Preserving the Beasts of Waste and Desolation: National ...
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Preserving the Beasts of Waste
and Desolation:
Theodore Roosevelt and Predator Control
in Yellowstone
By Jeremy Johnston
measure and weigh the seal.
The early history of wildlife man- Eventually, he obtained the seal’s
agement in places like Yellowstone skull, and began a natural history
is often assumed to have been collection that would continue to
based on a consensus that preda- grow throughout his life. In 1872,
tors such as wolves, coyotes, and shortly after the creation of
mountain lions should be killed. Yellowstone National Park,
Although President Theodore Theodore Roosevelt received a
Roosevelt sought to curtail the rifle and taxidermy lessons from
slaughter of predators in Yel- his father for his birthday. These
lowstone in the early 1900s, his gifts would further his studies in
role in park policy is often misin- natural history as well as intro-
terpreted, and he has been por- duce the young man to the sport of
trayed as both a hero and a villain. hunting. Roosevelt continued to
This confusion is the result of not pursue his natural history studies
only a divergence of opinions on into his college years, when he ini-
predator control, but Roosevelt’s tially sought a degree in natural his-
own writings and changing views. In tory before deciding on law as a field
his book The Wilderness Hunter, which of study. Despite this change in career
detailed his experiences in the Dakota goals, Roosevelt continued to study
Badlands during the 1880s, Roosevelt wildlife throughout his life.
referred to wolves as “the beasts of Hunting would also play in important
waste and desolation.”1 In this same ator population was influenced by sev- role in Theodore Roosevelt’s life, not
book, Roosevelt depicted cougars as eral factors, including his goal of estab- just for the collecting of natural speci-
“bloodthirsty” and “cowardly” preda- lishing a wildlife reserve in Yellow- mens for study, but for recreational
tors with a “desire for bloodshed which stone, his personal interest in hunting, enjoyment as well. Roosevelt best
they lack the courage to realize.”2 Yet and his increased understanding of the summed up his feelings towards the
despite his depiction of predators as role of predators in an ecosystem. sport of hunting in the preface to The
destroyers of cattle and wildlife, Wilderness Hunter:
Roosevelt was a careful student of pre- Roosevelt’s Defense of Yellowstone as
dators and their natural behavior. As he a Wildlife Sanctuary In hunting, the finding and killing of
spent more time studying predators in the game is after all but a part of the
their natural setting, his attitudes toward Theodore Roosevelt’s interest in nat- whole. The free, self-reliant, adven-
their role in nature began to change, so ural history began at a very early age. At turous life, with its rugged and stal-
much so that by 1908 he ordered preda- eight, young Roosevelt viewed a dead wart democracy; the wild surround-
tor control of Yellowstone’s cougars be seal in a New York marketplace. “That ings, the grand beauty of the scenery,
stopped in order to allow these predator seal filled me with every possible feel- the chance to study the ways and
populations to curtail growing elk ing of romance and adventure,” habits of the woodland creatures—all
populations. This change in Roosevelt’s Roosevelt later reminisced.3 The young these unite to give the career of the
perspective toward Yellowstone’s pred- Roosevelt returned to the market to wilderness hunter its peculiar charm.
