Theodore Roosevelt and Founding America’s National Parks

America’s First National Park

With the passing of the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act on March 1, 1872, signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant, the 42nd Congress established Yellowstone National Park in the Territories of Montana and Wyoming “as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people” and placed it “under exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior.”

To great fanfare, the creation of Yellowstone National Park sparked a worldwide movement of setting aside lands designed to preserve and enjoy for future generations, inspiring more than 100 nations to create upwards of 1,200 national parks in their countries.

Decades later, The National Parks Service was instituted in 1916 by President Woodrow Wilson as a bureau under the Department of the Interior designed to protect existing and future national parks and monuments under its jurisdiction. At its creation, there were 35 national parks and monuments. 

Over the years, many presidents have been associated with the national parks, but none so iconically as America’s 26th president, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt.

President Theodore Roosevelt, The Conservation President

Theodore Roosevelt served two terms as President of the United States from 1901 to 1909. Primarily remembered for his love of nature and pioneering spirit, he is often dubbed the Conservation President.

During his presidency, Teddy Roosevelt established five national parks, including:

• Crater Lake, Oregon
• Wind Cave, South Dakota
• Sullys Hill, North Dakota (later redesignated a game preserve)
• Mesa Verde, Colorado
• Platt, Oklahoma (now part of Chickasaw National Recreation Area)

New Yorker Vanessa Gordon, Publisher of East End Taste, has a special place in her heart for the 26th President of the United States and visited a couple of national parks in the former president’s old stomping grounds, including Roosevelt’s summer white house, with the lush wetlands and forests on the grounds of Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, depicted below.

Vanessa writes, “President Theodore Roosevelt is often regarded as one of the most important figures in the creation and preservation of America’s national parks and natural spaces. He profoundly believed in the importance of conservation and the preservation of nature. In fact, his efforts led to the creation of 18 national monuments, 150 national forests, and five national parks, as well as the establishment of the U.S. Forest Service. A theme central to his conservation efforts was land preservation.”

230 Million Acres of Public Lands

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Theodore Roosevelt established approximately 230 million acres of public lands during his presidency. That’s amazing! As a reminder, this figure includes 150 national forests, the first 55 federal bird reservations and game preserves (Roosevelt was an avid ornithologist), five national parks, and the first of 18 national monuments.

Establishing The National Park Service

Theodore Roosevelt’s influence on American conservation went well beyond his tenure in the White House. Seven years after leaving office, Roosevelt played a founding role in the creation of the National Parks Service alongside President Woodrow Wilson, Stephen Mather (industrialist, conservationist, and the first Director of the National Park Service), and Horace M. Albright (conservationist and the second Director of the National Parks Service).

The tremendous service Theodore Roosevelt did for his country and its preservation for posterity was rewarded through the memorialization of the president in five national park system areas, which include:

• The Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site in New York City
• Sagamore Hill National Historic Site in Oyster Bay, New York
• Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site in Buffalo
• The Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota (pictured at the top of the article)
• Theodore Roosevelt Island in Washington, DC

Theodore Roosevelt’s face is also carved into Mount Rushmore in Keystone, South Dakota, and is honored alongside other great US presidents, including founding fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and Civil War-era president Abraham Lincoln.

The Newest US National Park

There are 63 national parks in the United States at the time of writing.

The most recently created US National Park, pictured below, is New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in West Virginia, established by Congress on December 27, 2020.

New River Gorge had previously enjoyed the designation of being a National River, so declared by President Jimmy Carter in 1978.

Since 2000, eight national parks have been created under various presidents, so it would seem that so long as there is a will, there is a way for new national parks to be instituted or existing parklands expanded.

For a comprehensive list of national parks and the dates they were established, check out Dirt In My Shoes by Ash Nudd, a former park ranger who offers an excellent resource for planning national park trips and more.

Will There Be New National Parks?

The road to becoming a national park varies. Private landowners donate some parklands, some parks are created from government lands, and other parks, as we’ve seen, are redesignated to national park status, like New River Gorge was. 

If you believe there are specific lands that should be protected and brought before Congress for consideration, you can reach out to your local congressman to share your ideas and petitions.

Whether new parks come about is a matter of political will. Enough votes in support of a new national park need to be cast to pass legislation through Congress. 

That said, to get Congressional consideration, the people need to speak up and show some enthusiasm! Grassroots enthusiasm for new national parks is essential. To build momentum, public discourse and education play a role in helping Americans better understand the value of their national parks. The quote below from TR pretty much sums it up:

“I believe that the more you know about the natural world, the better you will be at preserving it.”

– Theodore Roosevelt

Vanessa says, “There should be a stronger campaign across the United States to visit, enjoy, and appreciate the National parks we already have.” Excited by the potential of creating new national parks, she confides, “I would love to see more national parks throughout New York State, particularly on the North Fork of Long Island, in northwestern Connecticut, and perhaps smaller national parks easily accessible from major U.S. cities.”