Are You a Teddy Roosevelt Conservationist?

As President's Day draws near, I find myself reflecting on some of the enduring legacies of our prior presidents. All made contributions that continue to shape our nation in some way - both good and bad. However, as a westerner and outdoor enthusiast I am particularly enthralled with the contributions of Theodore Roosevelt.

It is politically trendy today for government leaders and others to anoint themselves "Teddy Roosevelt Conservationists." They hunt, which makes them analogous to Teddy Roosevelt. They support national monuments, so they are cut from the same cloth. They support keeping public land open to public use, so they are kindred spirits. In reality, most Teddy Roosevelt Conservationists do not actually know what the term means, or they have politicized Roosevelt's legacy in some way to gain favor with their target audience. Yet, there is one thing upon which we can all agree - Roosevelt unequivocally and profoundly impacted federal land and wildlife policy in ways that continue nearly 110 years later.

After witnessing the atrocities of market hunting, and the destruction of large swaths of land for immediate profit, Roosevelt dedicated himself to protecting wildlife and wild places. During his eight years as president, Roosevelt fought the use of feathers in fashion. He supported reintroduction of bison to the American plains. He established the National Forest Service, and the precursor to the National Wildlife Refuge System. He used the Antiquities Act that he signed into law to create our first 18 national monuments, and aided in the creation of 5 national parks. All told, Roosevelt contributed to a varying level of protection for roughly 230 million acres of public lands - more than 84,000 acres for every day he held the presidency.

Yet, Roosevelt was not shy about explaining the economic and societal motivations behind many of these decisions. He feared over-harvest of forests would lead to a national timber famine, which caused him to set aside 148 million acres of timbered land for the federal government to manage. He criticized unrestricted grazing on public lands in the west, and feared that without federal regulation, overgrazing would prevent permanent settlement. He recognized that some places should remain safe-havens for wildlife, and that we should protect their aesthetic, cultural, and spiritual values.

Roosevelt asked Congress to authorize taming the Mississippi with a series of levees, and proposed deepening other river channels to create "national water highways" to move freight across the country. He ushered in the first two dozen federal reclamation/irrigation projects, and advocated for rapid expansion of dam building and irrigation projects - even pushing to drain swampland for cultivation and to build a dam in present day Yosemite National Park to provide water for San Francisco. Each of these proposals aligned with his desire to use natural resources in ways that maximized their long-term usefulness over multiple generations.

He hunted all over the world. On a hunt in 1889, Roosevelt killed an increasingly rare bison while seemingly recognizing its plight. He described himself as having a "half-melancholy feeling" when he noted that, "I gazed upon these bison, themselves part of the last remnant of a doomed and nearly vanished race. Few indeed are the men who now have or evermore shall have, the chance of seeing the mightiest of American beasts, in all his wild vigor, surrounded by the tremendous desolation of his far-off mountain home." Years later, Roosevelt worked with the New York Zoological Society and American Bison Society to reintroduce bison to the west.

On an 11-month trip to eastern Africa in 1909, Roosevelt and his party trapped or shot over 11,000 animals, including several rare white and black rhinoceroses. In response to criticism about the safari Roosevelt said, "I can be condemned only if the existence of the National Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and all similar zoological institutions are to be condemned." Many of the plants and animals taken on this trip became part of the Smithsonian's collection. Despite critiques of excessive, unnecessary, and in some instances unethical harvest, Roosevelt valued sustainable hunting practices. He founded the Boone and Crockett Club to advocate for what is now known as the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. He deplored market hunting and argued that "game butchery [is] as objectionable as any form of wanton cruelty and barbarity."

So what is a Teddy Roosevelt Conservationist? He or she is part Gifford Pinchot and part John Muir - the former being a conservationist that believed in sustainable commercial use of our natural resources, and the latter a naturalist who valued the intrinsic and spiritual characteristics of wilderness. A Teddy Roosevelt Conservationist is guided by a sense of morality and duty to ensure both open space and wildlife remain for the benefit of future generations. He or she supports multiple uses, but advocates for sustainable management practices on our public lands. In short, a Teddy Roosevelt Conservationist does one's part to leave the world a better place than the one they inherited.

Of course, President Roosevelt says it far more eloquently:

From his speech at the Conference on the Conservation of Natural Resources, May 13, 1908: "We have become great because of the lavish use of our natural resources and we have just reason to be proud of our growth. But the time has come to inquire seriously what will happen when our forests are gone, when the coal, the iron, the oil and the gas are exhausted, when the soils have been still further impoverished and washed into the streams, polluting the rivers, denuding the fields, and obstructing navigation. These questions do not relate only to the next century or to the next generation. It is time for us now as a nation to exercise the same reasonable foresight in dealing with our great natural resources that would be shown by any prudent man in conserving and widely using the property which contains the assurance of well-being for himself and his children."

From his speech in Osawatomie, Kansas on August 31, 1910: "Conservation means development as much as it does protection. I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful use, the generations that come after us.... Moreover, I believe that the natural resources must be used for the benefit of all our people, and not monopolized for the benefit of the few.... People forget now that one hundred years ago there were public men of good character who advocated the nation selling its public lands in great quantities, so that the nation should get the most money out of it.... Now, with the water power, with the forests, with the mines, we are brought face to face with the fact that there are many people who will go with us in conserving the resources only if they are allowed to exploit them for their benefit. That is one of the fundamental reasons why the special interests should be driven out of politics. Of all the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us, and training them into a better race to inhabit the land and pass it on. Conservation is a great moral issue, for it involves the patriotic duty of insuring the safety and continuance of the nation."

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Read Roosevelt's words carefully. In some ways, it is difficult to comprehend that he uttered those words nearly 110 years ago. As in 1908, some of today's companies and politicians are more concerned with quarterly earnings and reelection than the sustainable natural environment Roosevelt envisioned. Wildlife, air, and water are impaired in many places across the country. Dozens of acres of wildlife habitat, as well as farm and ranch land are developed each day, and we continue to postpone meaningful investment in solutions to life after oil, gas, and coal.

However, in other ways we heeded his warning. President Roosevelt's vision for a sustainable world laid a foundation for many of the the most transcendent and impactful laws ever devised. These laws, coupled with an engaged citizenry, saved many species from the brink of extinction, made water safe to drink, and air safe to breathe. They opened public lands to every use imaginable from backpacking, hunting, and mountain biking to mining, grazing, and timber harvest. However, they did so with a caveat - consider and minimize you ecological impacts, and practice sustainability.

As our population continues to increase, so do our energy, food, and shelter needs. It will be tempting to place additional strains on our natural resources to ensure immediate prosperity. It is not mere hyperbole to suggest that the endurance of our nation, and survival of our species depends upon putting President Roosevelt's words into practice. We must value and honor our role as trustees of these natural resources, for they belong to our descendants just as they belong to us.

So, what does being a Teddy Roosevelt Conservationist mean to you?