14 Yellowstone ScienceThe chase is among the best of all in 1875. Roosevelt wanted Grinnell to to decrease the park’s boundaries, pub-
national pastimes; it cultivates that explain some negative remarks he print- licity generated by the Boone and
vigorous manliness for the lack of ed in a review of Hunting Trips of a Crockett club created a public outcry to
which in a nation, as in an individual, Ranchman, Roosevelt’s first book “save Yellowstone.”6
the possession of no other qualities describing his western adventures. Through his efforts with Grinnell,
can possibly atone.4 Grinnell had given the book an overall Roosevelt began to envision the park as
favorable review, but noted that a sanctuary and breeding ground for
This great interest in hunting and natu- Roosevelt tended to generalize his wildlife. Roosevelt hoped that if the
ral history would eventually lead observations of wildlife and had relied park’s wildlife were protected, their
Roosevelt into the American West. on some tenuous sources for informa- populations would dramatically
Roosevelt first visited the West in tion. During the meeting, Grinnell increase and spread to the surrounding
1883, when he arrived for a bison hunt defended his remarks pertaining to regions. This would ensure the continu-
in the Dakota Badlands. After success- Roosevelt’s book, and Roosevelt real- ation of hunting, his favorite pastime,
fully completing his hunt, Roosevelt ized the validity of Grinnell’s argu- outside the park’s boundaries. It would
invested in a cattle ranch, marking the ments. Along the way, the two men real- also alleviate his fear that as settlement
beginning of his close connection with ized their shared interests in hunting increased, the West would become a
the West. Roosevelt returned the next and the West and became good friends. series of private game reserves creating
year to investigate his ranching opera- Soon after, they founded the Boone and a situation where only the rich could
tions and escape the grief and hardship Crockett Club, an organization that, hunt. As his political career progressed
caused by the deaths of both his first among other goals, worked to defend to the presidency of the United States,
wife, Alice, and his mother. Roosevelt Yellowstone and its wildlife. Using Roosevelt found himself in a position
spent several of the following years Forest and Stream as its mouthpiece, where he could achieve these goals by
herding cattle and having a number of the Boone and Crockett club criticized micro-managing Yellowstone’s wildlife
adventures which included fighting poaching and proposals for railroad policies.
drunken assailants and capturing developments within Yellowstone. This
thieves who stole his boat. Hunting also publicity helped result in the passage of Roosevelt and Yellowstone’s
occupied a great amount of his time the Lacey Act of 1894, which estab- Predators
during these years. Roosevelt hunted a lished Yellowstone’s first efficient judi-
variety of animals throughout the cial system, making it possible to pun- Although the hunting of many ungu-
Badlands and into Wyoming and ish poachers for their illegal activities. late species ended in 1883 by a directive
Montana, and continued to spend much The Boone and Crockett club also of the Secretary of the Interior, park
of his time at his ranch until the winter stopped efforts to complete a railroad officials continued killing predators
of 1886–1887 wiped out most of his through the northern section of Yellow- throughout the end of the 19th century
cattle herd. In later years he occasional- stone. When railroad developers wanted and into the early 20th century. Many
ly returned to the ranch, using it as a
base for hunting excursions and other
sightseeing trips. From there, Roosevelt
embarked on two trips into Yellowstone
National Park in the 1890s. His experi-
ences and observations from these trips
formed the basis for many of his
wildlife management policies in Yel-
lowstone National Park.5
Roosevelt’s interest in the American
West soon focused on Yellowstone and
the threats to its wildlife posed by rail-
road development proposals and poach-
ing. He became aware of these prob-
lems in 1885 when he met with George
Bird Grinnell, editor of Forest and
Stream, then the leading natural history
magazine in North America, and a
founder of the Audubon Society.
Grinnell had led a campaign to protect
Yellowstone’s ungulates from market
hunting and commercial development An editorial cartoon’s depiction of Roosevelt’s 1903 Yellowstone visit. Note the
ever since his first visit to Yellowstone mountain lion perched outside the window. From the Anaconda Standard.
Spring 2002 15conservationists of the day, including agreed with Roosevelt. After receiving had accompanied Roosevelt on the
Roosevelt, believed limiting predation cougar skulls from the hunt, he wrote 1901 cougar hunt, took on the task of
would increase ungulate populations, Roosevelt that “your series of skulls organizing the hunt, but one obstacle
allowing them to recover from the from Colorado is incomparably the after another confounded his plans.
results of the intensive market hunting largest, most complete, and most valu- First, Goff was wounded by an over-
that occurred in the park before the ban able series ever brought together from eager tourist he was guiding on a hunt.
