Barry Mackintosh
1999
Theodore
Roosevelt and the National Park System
Theodore
Roosevelt, the noted conservation president, had an impact on the national
park system extending well beyond his term in office. As chief executive
from 1901 to 1909, he signed legislation establishing five national parks:
Crater Lake, Oregon; Wind Cave, South Dakota; Sullys Hill, North Dakota
(later redesignated a game preserve); Mesa Verde, Colorado; and Platt,
Oklahoma (now part of Chickasaw National Recreation Area). Another Roosevelt
enactment had a broader effect, however: the Antiquities Act of June 8,
1906. While not creating a single park itself, the Antiquities Act enabled
Roosevelt and his successors to proclaim ãhistoric landmarks, historic
or prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific
interestä in federal ownership as national monuments.
Roosevelt
did not hesitate to take advantage of this new executive authority. By
the end of 1906 he had proclaimed four national monuments: Devils Tower,
Wyoming, on September 24 and El Morro, New Mexico, Montezuma Castle, Arizona,
and Petrified Forest, Arizona, together on December 8. He was also prepared
to interpret the authority expansively, protecting a large portion of
the Grand Canyon as a national monument in 1908. By the end of his term
he had reserved six predominantly cultural areas and twelve predominantly
natural areas in this manner. Half the total were initially administered
by the Agriculture Department and were later transferred to Interior Department
jurisdiction.
Later presidents
also used the Antiquities Act to proclaim national monuments÷105 in all.
Forty-nine of them retain this designation today; others have been retitled
national parks or otherwise reclassified by Congress. The Antiquities
Act is the original authority for about a quarter of the 378 areas composing
the national park system in 1999.
Recalling
this legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, it seems appropriate that he is now
commemorated by five park system areas÷as many as honor Abraham Lincoln
and more than for any other president. 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, Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, and Theodore
Roosevelt Island in Washington, DC, trace his career and memorialize his
contributions to America. The National Park Service, administrator of
these parklands and the many others Roosevelt made possible, has particular
cause to honor his memory.
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