(Please note: These are my thoughts after finishing Wilderness Warrior by Douglas Brinkley, a biography covering the years that Theodore Roosevelt was in the White House, with emphasis on his campaign of preservation of some of our most important natural wonders.)
Well, I finally finished this one … it took two weeks … a rather long time for me.
About three-quarters of the way through this book, I found myself giggling as I read about how TR loved so much of this great country simply because it was wild and beautiful and he kept discovering unique places whenever he traveled, generally at the request of one of his many like minded naturalists. When he’d see one that was especially beautiful, rare, environmentally important or just plain great to visit, he’d add it to his list of growing setasides.
It reminded me so much of when I was serving on the trust board of a national reserve on Whidbey Island, Washington. The board would occasionally meet at scenic locations to see how the reserve was doing and whether some tract of land should be considered for special protection. We began to notice that these impromptu meetings caused some residents a lot of suspicion and we’d see a lot of peeking around curtains curious about our presence. Some would come right out and quiz us about our intentions … for fear that they were next in line for preservation. So, can you imagine what it was like to be a timber giant, an oil baron, or a mining conglomerate in the early 1900’s as you watched TR tour the country looking for unique areas to save? And save them, he did.
Theodore Roosevelt approached this whole environmental thing with the eye of a businessman, horrified to learn that by the time he took office as President, almost 50% of the standing forests in the west had already been logged. Saving them, to him, was just good sense and would benefit the most people. He wanted American citizens vacationing in the West instead of taking trips to Europe. I squirmed a bit reading of his love of shooting predator game like bears and cougars, which seems a bit counter to all that saving, but in that era it was acceptable. And, even though I felt a bit of distaste for his appetite for the “good hunt”, his wild reserves saved millions of smaller animals.
The really big thing about the presidency of Teddy Roosevelt was the passage of the Antiquities Act in 1906. It allowed the president to designate historical landmarks, historic preservation structures, and other objects of scientific interest as national monuments, foregoing action by congress. It was a stunning tool for TR. During his time in office, he created 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, 4 game preserves, 6 national parks and 18 national monuments.
This is a large, fact filled book of over 800 pages. I’m sure the author could have written twice that length and still not cover all the details. Also, it is not a quick read. But, if you like history, national parks and exposure to a politician of a type we’ll probably never see again, I recommend The Wilderness Warrior.
Oh yes … bully for TR!
