Your TR Source

Leopold, Aldo, 1886-1948

6 Results

The cradle of conservation: Theodore Roosevelt’s Elkhorn Ranch, an icon of American’s national identity

The cradle of conservation: Theodore Roosevelt’s Elkhorn Ranch, an icon of American’s national identity

Lowell E. Baier describes the importance of Theodore Roosevelt’s Elkhorn Ranch to the formation of Roosevelt’s environmental awareness, and subsequently to the emergence of the nation’s conservation movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Baier provides a brief history of the conservation movement in the United States before Roosevelt’s emergence as its leader, and he argues that the conservation effort stemmed in part from the nation’s desire to preserve parts of its frontier past. Baier quotes Roosevelt biographer Edmund Morris in emphasizing the importance of the Elkhorn to Roosevelt’s environmental beliefs, and he highlights efforts to secure the protection of lands directly across the Little Missouri River from the Elkhorn ranch house.

A photograph of Roosevelt with two of his ranch hands and three historic photographs of the Elkhorn Ranch buildings populate the essay along with two contemporary color photographs of the site. The essay also features illustrations of Roosevelt’s cattle brands, sketches of the Elkhorn ranch buildings by Frederic Remington, and a large map showing the various units of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and surrounding lands.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2007

Lessons from History: The Conservation Legacy of Theodore Roosevelt

Lessons from History: The Conservation Legacy of Theodore Roosevelt

John F. Reiger explores the relationships that led to Theodore Roosevelt’s championing the conservation of natural resources as president. Reiger focuses most of his attention on Roosevelt’s friendship with George Bird Grinnell with whom he would found the hunting and conservation group, the Boone and Crockett Club. Reiger also notes the influence of John F. Lacey, Frank M. Chapman, and others, and he describes how Roosevelt in turn would prove to be an inspiration to future leaders in the environmental movement. Reiger examines Roosevelt’s role in preserving Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon, and he asserts that there is no contradiction in Roosevelt espousing both utilitarian and aesthetic conservation.

 

Two photographs of Roosevelt in Yellowstone National Park in 1903 appear in the essay.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Gifford Pinchot, conservationist

Gifford Pinchot, conservationist

Barry W. Walsh provides an overview of the career of America’s first and most famous forester, Gifford Pinchot. Walsh emphasizes Pinchot’s work in government to promote forest conservation, and she examines his work with President Theodore Roosevelt and his dismissal under President William Howard Taft. Walsh also examines Pinchot’s bitter quarrel with John Muir over building a dam in the Hetch Hetchy valley in Yosemite National Park, and she notes his advising President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the founding of the Yale Forest School. A photograph of Pinchot appears in the article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1987

Creator(s)

Walsh, Barry W.