Roosevelt and his Parks

North Dakota is home to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. In addition to popularizing pince-nez glasses, Roosevelt is known as the “conservation president.” This is for his colossal efforts to protect nature. A native New Yorker, Roosevelt travelled to the rough rider state to bask in the outdoors, take in the glimmering night sky, and enjoy the bison. That is, hunt down and shoot them. He killed these animals and many others for sport. At the same time, he wanted to protect their existence and took many steps to do so.

According to the National Park Service, 

After becoming president in 1901, Roosevelt used his authority to protect wildlife and public lands by creating the United States Forest Service (USFS) and establishing 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, 4 national game preserves, 5 national parks, and 18 national monuments by enabling the 1906 American Antiquities Act. During his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt protected approximately 230 million acres of public land.

The American Museum of Natural History has posted a timeline of his activities. 

Roosevelt’s namesake national park is divided into two sections, the South Unit and the North Unit. Yes, the names are not very imaginative, but the sights are. We entered the South Unit from a little town called Medora, just below the park. As soon as we went in we began seeing the bison so famous in the area. They are enormous, with furry shoulders and smooth hide. They look very much at ease, munching the grass and raising their head every once in a while to take a look around. That’s all they do. Eat, breath, see.

The geography, stark and brown, has been carved by millions of years of wind and water. The striated hillsides show evidence of the minerals that have been deposited over time. Viewing these rocks gives you a palpable feeling of time. A long time.

We found our way to the campground and picked out a site. There were very few travelers there, and conditions were spare. The water in the campground and been turned off, and there were two pit toilets. We were nearly self-contained, so the conditions suited us just fine.

When night fell we walked out to the field and began identifying stars. And we looked for the comet of the moment, C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS. Seeing it would be an experience of a lifetime. It is not expected to be visible again for 80,000 years, if ever. Who knows where we’ll be then? And the closest it would be to Earth was 44 million miles, a long tape measure away.

We got out the binocs and scanned the area where Mr. Big Shot was supposed to be hanging out.

What is a comet, exactly? Well, believe it or not, comets are small icy dirtballs that orbit the Sun. Dirtballs, yes. Stars, on the other hand, are giant balls of hot gas. 

Dirt balls and gas balls. Both elegant twinkles of light patterning the velvet sky.  

It took a while, but eventually we saw the tell-tale tail of the dirty iceball. Our once in a lifetime experience in the wildness of North Dakota.