The Wilderness Warrior - Douglas Brinkley [515]
Freed of the restraints of public office, Roosevelt amped up his recriminations against despoilers, finding solace in the world’s deepest dark forests. Swollen with courage, he created the Bull Moose Party in 1912, in part to defend his Alaskan forest reserves from exploitation. Even as his sunlight dimmed, he held firm to his visionary stances on wildlife protection and sustainable land management. He saw the planet as one single biological organism pulsing with life and championed the interconnectedness of nature as his own Sermon on the Mount. As forces of globalization run amok, Roosevelt’s stout resoluteness to protect our environment is a strong reminder of our national wilderness heritage, as well as an increasingly urgent call to arms.
Roosevelt’s greatest White House accomplishment was encouraging young people to join the wildlife and forestry protection movements. Here, the cowboy conservationist reaches out to a Colorado girl.
T.R. inspired children to join the conservation movement. (Courtesy of Theodore Roosevelt Collection, Harvard College Library)
Maps
APPENDIX
This list was compiled from the Establishment and Modification of National Forest Boundaries: A Chronological Record (1891–1973); the annual reports of the Division of Forestry (1886–1901); Bureau of Forestry (1902–1903); U.S. Geological Survey’s Annual Reports (1897–1900); and my own additions.
NATIONAL FORESTS CREATED OR ENLARGED BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT, 1901–1909
1. Luquillo (Puerto Rico), renamed El Yunque
National Forest in 2006
January 17, 1903
2. White River (Colorado)
May 21, 1904
3. Sevier (Utah)
January 17, 1906
4. Wichita (Oklahoma)
May 29, 1906
5. Lolo (Montana)
November 6, 1906
6. Caribou (Idaho and Wyoming)
January 15, 1907
7. Colville (Washington)
March 1, 1907
8. Las Animas (Colorado and New Mexico)
March 1, 1907
9. Wenada (Oregon and Washington)
March 1, 1907
10. Olympic (Washington)
March 2, 1907
11. Manti (Utah)
April 25, 1907
12. Manzano (New Mexico)
April 16, 1908
13. Kansas (Kansas)
May 15, 1908
14. Minnesota (Minnesota)
May 23, 1908
15. Pocatello (Idaho and Utah)
July 1, 1908
16. Cache (Idaho and Utah)
July 1, 1908
17. Whitman (Oregon)
July 1, 1908
18. Malheur (Oregon)
July 1, 1908
19. Umatilla (Oregon)
July 1, 1908
20. Columbia (Washington)
July 1, 1908
21. Rainier (Washington)
July 1, 1908
22. Washington (Washington)
July 1, 1908
23. Chelan (Washington)
July 1, 1908
24. Snoqualmie (Washington)
July 1, 1908
25. Wenatchee (Washington)
July 1, 1908
26. Fillmore (Utah)
July 1, 1908
27. Nebo (Utah)
July 1, 1908
28. Lewis and Clark (Montana)
July 1, 1908
29. Blackfeet (Montana)
July 1, 1908
30. Flathead (Montana)
July 1, 1908
31. Kootenai (Montana)
July 1, 1908
32. Routt (Colorado)
July 1, 1908
33. Cabinet (Montana)
July 1, 1908
34. Hayden (Colorado and Wyoming)
July 1, 1908
35. Challis (Idaho)
July 1, 1908
36. Salmon (Idaho)
July 1, 1908
37. Clearwater (Idaho)
July 1, 1908
38. Coeur d’Alene (Idaho)
July 1, 1908
39. Pend d’Orielle (Idaho)
July 1, 1908
40. Kaniksu (Idaho and Washington)
July 1, 1908
41. Angeles (California)
July 1, 1908
42. San Luis (California)
July 1, 1908
43. Jemez (New Mexico)
July 1, 1908
44. Sundance (Wyoming)
July 1, 1908
45. Santa Barbara (California)
July 1, 1908
46. Weiser (Idaho)
July 1, 1908
47. Nez Perce (Idaho)
July 1, 1908
48. Idaho (Idaho)
July 1, 1908
49. Payette (Idaho)
July 1, 1908
50. Boise (Idaho)
July 1, 1908
51. Sawtooth (Idaho)
July 1, 1908
52. Lemhi (Idaho)
July 1, 1908
53. Siuslaw (Oregon)
July 1, 1908
54. Cheyenne (Wyoming)
July 1, 1908
55. Medicine Bow (Colorado), enlarged and
renamed Roosevelt National Forest in 1932 as
an honor to T.R.
July 1, 1908
56.