Western Illinois University

A Foundation for Sustainable Rural Community Development

Roosevelt, Forests, and Conservation

By the time of Theodore Roosevelt’s administration (1901-1909), preservation of the nation’s forests had become an environmental, political, and economic issue. According to Michael Frome (1962), forest devastation was rampant by the 1890s. Timber operators exercised a “cut and run” philosophy, but most citizens believed exploitation of natural resources was right and necessary for a growing nation. The wood supply was seemingly inexhaustible.

Awareness of the need for forest protection developed slowly after the Civil War. On March 31, 1891, Congress passed the Forest Reserve Act, which authorized the President to reserve the public land forests whether of commercial value or not (Frome, 1962). Historian H.W. Brands (1997) writes that by 1901, Presidents Harrison, Cleveland, and McKinley had reserved about fifty million acres of timberland. Roosevelt continued the practice. Working with Gifford Pinchot, chief of the Bureau of Forestry, Roosevelt reserved another 150 million acres.

The President’s attitude toward the exploitation and inept supervision of the nation’s forests triggered further efforts to protect woodlands. Under Roosevelt, the Bureau of Forestry conducted extensive forest studies, and the Forest Transfer Act of 1905 created the United States Forest Service in the United States Department of Agriculture.

Brands (1997) notes that Roosevelt deemed himself the chief steward of America’s Resources. His views toward conservation and the wise use of the nation’s forests led to conserving and preserving other natural resources; wise use implied efficiency and scientific management. In his autobiography, Roosevelt (1924, p. 407) declares, “The Conservation movement was a direct outgrowth of the forest movement.” Roosevelt created several commissions to address the exploitation and welfare of the natural environment, including the:

Recommended Resources

  • Brands, H.W. 1997. TR: The Last Romantic. New York: Basic Books.
  • Frome, Michael. 1984. The Forest Service. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
  • Frome, Michael. 1962. Whose Woods These Are: The Story of the National Forests. Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, Inc..
  • Robbins, Roy M. 1942, Our Landed Heritage: The Public Domain, 1776-1936. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  • Roosevelt, Theodore. 1924. An Autobiography. New York: Charles Scribner and Sons.
  • Theodore Roosevelt Association. “Conservationist: Life of Theodore Roosevelt.” http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/conConf.htm (Accessed: June 16, 2008).
  • United States. Forest Service http://www.fs.fed.us/ (Accessed: August 18, 2008).
  • United States. Library of Congress. “The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920: Proceedings of a Conference of Governors.” http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/consrv:@field(DOCID+@lit(amrvgvg16)): (Accessed: July 18, 2008).