Teddy Roosevelt loved the Greater Yellowstone country, reportedly calling Yellowstone a ‘veritable wonderland’ when speaking at the dedication of the Roosevelt Arch at what was then the principle entrance to the Park on the outskirts of what is the now the metropolis of Gardiner, Montana (pop. 875 in 2010 census).
We’d like to think TR would have opened the Yellowstone fishing season yesterday on the Firehole, our traditional opening day venue of choice.
Far from the perfect president or diplomat, we still rank TR among the greats for his vision of preserved national treasures and open spaces (among many other things).
“Conservation means development as much as it does protection. I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful use, the generations that come after us… Moreover, I believe that the natural resources must be used for the benefit of all our people, and not monopolized for the benefit of the few… Of all the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us, and training them into a better race to inhabit the land and pass it on. Conservation is a great moral issue, for it involves the patriotic duty of insuring the safety and continuance of the nation.” – Theodore Roosevelt
Image: Library of Congress
