When you read about the conservation efforts of the current-day participants, there are many great stories to read about.
I was able to meet five very unique people back in 2014. These were the finalists in the Field and Stream Heroes of Conservation contest. I was fortunate enough to be among them. They hailed from all over the United States.
There were folks who were cleaning up rivers in the mountain west in order for trout species to again swim in their waters. Another started the Mule Deer Foundation’s youth programs credited with mentoring a new army of young conservation volunteers. Each of these folks had in their own right done a job for which thousands of people across the United States have certainly benefited.
In my opinion, the greatest conservationist that has ever existed on this planet is the late great Teddy Roosevelt. This president left a greater lasting legacy on planet Earth than any other. The list is too long for this space, but I thought I would highlight a few.
After becoming president in 1901, Roosevelt used his authority to establish 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, four national game preserves, five national parks and 18 national monuments on over 230 million acres of public land.
The motivations behind all of this legacy come with a few interesting stories and reasons for his actions.
Mr. Roosevelt was a really big hunter and lover of nature. When he visited what is now Yosemite National Park and the Grand Canyon, he used the following words to express his connection to the natural world:
“I want to ask you to keep this great wonder of nature as it now is. I hope you will not have a building of any kind, not a summer cottage, a hotel or anything else, to mar the wonderful grandeur, the sublimity, the great loneliness and beauty of the canyon. Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it. What you can do is to keep it for your children, your children’s children, and for all who come after you, as one of the great sights which every American if he can travel at all should see.”- Speech by Theodore Roosevelt at the Grand Canyon, May 6, 1903.
One of the many bird refuges he founded was as a result of hunters killing off many bird species just so they could use the feathers in women’s hats. He kept this from happening.
It was during his presidency that after he had set aside millions of acres of land for national parks and refuges that Congress was going to strip him of his ability to continue to do so. On the night before the congressional vote, he made one last stand and dedicated several million acres more in the hours before he was prohibited from do so.
The teddy bear that kids have hugged for the past 120 years was also a President Roosevelt cause. Some of the members following along on one of his hunting expeditions had found a bear and her cub and tied the mama bear to a tree. They tried to get the president to shoot the animal. He refused as he knew there was no sport in it.
He had the bear released unharmed and one of the members of the party went home and created a hand-sewn likeness of the bear’s cub. How many millions of stuffed toy bears have been produced since that first one? Nobody really knows, but each and every person now knows how the Teddy Bear got its name.
I expend many hours every year in the promotions of public lands in southwest Minnesota. We have been successful in converting some of the lowest quality farmland in our area back to grasslands and wetlands that support all of the wildlife the president of 1901 loved so much. These are small parcels, and if I live to be 300,000 years old, I can never leave the indelible mark that President Roosevelt did. In my own little way I do know that each of these spots will have no buildings, summer cottages, hotels or anything else on them. They too will be set aside for posterity in their natural state for all to enjoy.
When conservation challenges look ominous and competition for every square inch of land is a battle, I take satisfaction in doing all that I can do to follow in this great man’s footsteps, even if the footprint I leave behind is but a tiny one.
Scott Rall, Worthington, is a habitat conservationist, avid hunting and fishing enthusiast and is president of Nobles County Pheasants Forever. He can be reached at scottarall@gmail.com.