The conservation movement - the protection of natural resources and wildlife - was first formulated and implemented as a political program in the United States relatively early,
during Theodore Roosevelt's administration (1901-1909), and it means that later generations of American can still enjoy their country's natural wonders. It was very difficult for many Americans to believe that their continent-sized nation with its forests, thousands of lakes, rivers and streams could face the problems which many smaller and more crowded nations faced. Also the USA had such enormous resources that it was hard to imagine they could ever be exhausted. Starting in early 1960s, however, Americans finally realized that the USA was in danger of losing many of her national treasures. What was happening to Lake Erie, the shallowest of the Great Lakes is a good example. City and industrial wastes, chemicals and fertilizers were endangering the lake with the enormous pollution. Suddenly it seemed, the lake was almost "dead", and the millions of Americans, who used its sandy beaches and fished its waters were shocked. At the same time, other problems began to receive great publicity. Some environmental activists stressed the attention to the problem caused by industrial pollution and acid rains This growth of attention led to substantial number of laws in the 1960s and 70s, and to establish of several federal agencies. Because the environmental movement in the USA has been never associated with one political group or party, it has been able to gain widespread trust and support. Federal laws such as the Clean Air Act, the Water Pollution Control Act and many others brought some improvement in the environment. All the states, of course, have adopted their own laws as, for instance, banning to throwaway bottles and cans, and forbidding industrial dumping. By 1986 forty states and more than eighty cities had passed some laws to
restrict smoking in parks or at work.