President Theodore Roosevelt

One hundred years ago, President Theodore Roosevelt worked with Congress to ADD land to our national forests.

“ I am gravely concerned at the extremely unsatisfactory condition of the public land laws and at the prevalence of fraud under their present provisions. For much of this fraud the present laws are chiefly responsible. In fairness to the government, to the holders of rights and privileges on the public lands, and to the people whom the latter service, I urge the revision and reenactment of these laws in one comprehensive act … to the end that unregulated or monopolistic control of great natural resources may not be acquired or misused for private ends.” Letter to Congress, published in the New York Times, Dec. 18, 1906.

“In utilizing and conserving the natural resources of the nation, the one characteristic more essential than any other is foresight…. The conservation of our natural resources and their proper use constitute the fundamental problem which underlies almost every other problem of our national life.” — Address to the National Editorial Association, Jamestown, VA, June 10, 1907

“The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem it will avail us little to solve all others.” — Memphis, TN, October 4, 1907