President Theodore Roosevelt was a big supporter of conservation. President Roosevelt understood the value of conserving our resources for future generations. He believed that all of our actions should be for the benefit of everybody, including future generations. He also loved the outdoors and wanted future generations to be able to enjoy the things he was able to enjoy. As a result, he supported policies that preached conservation.

One policy was the Newlands Reclamation Act. This law provided money for developing irrigation projects as well as land development projects in the West. He also appointed people who supported conservation to government positions. One person was Gifford Pinchot. He was the head of the United States Forest Service. Under Pinchot’s leadership, more land was placed into the national forest system. This protected these lands from private development. New national parks were created as well as federal wildlife reserves. The government was able to get more control over lumbering activities on federal land. President Roosevelt was an active supporter of conservation.

How did President Theodore Roosevelt support conservation?

Although no major laws were passed on the issue of conservation during Theodore Roosevelt's presidency, his support of conservation is seen as a very important aspect of his presidency.  He supported conservation mainly by acting more vigorously to enforce laws that were already on the books.  For example, he appointed Gifford Pinchot to be the head of the Division of Forestry in the Department of Agriculture.  Pinchot worked hard to prevent excessive logging on public lands.  Roosevelt also added large areas to the list of protected places.  He added 50 federal wildlife refuges and approved 5 new national parks.  He also used an existing law to set aside 172 million acres of forest as places that could not be logged.