Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
The 1st Wildlife Sanctuary was established at Lake Merritt.Lake Merritt originally resided as a wide, tidal estuary (salt water marsh) that was known as the Laguna Peralta. The Pacific flyway has remained a sanctuary and stop-over for thousands of migratory birds.
Dr. Merritt, the Mayor of Oakland, declared the Lake a National Wildlife Refuge in 1869, the first in North America. A dam was proposed to regulate the tidal water flow, to increase the water level, with a retaining wall that is 3.18 miles in perimeter.
In 1915 organized feedings of the wildlife (ducks) began. In 1925 the first bird island was constructed and four additional islands were erected in 1956. These are the largest of the artificial islands that house hundreds of egrets, herons, Canada goose, and many other species of birds. The islands are equipped with fresh water ponds. To ensure that marine sports and boating activities based at Lake Merritt aren%26#039;t disruptive to the birds, a boom cordons off the five islands from this section.
California Wildlife Act:
An Act to prevent the destruction of fish and game in, upon and around the waters of Lake Merritt or Prelate, in the County of Alameda.
Approved March 18, 1870 City of Oakland/Parks and Recreation 60% 3 Votes
Other Answers (3)
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In the US, the first wildlife sanctuary was Pelican Island, in Florida.
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Technically, the 1st wildlife sanctuary was established by God (or by chance [whatever your belief system is] or both) when He created the Universe and the earth as we know it today. The earth was covered in forests and various forms of vegetation and wildlife and has been for thousands of years. The entire Earth has actually been a wildlife preserve for thousands of years, and long before man came along.
Then, when humans became numerous upon the earth, royalty and the ruling classes of various countries throughout history have set aside areas of land for hunting game. Those could also be considered the first wildlife preserves created by man, even though they were primarily meant for hunting.
Now, if you%26#039;re asking about wildlife sanctuaries created by the U.S. government, I would look up Audobon and Theodore Roosevelt in Yahoo! search. These names, as well as other early American naturalists would be a good place to start in the search for how the first wildlife sanctuary was established.
Good Luck on the project!!! Yahoo search: Audobon
Yahoo search: Theodore Roosevelt 40% 2 Votes -
[edit] Early years (1864 - 1920)
By Executive Order of March 14, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt established Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, along Florida%26#039;s central Atlantic coast, as the first unit of the present National Wildlife Refuge System. It is misleading, however, to conclude that this was the genesis of wildlife sanctuaries in the United States.
There is no clear documentation of just when the concept of protecting wildlife through habitat preservation was born, but as long ago as the mid-1800s, diaries of early western explorers, pictorial records and reports from journalists and speakers familiar with the West brought a public realization that the unrestricted slaughter of wildlife for food, fashion and commerce was systematically destroying an irreplaceable national heritage.
The first Federal action aimed in part at protecting wildlife resources on a designated area appears to be an Act of Congress on June 30, 1864, that transferred the Yosemite Valley from the public domain to the State of California. One of the terms of the transfer was that State authorities %26quot;shall provide against the wanton destruction of the fish and game found within the said reservation and against their capture and destruction for purposes of merchandise or profit.%26quot;
Yosemite Valley was later returned to the Federal government. In 1872, Yellowstone National Park was established, primarily to protect the area%26#039;s hot springs and geysers, but again, the %26quot;wanton destruction%26quot; of wildlife was forbidden. Establishment as a national park did not, however, produce the desired wildlife protection effect until passage of the Yellowstone Park Protection Act of 1894.
The earliest effort to set aside an area of Federally-owned land specifically for wildlife occurred in 1868 when President Ulysses S. Grant took action to protect the Pribilof Islands in Alaska as a reserve for the northern fur seal. In 1869, the Congress formally enacted legislation for this purpose. These remote islands in the Bering Sea were the site of the world%26#039;s largest rookery of this commercially valuable animal, and the Federal government was prompted in its action primarily due to interest in obtaining revenue from the management of the fur resource. Fundamentally, this action marked a formal recognition of the need to protect and manage wildlife resources for their renewable values.
Under provisions of the Forest Reservation Creation Act of March 3, 1881, President Benjamin Harrison created by an Executive Order the Afognak Island Forest and Fish Culture Reserve in Alaska, %26quot;including its adjacent bays and rocks and territorial waters, including among others the sea lion and sea otter islands.%26quot; The action showed, in its executive history, that wildlife concerns were a paramount element in the proposal. However, possibly because of the emphasis on forest and fish resource protection, the value of this area as a wildlife refuge often escapes deserved recognition. This order also established the first reservation for fish.
As a result of an increasing awareness of the importance of fish and wildlife resources, in 1871 the Federal Office of Commissioner of Fisheries and in 1886 the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy (Department of Agriculture) were established to gain better information about the Nation%26#039;s fish and wildlife resources. From studies performed by these agencies it became evident that the resources were in jeopardy and conservation, sportsmen%26#039;s and scientific organizations began to lobby the Congress.
One such organization was the Boone and Crockett Club, founded in 1887 by a group of leading explorers, writers, scientists and political leaders, including Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt%26#039;s activities during the 1880%26#039;s and 1890%26#039;s placed him in the mainstream of events concerning the plight of fish and wildlife and other natural resources from coast to coast. He was acquainted with resource management needs and with the many individuals, organizations and agencies that were in the forefront of efforts to stem the losses. Thus, when he became President in 190l, he was singularly well-suited to the task of natural resource protection.
By the turn of the century the nation had witnessed the near extinction of the bison, increasing devastation of wading bird populations by plume hunters in Florida, and severe reductions in the populations of other once abundant forms of wildlife such as the passenger pigeon. Public support increased for more vigorous actions on the part of the government to reverse this downward slide.
In Florida, in an effort to control plume hunting, the American Ornithologists Union and the National Association of Audubon Societies (now the National Audubon Society) persuaded the State Legislature to pass a model non-game bird protection law in 1901. These organizations then employed wardens to protect rookeries, in effect establishing colonial bird sanctuaries.