The Presidents Who Gave Us Our Best Parks
A look back at which U.S. presidents deserve the credit for establishing some of our first, biggest, and most majestic parks and monuments.
Some of the greatest legacies of U.S. presidents are the parks they leave behind. Today President Obama designated three new national monuments in California: Castle Mountains National Monument, Sand to Snow National Monument, and Mojave Trails National Monument. He now holds the record for protecting the most public land and water of any president.
The concept of protecting natural treasures for future generations can be traced back to the founding fathers. Thomas Jefferson wrote about the benefits of open space and the danger of cutting down all the trees. He also sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on a voyage of discovery to catalog the nature in the great West.
The ability to designate parks and other protected areas wasn't always enshrined in law. It look generations of activism and political pressure