on hunting.7 any single locality, and will be of ines- Roosevelt expressed his frustration to
Roosevelt’s support of predator con- timable value in determining the Stewart in a letter, “I hope he beat the
trol was not just the result of an altruis- amount of individual variation.”11 The ‘tourist’ who inflicted the wound
tic conservationist urge. His own desire 1901 hunt not only provided specimens severely.”13 Goff recovered rapidly, and
to hunt cougars in Yellowstone was also for classification; Roosevelt gained a promised enough cougar to keep
a factor. On December 17, 1901, better understanding of the predation Roosevelt satisfied, but on January 22,
Roosevelt wrote to Yellowstone’s acting habits of cougars, learned about their 1903, Roosevelt wrote Stewart to cancel
superintendent, Major John Pitcher, diet by examining stomach contents, the hunt. “Many things are conspiring
asking “what is the practice about and dispelled the myth of cougars being to make it unlikely that I can go,” he
killing mountain lions? If I get into the man-killers. This information formed complained.14 Instead, Roosevelt sche-
Park next June I should greatly like to the basis for Roosevelt’s decisions duled a grand tour of the western states
have a hunt after some of them—that is, regarding predator control in for the spring of 1903, with one stop at
on the supposition that they are Yellowstone.12 Yellowstone.
‘varmints’ and are not protected.”8 Roosevelt planned to return to Roosevelt continued hoping for
Going on a cougar hunt in Yellowstone Colorado for a second hunt with Goff another hunt with Goff. Shortly after
also would provide Roosevelt with an for bear in 1903, but his plans never canceling the hunt in Colorado,
opportunity for him to get reacquainted came to fruition. Philip B. Stewart from Roosevelt wrote Stewart about the pos-
with his friend and hunting guide, John Colorado Springs, a close friend who sibility of sending Goff from Colorado
B. Goff.
Hunting Mountain Lions
Roosevelt had first met John B. Goff
in January 1901. Shortly after
Roosevelt was elected vice president,
Goff guided him on his first cougar hunt
using hounds, in Colorado. Although
cougars greatly interested Roosevelt, he
had seen very few of them in wild. His
knowledge of the animal had come
mostly from the tales of outdoorsmen
he met in the Badlands.9
During his hunt with Goff, Roosevelt
thoroughly enjoyed himself and learned
much about cougars. Fourteen cougars
were killed during the trip, 12 of them
by Roosevelt alone. If this sounds like
senseless slaughter, it should be remem-
bered that in a time before high-tech
film and advanced scientific methods
were used to study wild animals, hunt-
ing was one of the only available ways
to closely examine wildlife. Roosevelt’s
narrative of the hunt, found in Outdoor
Pastimes of an American Hunter, pub-
lished in 1905, was “the first reasonably After leaving his position in Yellowstone, Goff continued
full and trustworthy life history of the to hunt cougars in the Shoshone National Forest, east of
cougar as regards its most essential Yellowstone National Park’s boundary, where he was
details.”10 Clinton Hart Merriam, direc- photographed circa 1907 with his dogs and a recent kill.
tor of the Division of Biological Survey, Photo courtesy of the Park County, Wyoming, Historical
Archives.
16 Yellowstone Scienceto meet him in Yellowstone. By bring- mountain lions?”17 Roosevelt then lions have simply got to be thinned out,
ing Goff to Yellowstone, Roosevelt requested Pitcher to send out scouts to and if you will lend us a hand in the
would be able to meet two objectives: find a suitable area, and concluded the matter, you will be of great help to us
controlling predators within the park letter by asking if he had requested any and no one can offer any reasonable
and enjoying a hunt. “The park authori- hounds for the purpose of killing preda- objection to your doing so.”21
ties say they would like Johnny Goff to tors.18 Roosevelt wanted to be sure that With Pitcher’s assistance, Roosevelt
be up there with his dogs on trial for the if Goff could not reach Yellowstone for eagerly anticipated his trip to Yellow-
business of killing out some of the some reason, he would still be able to stone, with a side-trip outside the park
mountain lions,” Roosevelt wrote to hunt cougars outside of the park bound- to kill some cougars. Roosevelt’s plans
Stewart, “then if things went right, I aries by using the government’s pack of took another turn on March 21, howev-
might get a week with him myself.”15 dogs. Pitcher’s response is not known, er, when Pitcher informed the president
But his plan began to unravel when but it appears he did submit an applica- that only four of the eight dogs had
Secretary of War Elihu Root noted that tion for three hounds. Roosevelt arrived, and they were untrained.
