TR and Conservation
Theodore Roosevelt established 150 forests, 51 bird sanctuaries, 18 monuments, 5 parks and 4 game preserves. He saved 235 million acres, 84,000 acres for every day he was in the White House. It became his singular most recognized achievement.
TR began his presidency with a traditional approach to conservation that wasn't very focused, but by 1907 he had turned conservation into the great moral issue of the day. He broadened conservation to include human conservation. Aafter all, if we’re going to save a tree why not save a person.
Roosevelt saw conservation as a great way to mobilize public opinion. He said “next to war conservation was the one issue he knew he could rely on to excite the American people.” He often brought it into play when promoting legislation, political agencies and Executive Orders.
During his time in office TR was criticized for removing a number of Native Americans tribes from their ancestral territories. A total of 86 million acres of tribal land were transferred to Gifford Pinchot’s national forest system. That amounted to over ⅓ of the total land TR put under federal control.
In March 1907 Congress attached a rider to new legistion saying no more National Forest Reserves were to be established out west mainly because so much of the western territory was falling under control of the federal government. Today 86% or 70 million acres of Nevada is under Federal jurisdiction. In what became known as the Midnight Reserves TR and Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot, in a last minute push, worked feverishly to sign 21 proclamations to create new forest reserves and to enlarge existing ones and get it done before the restrictions took effect.
