Final answer:
Gifford Pinchot supported the construction of the Hetch Hetchy dam due to his belief in conservation for human use. His utilitarian perspective favored using natural resources to serve the greatest number of people, conflicting with preservationists like John Muir.
Step-by-step explanation:
Regarding the construction of the Hetch Hetchy Valley, Gifford Pinchot was decidedly in favor of the dam's construction. As the first Chief of the US Forest Service and a noted conservationist, Pinchot believed in the conservation of natural resources for the greater good of society. This is evidenced in his own words from 1913 where he states that the benefits of transforming the valley into a reservoir for San Francisco outweigh the ecological impacts. Pinchot held a utilitarian view on nature, emphasizing that the land and its resources should be utilized in a way that serves the most people.
Pinchot's stance was at odds with other environmentalists of the time, such as John Muir, who adhered to a more preservationist view - arguing for nature's protection for its own sake. The debate highlighted the philosophical divide within the conservation movement between those who, like Pinchot, supported anthropocentric ethics and those who sided with Muir's biocentric ethic. Despite public protests and the efforts of groups like the Sierra Club founded by Muir, Congress approved the damming of Hetch Hetchy Valley in 1913, affirming Pinchot's perspective.