Roosevelt’s public image might be tar- ordered Secretary of the Interior Ethan Buffalo Jones was attempting to train
nished if he killed any animals within Hitchcock to send Pitcher an additional them using his captured cougar. Pitcher
the park.16 Root most likely felt that a three dogs to supplement the pack. On also noted that he had telegraphed Mr.
hunt in Yellowstone National Park, March 2, Roosevelt ordered Pitcher to Poole, the dog supplier, and informed
where hunting by the general public put the dogs through a trial run. “We him that he needed the other four dogs,
was forbidden, would appear to be self- must be dead sure we get our mountain two of which must be trained or else the
serving, and no less than a misuse of lion,” noted Roosevelt.19 contract would be voided. Poole tele-
presidential authority. If the public got Pitcher wrote a report to the president graphed back that four more dogs were
wind of Roosevelt ordering his hunting on the hunting possibilities, noting that being shipped to the park. Pitcher
guide to Yellowstone, it could create a his scouts had located “the fresh tracks requested John Goff’s address in order
minor scandal. of ten mountain lions, close to the point to contact him if the four new dogs were
Roosevelt attempted to resolve the where we propose to make our camp.”20 unsuitable.22
issue by writing Major John Pitcher, He also noted that the park’s buffalo Upon learning of the problem with
“Secretary Root is afraid that a false keeper, C. J. “Buffalo” Jones, had cap- the dogs, Roosevelt wrote back to
impression might get out if I killed any- tured a live lion while feeding some Pitcher to cancel the hunt and comment,
thing in the Park, even though it was bighorn sheep in the area. Pitcher “Having had experience in the past with
killed, as of course would be the case, reported that the dogs would soon arrive individuals who sold hounds, I am not
strictly under Park regulations... Now I in the park from Texas, and that kennels in the least surprised at your news.”23
have thought of this: Would it be possi- awaited them. Perhaps trying to alle- Roosevelt wrote that “an untrained
ble, starting from within the Park, to go viate the president’s fears about public hound is worse than useless. Such a
just outside the border and kill any opinion, Pitcher wrote, “Now these pack will run deer or elk in the place of
lion, and will be a perfect curse to the
Park.”24 He also noted that bringing
Goff up to the park would be unaccept-
able. “The more I have thought it
over…[Goff] coming up would cause a
great deal of talk.”25 He concluded the
letter by noting that seeing the game of
the park would be exciting enough but
that, on the off chance the hounds were
trained in time, he would attempt to
hunt cougar.26
On April 8, 1903, Theodore
Roosevelt arrived in Yellowstone
National Park for his long anticipated
visit. Famed naturalist and writer John
Burroughs accompanied Roosevelt dur-
ing his visit, which lasted for over two
weeks. During this time, Roosevelt and
Burroughs spent most of their time
studying the park’s wildlife. Roosevelt
President Theodore Roosevelt (left) in camp near Tower, Yellowstone National fired only one shot within the park.
