Caring for Nature

Caring for Nature

Before Roosevelt became the president the federal government cared nothing about the environment. That soon ended in 1902 when Roosevelt established the Newlands Reclamation Act. This act authorized the use of federal funds from public land sales to pay for irrigation and land development projects.

With the help of a friend from his camping trip he set aside 148 million acres of forest reserves. He established 5 new national parks and 50 federal wildlife reservations. Roosevelt put experts in charge of the national parks.

A man named Gifford Pinchot who is a professional conservationist told Roosevelt that in order to keep grazing lands and forest conserved they had to keep large tracts of federal land away from private sales.