There were many Presidents both past and near present who took a hard stand on environmental issues and made great strides to ensure public land success during their time in the White House. There are very strong contenders such as Lyndon Johnson who was in office to sign in important legislation such as the Wilderness Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Preservation Act and Land and Water Conservation Act. Many of these decisions were made to combat a current problem. While some may have made decisions that have big impacts and made changes on how we live our lives more recently none of them were as ahead of their time (in current historical context) as Theodore Roosevelt. The decisions he made and the programs he enacted during his time laid the …show more content…
He was able to see past trends as well as be insightful enough to see what would happen if enormous action wasn’t taken. One of his first actions taken to protect and preserve during his time as President was to set aside Pelican Island in Florida as a federal bird reservation in 1903 which eventually stemmed into the creation of the National Wildlife Refuge System (Department of Interior). He recognized the past issues with the overharvesting of birds for fashion purposes in the 1800s, which lead to this decision. Over the time of his Presidency Roosevelt established 51 bird reserves and 4 game preserves. Theodore Roosevelt spent a lot of time with the people who not only had the power to make change but also lived with the same value for nature as he did. One famous conservationist, John Muir, had an influence on Roosevelt as they spent time together discussing issues. Again in 1903 Roosevelt spent days exploring Yosemite with John Muir when after the experience he decided to add to the parks expanses through the addition of Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove (Department of Interior). This