“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.” - A part of speech at Osawatomie, Kansas, on August 31, 1910. Thus president Theodore Roosevelt became a conservationist. After becoming president in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt used his authority to protect wildlife and public lands by creating the United States Forest Service (USFS) and enabling the American Antiquities Act of 1906. During his presidency, Roosevelt established five national parks and protected approximately 230 million acres of public land. President Theodore Roosevelt conserved many natural environments of the
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He never forgot his childhood dream even when he became a president. As a young man living in the North Dakota Badlands, many of his personal concerns gave rise to his later environmental efforts. Roosevelt was a sportsman hunter all his life, hunting the big game of North America before they all die out. Once there were great herds of animals such as bisons that roamed across the field as far as your eye can see. But now there’s only little herds of them, almost going extinct in just two decades. Although he had many hunting trips and successful kills, he was laced with lament for the loss of species and their habitats. Theodore Roosevelt also witnessed the ravaging of natural resources from mining and oil and steel production in America. As the game species were disappearing, Roosevelt thinks natural resources would disappear as fast as animals like bisons did. But many still considers natural resources inexhaustible. On the other hand, Roosevelt would disagree and conservation increasingly became one of his main concerns.
By the time Theodore Roosevelt left office, he had set aside more federal land, national parks, and nature preserves than all of his predecessors combined. Roosevelt created the United States Forest Service (USFS), enabled the American Antiquities Act, and is also a founder of the National Park Service (NPS). The total area Roosevelt placed under protection is approximately 230 million acres of land. He established 18 new U.S. national monuments, 51 bird reserves, 4 game preserves, 150 national forests, and 5 national
He never forgot his childhood dream even when he became a president. As a young man living in the North Dakota Badlands, many of his personal concerns gave rise to his later environmental efforts. Roosevelt was a sportsman hunter all his life, hunting the big game of North America before they all die out. Once there were great herds of animals such as bisons that roamed across the field as far as your eye can see. But now there’s only little herds of them, almost going extinct in just two decades. Although he had many hunting trips and successful kills, he was laced with lament for the loss of species and their habitats. Theodore Roosevelt also witnessed the ravaging of natural resources from mining and oil and steel production in America. As the game species were disappearing, Roosevelt thinks natural resources would disappear as fast as animals like bisons did. But many still considers natural resources inexhaustible. On the other hand, Roosevelt would disagree and conservation increasingly became one of his main concerns.
By the time Theodore Roosevelt left office, he had set aside more federal land, national parks, and nature preserves than all of his predecessors combined. Roosevelt created the United States Forest Service (USFS), enabled the American Antiquities Act, and is also a founder of the National Park Service (NPS). The total area Roosevelt placed under protection is approximately 230 million acres of land. He established 18 new U.S. national monuments, 51 bird reserves, 4 game preserves, 150 national forests, and 5 national