Editor’s note: first in a series.
If you are keeping abreast of local news, then you know that last year Chattanooga was named the first “National Park City” in North America and only the third in the world. The natural beauty of this region coupled with progressive thought regarding land conservation and public access to green spaces has led to considerable recognition for the Chattanooga, Hamilton County and Southeast Tennessee areas.
Perhaps a quick review of history related to local land conservation and parks will be helpful.
It was President Theodore Roosevelt, the “conservation president,” who first envisioned a movement to save beautiful, pristine lands yet unspoiled by humans. While attempting to deal with the simultaneous deaths of his young wife and his mother in February 1884, when he was serving in the New York State Assembly, he left his newborn daughter in the care of his sister and moved to the Dakota Territory to pursue a life as a rancher. This time in the American West shaped his rugged “Rough Rider” persona and gave him a love of wild lands.
Elevated to the presidency by the assassination of President William McKinley and then earning a second term on his own, Roosevelt doubled the number of national parks and put a number of other sites under federal protection during his time in office from 1901 to 1909.