President Theodore Roosevelt's rise to political power has some parallels with that of President Donald Trump. (Library of Congress)
The family of former President Teddy Roosevelt is begging fellow Republican senators not to destroy public land that had a special place in the Republican heart.
The New York Times reported Monday that in a rare letter to officials, the Ted Roosevelt IV, co-signed by three family members, explained how important public lands were to their father and that mining and drilling all over them would damage his biggest legacy as president.
Roosevelt, an avid hunter and fisherman, set aside millions of acres of land for public use, encouraging generations to love America as he had.
The letter "strongly recommend[s]" that senators vote against H.J. Res. 140, which seeks to withdraw 225,504 acres of land from the land that Roosevelt established as public. The resolution would take away areas "in the headwaters of the Boundary Waters and would greenlight exposure ofthis national treasure to the highly toxic and destructive impacts of sulfide-ore copper mining."
He listed the faults with the bill, namely that it is in direct opposition to the president's "America First" policies, in large part because it belongs to the U.S. and will be taken by the Chinese.
"The mining company in question is foreign-owned, will use Chinese state-owned smelters, and will then sell the extracted metals on the open market," he explained.
Unfortunately, the other reasons he cites about science and public input are things the GOP hasn't traditionally prioritized by policymakers, polls continue to show.
He cautioned that it isn't merely President Donald Trump's ignorance or carelessness of public lands, but "it’s the GOP collectively that is not as concerned about conservation as it should be,” noted Ted Roosevelt IV in a recent interview.
"The proposed resolution is diametrically at odds with the conservation legacy of President Theodore Roosevelt (TR). For all these reasons we feel a deep obligation to TR to speak out loudly in support of this exceptional American wilderness area. As TR said at the Grand Canyon in 1903, we now reiterate with the Boundary Waters today: 'Leave it as it is.' Vote no on H.J. Res. 140, or any other similar legislation, and seek creative ways to protect the Boundary Waters forever. Frankly, TR would be appalled at H.J. Res. 140 and the misguided and harmful effort to revoke a sound and necessary mineral withdrawal in the headwaters ofthe Boundary Waters. To understand TR's perspective on all this, it's important to review a little of his history, starting with Minnesota."
According to the Roosevelt descendants, "TR's love of Minnesota emanated directly from Lincoln and Grant's leadership during the Civil War. Minnesota immediately stepped up to support the dire cause. TR had a huge amount of respect for the First Minnesota Regiment, who literally saved the Union at Gettysburg. It's perhaps why, shortly after the Civil War as a ten-year-old sitting in Germany, TR dreamed of proudly going to Minnesota someday. He hoped to get there when he was fourteen and cheered in his diary about the prospects: 'hip, hip, hurrahhhh!'"
While the letter was an important part of his outreach, the 83-year-old Roosevelt grandson went to Capitol Hill to beg GOP lawmakers not to allow the destruction of American national parks that his presidential grandfather worked to establish.