Park, with John Burroughs (right), April 1903. NPS photo. Using a tree for a target, he tested a new
revolver, only to have the spent shell fly
Spring 2002 17Photo by Bob Wiesner.
were out with the President.’ Jones was
so mad that he never said a word.”28
Predator Control in Yellowstone
During the president’s visit in April
1903, he had substantial time to study
Yellowstone’s wildlife. His perspective
on predators began to change, especial-
ly after he witnessed the conditions of
the elk herds. He saw many elk along
the way to his campsite on the
Yellowstone River near the Black
Canyon of the Yellowstone, and noted
that they “were certainly more numer-
ous than when I was last through the
Park twelve years before.”29 With the
help of Pitcher and their guide Elwood
“Head of Cougar Shot Sept., 1889” by Hofer, who had also guided Roosevelt
J. Carter Beard, from Roosevelt’s The during his 1891 visit to the Yellowstone to be thinned down, and that predators
Wilderness Hunter. This illustration area, Roosevelt counted 3,000 head of were needed to fulfill this function in
shows how mountain lions were elk in one sitting. He also noticed many place of human hunters. Roosevelt now
depicted in the past—as bloodthirsty elk carcasses lying on the ground. He realized that predators such as cougars
killers. paid close attention to what had caused were an important part of the
their deaths. Two were killed by “scab,” Yellowstone ecosystem. This was a rare
and some by cougars, but most had died opinion for the time period, especially
back, cutting his cheek. The only ani- of starvation—the result, Roosevelt from a former Western rancher.
mal Roosevelt killed during his trip was believed, of overpopulation. Roosevelt Roosevelt believed the winter die-offs
one mouse. With hope of discovering a assumed the numbers to be too high on were an effective method of population
new species of mice, Roosevelt caught the basis of what he had witnessed dur- control of elk numbers, but he consid-
his prey by throwing his hat over the ing his visits in 1890 and 1891. ered it to be too inhumane. Instead, his
mouse to entrap the small creature. He Certainly, the elk numbers would have background in range management
spent the evening skinning the mouse increased throughout the 1890s due to focused him on establishing a balance
and treating the small pelt for shipment the cessation of market hunting within between elk numbers and what he con-
to the U. S. Biological Survey to see if Yellowstone and increased power to sidered to be efficient feed on the range.
it was a new species. It was not, but was prosecute poachers under the Lacey Although Roosevelt wrongly
a species previously unknown to the Act. In addition to decreased hunting, believed that cougars alone could keep
park area. John Burroughs worried the destruction of the wolves and other down the elk numbers, he still feared
newspapers might misprint the word natural predators in this time period that cougar predation would destroy
“mouse” in their articles as “moose” would have decreased predation, allow- other wildlife populations such as deer
and create a controversy for the presi- ing for a greater increase in elk num- and bighorn sheep. He worried most
dent.27 bers. about cougars because he thought coy-
Roosevelt’s preparations for a cougar Roosevelt now began to defend the otes and wolves were not as dangerous
hunt came back to haunt him during his cougars’ presence in the park: “As the to the ungulate herds. By that time,
visit. Buffalo Jones decided to take mat- elk were evidently rather too numerous wolves would have been too low in
ters into his own hands by bringing the for the feed,” he later wrote in the numbers to have had much of an impact
government’s pack of hounds to the account of his trip, “I do not think the on the ungulate herds, and Roosevelt
presidential camp for a quick cougar cougars were doing any damage.”30 dismissed coyotes as formidable preda-
hunt. Upon Jones’ arrival at the camp, Roosevelt began to worry that the elk tors. “Although there are plenty of coy-
Roosevelt instructed Pitcher to order herds would meet the same fate as his otes in the Park, there are no big
Jones and the hounds back to Mammoth North Dakota cattle herds had in the wolves,” he noted, “and save for very
Hot Springs. John W. Meldrum, the disastrous winter of 1886–1887; that infrequent poachers the only enemy
judge of Yellowstone’s court who tried they would deplete the range, leaving of...all game, is the cougar.”31 Based on
to warn Jones not to bother the presi- little if any winter feed, and leading to this belief, Roosevelt began to advocate
dent, later recalled, “I met [Jones] down starvation for themselves and other a limited predator control program for
at the Post Office shortly after he came wildlife. To prevent this from occurring, the cougar population. Major Pitcher
