During the Gilded Age America went through rapid industrialization this made a great impact in nature, coal and oil were the main products the industries used, this caused a heavy impact on water and air pollution. People started to have health problems connected to this.
Because of this people started to pay more attention to nature, this caused the creation of National Parks and the passing of Acts that protected nature, for example, Forest Reserve Act (1891), Sierra Club (1892), National Reclamation Act (1902), US Forest Service (1905).