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In thinking of green presidents on this President's Day, there are plenty from which to choose. Ulysses Grant declared Yellowstone a national park in 1872. Jimmy Carter protected 56 million acres in Alaska during his tenure. But who is the greenest president of them all?

Two years ago before I moved to the Northwest, I was attending a conference in the Portland area when I decided to take advantage of a free afternoon and go hiking in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. More often than not, it seems like parks are named after geographic areas—and if they're named after people, it's usually a famous person. But Gifford Pinchot wasn't exactly a name near the top of my "famous people in history" list.

I later learned that Pichot was the first head of what later became the U.S. Forest Service and served faithfully for the answer to the question posed earlier in this blog: Theodore Roosevelt.

Pinchot advised Roosevelt—already a noted conservationist in his own right—on what to do with vast amounts of land in the western part of the country. This formidable team not only gave us some of our favorite parks but enacted legislation that continues to help conservation efforts.

A REAL CONSERVATIONIST

While many U.S. Presidents have used their executive power to declare national parks, none have done so with as much conviction as Roosevelt. Among his many different conservation acts, he protected 42 million acres for national parks and protected the Grand Canyon as a place of "special interest" before Woodrow Wilson designated it a national park in 1919. Roosevelt was so committed to this cause that he didn't let his family even have a Christmas tree—until he learned of Christmas tree farms that didn't cut down virgin forests.

While conservationists hailed Roosevelt as a hero, many U.S. congressmen were feeling pressure from constituents to stop Roosevelt's huge land grabs. So in 1907, just hours before congress enacted a bill to stop him, Roosevelt designated 16 million acres for national forests, which later became known as the "Midnight Forests."

Roosevelt was also a trained bird watcher and in 1903 established the first National Bird Preserve on Pelican Island, Fla. This preserve was the beginning of what eventually became the National Wildlife Refuge System.

So profound were the affects nature had on Roosevelt, it led him to say, "I never would have been President if it had not been for my experiences in North Dakota." Today, that same expanse of land where Roosevelt experienced meaningful moments is named in his honor as Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Not only a great American, but also a truly great green president.

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