Theodore Roosevelt and Conservation

Presidents, The Theodore Roosevelt Administration

It had long been believed in the United States that the supply of new lands and natural resources was unlimited. In 1890, however, the Director of the Census announced that a western frontier no longer existed. The last remaining reserved area, the Oklahoma Territory, had been opened for settlement in the previous year. Other remaining unoccupied lands were largely either arid or mountainous.

A bitter debate followed—and continues today—between those who argued that America should exploit its resources to the fullest for as long as they last and those who favored conservation as a means to sustain supply over a longer time and preserve natural beauty.

By the turn of the century, several things were evident:

• Forests throughout the country were depleted; some estimates indicated that only about 20 percent of the original woodlands remained in 1900
• Much of the nation’s farmland, particularly in the South and East, had been exhausted by overuse and was marginally productive
• Extractive industries such as oil, gas, and minerals were proceeding at an unfettered pace
• Water rights were increasingly coming under the control of private parties, who often operated without concern for flood control or the preservation of natural features.

Theodore Roosevelt, a sportsman and naturalist, sided emphatically with the conservationists. Legislative effort was devoted to changing the way America used its land, especially in the West. The Newlands Act of 1902 placed the federal government in an activist role in the areas of water management and reclamation.

The president, with the aid and encouragement of Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot, worked to preserve more than 170 million acres, mostly in the West, in the forms of national parks and monuments. The following constitute a portion of Roosevelt’s legacy:

Item	Location	Remarks
1902
Crater Lake National Park	Oregon	The act that created this park was the result of a 17-year effort by William G. Steel.
1903
Wind Cave National Park	South Dakota	Also designated a National Game Preserve - August 10, 1912.
1904
Sullys National Park	North Dakota	Re-designated a National Game Preserve, March 3, 1931.
1905
		Creation of U.S. Forest Service
1906
Platt National Park	Oklahoma	Noted for its numerous cold springs.
Mesa Verde National Park	Colorado	The cliff dwellings here represent the last 75 to 100 years of occupation at Mesa Verde.
Devil’s Tower National Monument	Wyoming	The nearly vertical monolith known as Devil’s Tower rises 1,267 feet above the meandering Belle Fourche River.
El Morro National Monument	New Mexico	"Inscription Rock" is a soft sandstone monolith, rising 200 feet above the valley floor, on which are carved hundreds of inscriptions.
Chaco Canyon National Monument	New Mexico	Chaco Canyon was a major center of ancestral Pueblo culture between AD 850 and 1250.
Petrified Forest National Monument	Arizona	The park features one of the world's largest and most colorful concentrations of petrified wood.
Montezuma Castle National Monument	Arizona	Nestled into a limestone recess high above the flood plain of Beaver Creek in the Verde Valley stands one of the best-preserved cliff dwellings in North America.
1907
Cinder Cone National Monument	California	Later would become part of Lassen Peak Volcanic National Park.
Lassen Peak National Monument	California	Later would become part of Lassen Peak Volcanic National Park.
Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument	New Mexico	A glimpse of the homes and lives of the people of the Mogollon culture who lived in from the 1280s through the early 1300s.
Tonto National Monument	Arizona	Home to the prehistoric Salado people, named in the early 20th century after the lifegiving Rio Salado, or Salt River.
1908
Grand Canyon National Monument	Arizona	TR acted to prevent construction of railway along rim; 1919 became Grand Canyon National Park.
Pinnacles National Monument	California	Later transferred to Department of the Interior.
Jewell Cave National Monument	South Dakota	With more than 127 miles surveyed, Jewel Cave is recognized as the third longest cave in the world.
Natural Bridges National Monument	Utah	Where meandering streams cut through the canyon walls, three natural bridges formed: Kachina, Owachomo and Sipapu.
Tumacacori National Monument	Arizona	Comprises the abandoned ruins of three ancient Spanish colonial missions.
Wheeler National Monument	Colorado	A few hundred acres of enchanting rock formations. Monument later abandoned.
1909
Mount Olympus National Monument	Washington	TR acted two days before leaving office.

See other Theodore Roosevelt domestic activity.