Fish and Wildlife Service refers to President Roosevelt as the Conservation President. Roosevelt said in 1907: “The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem it will avail us little to solve all others.” In 1913 Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt and Shark Hunter Russell J. Coles visited Captiva on a houseboat barge and Roosevelt said he would return. He did return again 1917. 

As a child Teddy suffered from extreme asthma and found that strenuous exercise helped his health. He embraced a rugged persona and loved exploring nature. His intense interest in animals at a very young age was obvious. He even created a makeshift museum of natural history with the animals he preserved after catching them. Wikipedia refers to Roosevelt as a true conservationist and naturalist. Today's conservationists might find this alarming since he loved to hunt and harpoon sharks and manta rays. After reading the notorious Russell Coles vivid account of hunting and killing the elusive "Devil Fish" which we now know as the harmless plankton-eating graceful Manta Ray, Roosevelt wrote: “The one thing I most desire to do is to harpoon a devil-fish, and I am pleased down to the ground, that everything is to be subordinated to that one consideration—until I get my harpoon into one.”

Teddy's passion for nature lead to a nationwide conservation effort that led to the protection of our natural ecosystems for future generations to enjoy. Roosevelt signed an executive order making Pelican Island on Florida's east coast the first bird sanctuary in the United States. It was a refuge for brown pelicans, a species threatened by extinction. His passion for nature led him to all areas across the United States in search of areas that needed protection from human greed, exploitation and development.

Roosevelt preserved 230 million acres which included 5 national parks, 55 national wildlife refuges for birds 9 of which were in Florida, and 150 national forests. He also created the U.S. Forest Service. When he visited Pine Island Sound in 1908, he created the Pine Island National Wildlife Refuge to protect birds from hunters killing egrets, herons and pelicans for their feathers and plumes that adorned many garments at the time.

At the time, Sanibel was home to farmers with agriculture being the main source of income until the 1926 hurricane deposited so much salt water that farming was no longer an option. Developers began to eye parcels of land as the were seeking fortune and Jay Norwood "Ding" Darling helped block the sale of a valuable parcel of land and in 1945 Ding convinced President Truman to create the Sanibel National Wildlife Refuge. We know this refuge today as The "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge, as the name was changed in 1967 to honor Darling's efforts. It is now world famous for the incredible populations of migrating birds that visit the refuge yearly and remains the largest protected mangrove ecosystem in the country.

Teddy's love of fishing the waters sheltered by the Island of Captiva will forever be remembered as these waters are part of Roosevelt Channel. Teddy and Russell shared several hunting expeditions for sharks and manta rays. He had an expedition planned with Russell to hunt sharks at Cape Lookout but passed away before this trip in 1919.

What began as a keen interest in the natural world as a child led to the preservation of some of the worlds most beautiful natural systems for us all to enjoy. If you would like to learn more, consider reading The Wilderness Warrior, Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America by Douglas Brinkley. A year before his death Brinkley quotes Roosevelt: “Thank Heaven I sat at the feet of Darwin and Huxley.” Roosevelt was not being ironic; he could thank God for Darwin. Just as he could be a hunter and a conservationist; indeed the two activities encouraged each other.

Photo Credits: DigitalFGCU, Florida Gulf Coast University Library, Library of Congress, Associated Press.