in and said, ‘Hello Jones, I thought you Roosevelt believed the elk herds needed assigned Buffalo Jones the responsibili-
18 Yellowstone Sciencety for controlling cougars with the gov- replacement, Roosevelt ordered an end fered to check the increase, elk would ernment’s new hounds. However, Jones to the killing of cougars in the park: be as plentiful as cattle throughout soon ran into a conflict with park mili- the whole United States inside half a tary officials and resigned his position. I do not think any more cougars century. But their possible range is of When notified of Jones’s resignation, should be killed in the park. Game is course strictly limited, and as there Roosevelt knew just the man for the abundant. We want to profit by what are no foes to kill them down, the nec- job—his former hunting guide, John B. has happened in the English pre- essary death-rate is kept up by nature Goff. serves, where it proved to be bad for in far more cruel way—that is starva- In the spring of 1905, during a bear the grouse itself to kill off all the pere- tion by winter. The suffering and mis- hunt with Goff, Roosevelt wrote to grine falcons and all the other birds ery that this means is quite heartrend- Major Pitcher; A.A. Anderson, the of prey. It may be advisable, in case ing... What is needed is recognition of Yellowstone Forest Reserve inspector; the ranks of the deer and antelope the simple fact that the elk will and Ethan A. Hitchcock, Secretary of right around the Springs should be always multiply beyond their means the Interior, requesting that Goff be too heavily killed out, to kill some of subsistence, and if their numbers “given all the privileges that can be cougars there, but in the rest of the are not reduced in some other way given for killing lion within or without park I certainly would not kill any of they will be reduced by starvation the park.”32 Goff left for Yellowstone in them. On the contrary, they ought to and disease.39 June, expecting the job of thinning out be let alone.37 the Yellowstone cougar population to The only solution, Roosevelt decided, take four years.33 Although hundreds of coyotes contin- was that “it would be infinitely better Roosevelt’s instructions to Goff indi- ued to be killed while Roosevelt was in for the elk, infinitely less cruel, if some cated his newly selective approach to office, cougars were left alone in method could be devised by which predator control. “Of course you can Yellowstone after his directive was hunting them should be permitted right not afford to let the cougar exist in the received. The pack of dogs purchased up to the point of killing each year on an neighborhood of where the deer and by the government under Roosevelt’s average what would amount to the sheep are,” Roosevelt wrote Goff in directions was sold. The official killing whole animal increase… Of course the May, 1906, “but any cougar that are of cougars did not resume until 1914, regulation should be so strict and intel- found off where there are practically when 14 were killed. After the National ligent as to enable all killing to be nothing but elk, I should think it a good Park Service assumed control over stopped the moment it was found to be plan to leave them alone.”34 Unfor- Yellowstone National Park, cougars in any way excessive or detrimental.”40 tunately, Roosevelt failed to realize that continued to be killed: four in 1916; a A number of obstacles prevented the after years of steady hunting, Yel- total of thirty-four in years 1918 and implementation of Roosevelt’s proposal lowstone’s cougar population had 1919. The last reported official killing for controlling the numbers of elk in already been fairly well exterminated. of a cougar in Yellowstone occurred in Yellowstone by limited hunting. It was Goff’s son Byron later recalled, 1925.38 hard to convince the public and the mil- “Roosevelt was misinformed about the itary administrators in Yellowstone that lion situation.”35 John Goff soon dis- Too Many Elk in Yellowstone? the elk herds should be culled. Park covered that few cougars existed in the administrators did attempt to solve the park, and he resigned after less than a In 1912, Roosevelt’s attention again problem by increasing the feeding of year of service. focused on Yellowstone. In an article to hay to elk, decreasing domestic grazing Shortly before Goff left the park, Outlook magazine, Roosevelt publicly in the National Forest Reserves, and by Roosevelt began to realize that the voiced his concern over the increasing shipping elk outside the park, but this cougar population had become danger- number of elk in the park. He had pre- was not effective in Roosevelt’s opin- ously low. After receiving a letter from viously expressed worry regarding the ion.41 Roosevelt criticized these meth- Goff, Roosevelt responded, “I am sorry park’s elk