"The Conservation President"

Long before he would become the 26th President of the United States, a twenty-nine-year-old Theodore Roosevelt had one of those personal epiphanies that changes one's perspective and outlook on life. In December of 1887 he returned to Manhattan from one of his regular adventures to the Dakotas to check in on his cattle ranch, but more importantly, disappear into the Badlands to cleanse his soul in pursuit of game and solitude. He was sorely disappointed to witness first-hand the devastation of the wildlife and landscape in the American frontier, a stark contrast to the western country he had grown to love and enjoy as a respite from society and politics.

According to Roosevelt's Pulitzer Prize winning biographer, Edmund Morris, as the new father of a young son, Roosevelt became determined to utilize his political skills and newfound notoriety "to preserve game animals from extinction" so that future generations may enjoy and benefit from the quintessential American identity engrained in the beauty of our natural resources. After a dinner meeting on December 8, 1887 at Roosevelt's home in Manhattan with the likes of George Bird Grinnell and other notable figures who would become fathers of the American conservation movement, the Boone & Crockett Club was born. With Mr. Roosevelt as its president, the Club would become the first major organization of its kind to lobby Congress and other political decision makers for conservation of wildlife and America's natural resources. 

Theodore Roosevelt in full buckskin hunting garb, circa 1885 (Photo credit: Library of Congress)

Years later as President, the Republican Roosevelt would expound upon the humble beginnings of the Boone & Crockett Club to preserve vast holdings of forests, streams and wildlife via the National Park Service, and various federal acts designed to conserve America's natural assets for future generations. The list of Roosevelt's ensuing accomplishments in conservation and his impact on the American psyche in general during a critical period of our country's history number too many to discuss in a brief blog post. 

However, on this Presidents' Day in Michigan's beautiful Upper Peninsula, where people live, recreate, and sustain due to the very principles Roosevelt championed, it feels appropriate to reflect on who I consider to be one of the greatest and most important presidents of our country's history. During a time when the average citizen (even Yoopers) cannot escape the clamor of the partisan divisiveness that prevails in modern politics, it seems a shame that Roosevelt's common sense, progressive, yet conservative principles fail to resonate among candidates vying to become leader of the free world. I'm willing to guess that I'm not the only one who wishes today's political leaders had his foresight and command to lead for what matters.

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"Optimism is a good characteristic, but if carried to an excess it becomes foolishness. We are prone to speak of the resources of this country as inexhaustible; this is not so. The mineral wealth of the country, the coal, iron, oil, gas, and the like, does not reproduce itself, and therefore is certain to be exhausted ultimately; and wastefulness in dealing with it today means that our descendants will feel the exhaustion a generation or two before they otherwise would."

-President Theodore Roosevelt's seventh annual message to Congress - December 3, 1907