From the origins of "Penn's Woods" to the controversial practice of fracking, Cradle of Conservation provides the first comprehensive study of Pennsylvania's environmental history. The story starts with forester Ralph Brock at the dawn of the conservation era and continues through the eras of energy production using coal, oil, natural gas, and other resources. Allen Dieterich-Ward also investigates how the non-human world shapes the history of the commonwealth and examines the impact of pollution.

Cradle of Conservation moves across time and place, from the Haudenosaunee people of the Susquehanna Valley, to the iron furnaces of nineteenth-century Pittsburgh, to the diesel trucks on the twentieth-century Pennsylvania Turnpike. In addition, Dieterich-Ward explores the histories of Philadelphia's Schuylkill River and the state's anthracite region and traces the environmental movements and crises that have led to public policy changes in the face of climate change.

Cradle of Conservation deepens our understanding of how Pennsylvanians have conserved and consumed.