After becoming president in 1901, Roosevelt used his authority to establish 150 national forests,
51 federal bird reserves, four national game preserves, five national parks and 18 national monuments
on over 230 million acres of public land. Today, the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt is found across the country.
150
National Forests
51
Federal Bird Reserves
5
National Parks
18
National Monuments
230M+
Acres Protected
An Enduring American Legacy
How TR Saved America's Wild Places
Perhaps Roosevelt's most enduring legacy is an expanded national conservation system.
As business interests ravaged America's natural resources in the late 19th and early
20th centuries, Roosevelt moved decisively to protect them — applying scientific
management techniques and using the full weight of executive authority.
Using his executive powers, TR created scores of national monuments, refuges, and
parks — including the Tongass forest reserve, Grand Canyon National Monument, and
Muir Woods. He signed the Antiquities Act of 1906, which gave presidents the authority
to protect landmarks, structures, and objects of historic or scientific interest on
federal lands. He used that authority immediately and repeatedly.
"Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources,
cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your
children's children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country
of its beauty, its riches or its romance."
— Theodore Roosevelt
All told, Roosevelt placed over 230 million acres under federal protection — more
than any president before him, and a benchmark that defined American conservation
policy for generations. The National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service all carry forward institutions that TR built or
dramatically expanded.
In 1907 Roosevelt declared: "To waste, to destroy our natural resources, to skin
and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result
in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right
to hand down to them amplified and developed."
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has published an excellent overview of Roosevelt's
conservation presidency:
