Teddy Roosevelt’s Family Urges G.O.P. to Protect Public Lands; The New York Times, February 16, 2026

Maxine Joselow, The New York Times; Teddy Roosevelt’s Family Urges G.O.P. to Protect Public Lands

In a rare letter to Republican senators, four descendants of the former president oppose mining near a wilderness area in Minnesota. 

"Off the top of his head, Mr. Roosevelt rattled off several conservation efforts by Republican presidents: Ulysses S. Grant established Yellowstone as the first national park. Abraham Lincoln protected Yosemite Valley by giving it to California as the first state park. And most recently, George W. Bush created a marine national monument in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaii.

“I don’t see any Republican leadership on that scale today,” Mr. Roosevelt said.

President Trump, who has indicated that he will sign the measure to allow mining near the Boundary Waters, has sought to increase oil and gas drilling, mining and other industrial activities on public lands and waters across the country. His administration plans to permit new oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and across nearly 1.3 billion acres of U.S. coastal waters.

“There’s never been a president with zero interest in protecting the natural world until Donald Trump,” said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University and the author of the book “The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America.”...

Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, frequently invokes Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation legacy in speeches, social media posts and emails to Interior Department employees.

While serving as the governor of North Dakota, Mr. Burgum also championed the construction of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, N.D. The library is set to open on July 4 to mark America’s 250th birthday, an occasion that the four Roosevelts highlighted in their letter.

“On Independence Day, three pillars of T.R.’s life will take central stage: leadership, conservation and citizenship,” they wrote. “It’s one thing for politicians to say they believe in these three pillars, and it’s quite another thing to act that way.”"