2014 Cross-Country Road Trip

Our first two days of this trip went by very fast.  We decided to get out west as fast as we could, so our firststop was near Indianapolis, and our second stop was in Woodbury, Minnesota.  On the third day we were able to plan some side trips, so we spent some time in the North Dakota Badlands, in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  Roosevelt was a conservationist, and he first came to this area for big game hunting.  By then the bison herds had been decimated, and he understood that something had to be done to preserve our natural resources.  After he became President in 1901, Roosevelt used his authority to protect wildlife and public lands by creating the U.S. Forest Service and establishing 51 Federal Bird Reservations, 4 National Game Preserves, 150 National Forests, 5 National Parks, and enabling the 1906 American Antiquities Act which he used to proclaim 18 National Monuments. During his presidency,Theodore Roosevelt protected approximately 230,000,000 acres of public land.

 

“We have fallen heirs to the most glorious heritage a people ever received, and each one must do his part if we wish to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune.” Theodore Roosevelt