and 1958, Refuge Recreation Act of 1962, and the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966 is contextualized within a four-decade effort to implement a waterfowl-centered refuge system.; By situating the gradual evolution of the refuge system from manager of migratory waterfowl to protector of endangered species within the legislative process, this study highlights the too often ignored congressional role in environmental policymaking. With a five-decade scope, it recognizes and analyzes continuities missed by more traditional accounts focused on presidential administrations. It also provides a much needed historical examination of the National Wildlife Refuge System, one of the four major public land system managed by the United States government, but largely ignored by historians, in the crucial historical evolution from conservation to environmentalism. |
