Abstract: In America’s first conservation movement, Gifford Pinchot played an important role and proposed many influential conservation policies for American federal government. He realized the limitedness of natural resources, called for their scientific management, urged the government to have stricter regulations over public land, and embedded conservation with moral significance by linking it with social justice and international peace. Analyzing Pinchot’s conservationism is of great significance for our understanding of the development of twentiethcentury American environmentalism. His ideas can also provide enlightenment to the conservation of natural resources and environment in China.