The Wilderness Warrior - Douglas Brinkley [491]
What should historians make of the Crowded Hour Reserves of July 1, 1908? In March 1903, Roosevelt had lectured before the Society of American Foresters (of which he was an associate member) about his intentions regarding resource management. He had forcefully advanced the argument that forestry was vital to all Americans, particularly those who lived in the arid West. To Roosevelt, the dryness of the West was the worst impediment to the region’s long-term prospects. But by a wise combination of forest reserves and man-made reservoirs, westerners could transform their arid homesteads into lush, Edenic communities. Because Roosevelt was creating national parks, national monuments, and federal bird reservations, all of which were preservationist measures, he didn’t want his Crowded Hour Reserves to be misrepresented as just another sop to wilderness activists. These dozens of new and enlarged national forests would, in the long run, economically sustain a thriving American West. “The object is not to preserve the forests because they are beautiful, though that is good in itself, nor because they are refuges for the wild creatures of the wilderness, though that, too, is good in itself,” Roosevelt explained. “[B]ut the primary object of our forest policy, as of the land policy in the United States, is the making of a prosperous home.”71
VI
His correspondence during the summer of 1908 shows that Roosevelt grew excited by the prospect of once again being a naturalist, after the end of his presidency. From Sagamore Hill, Roosevelt made arrangements with Charles Doolittle Walcott, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, to sponsor his field collecting in Africa just a few weeks after he stepped down as president. Roosevelt planned to write articles for Outlook and a book for Scribner’s about his experiences in British East Africa, the Congo, and Egypt. He wanted Walcott to suggest professional taxidermists and naturalists to accompany him on his safari. All specimens collected by the Roosevelt expedition would be donated to the Smithsonian Institution and other important American museums. Roosevelt’s mission was simple: for America to have the best natural history collections in the world. Because 1908 was an election year, Roosevelt was looking forward to handing the reins of his party to the presumptive Republican nominee, William Howard Taft. “I would a great deal rather have this a scientific trip, which would give it a purpose of character, than simply a prolonged holiday of mine!” Roosevelt wrote to Henry Cabot Lodge over the summer. “I am no longer fit to do arduous exploring work, and this will probably be about the last time that I shall be fit even for the moderate kind of trip I have planned. But it seems to me that there is something worth doing to be done along the lines I have laid out—something that is still the work of a man of action; and I should like to remain a man of action as long as possible.” 72
Roosevelt felt confident that the American people would elect Taft over William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic nominee. Perhaps with this in mind, the president spent almost as much time, it seemed, hiring his African expedition team as he did stumping for Taft. He gave