numbers, but now feared that ods: “from time to time well-meaning to hear about the elk having had such a the problem would result in disaster. people propose that the difficulty shall bad winter, but just as I have said, there Roosevelt predicted the following: be met by feeding the elk hay in winter are so many elk that they have begun to or by increasing the size of the winter be too plentiful in the park, and person- Elk are hardy animals and prolific. It grounds... But as a permanent way of ally I should be sorry to see all the is probable that a herd under favor- meeting the difficulty neither enlarging cougar killed off.”36 These fears regard- able conditions in its own habitat will the range nor feeding with hay would be ing the rising elk populations and loss double in numbers about every four of the slightest use. All that either of predator populations caused years. There are now in the Yellow- method could accomplish would be to Roosevelt to rescind his predator con- stone Park probably thirty thousand remove the difficulty for two or three trol policies against the cougar popula- elk. A very few moments’ thought years until the elk had time to multiply tions. In a 1908 letter to Superintendent ought to show any one that under beyond once more to the danger- S. B. M. Young, Major Pitcher’s these circumstances, if nothing inter- point.”42 Spring 2002 19
Misleading publicity regarding the 1918, 23 cougars, 190 coyotes, and 36 Albright later described the reason for
elk die-off in the winter of 1916–1917 wolves were killed.44 this policy: “the rangers have grown to
seemed to confirm Roosevelt’s worst In 1918, Roosevelt wrote to his friend love all wild life except those predatory
fears. This news led many people to George Bird Grinnell to express his species which they so often observe
believe the winter had killed off most of concerns for the future of Yellowstone: destroying young antelope, deer, or elk.
the park’s elk population. Heavy snow- Aside from those outlawed animals, a
fall kept the elk herds from traveling to The simple fact is that if we got addi- national park ranger is never known to
their winter range. Many elk died from tional winter grazing grounds for the kill a native animal or bird of the park,
starvation, which preservationists took elk, or fed them alfalfa, in four years or to express a desire to kill.”46 The
as proof that overpopulation was threat- they would have multiplied beyond issues raised by Roosevelt regarding elk
ening the future of the elk. Some people the limit again, and we should be numbers and the role of predators have
became alarmed that the species that faced by exactly the same difficulty continued to be debated by the National
barely survived the era of market hunt- that we are now. There is winter Park Service into the 21st century.
ing was again headed for extinction, ground for a few thousand elk in the Eventually, the National Park Service
this time from natural forces. Most of park but not much more than a frac- used controlled hunting to maintain elk
this fear was based on exaggerated tion of the present number. As their numbers at certain levels. This ended in
counts from previous years, but the natural enemies have been removed the 1960s when bad publicity and
park’s new administration, the National their numbers must be kept down by evolving scientific theories of density
Park Service, responded by continuing disease or starvation or else by dependence led to the adoption of natu-
the policy of feeding hay to the elk. shooting. It is a mere question of ral regulation policies. Attitudes toward
Roosevelt felt this would only continue mathematics to show that if protected Yellowstone’s predators also changed.
to compound the problem by once again as they have been in the park they Many scientists began to realize the
raising the elk population to uncontrol- would, inside of a century, fill the important role of wolves, coyotes, and
lable standards.43 Predator control of whole United States; so that they cougars in the Yellowstone ecosystem.
wolves and coyotes continued as the would then die of starvation!45 In 1935, the National Park Service
newly-established National Park ended predator control.47
Service assumed the management of The next year, the National Park In 1919, Roosevelt passed away at his
Yellowstone National Park. The new Service killed 11 more cougars, 227 home at Sagamore Hill, New York. With
managers also targeted the cougar pop- coyotes, and six wolves. Predator con- his death, Yellowstone lost not only one
ulations once again. In 1916, four trol continued to remove what “natural of its most important defenders, but also
cougars, 180 coyotes, and 14 wolves enemies” of the elk were left. Former one of its early wildlife managers.
were killed. The following year, 100 Yellowstone superintendent and Roosevelt’s handling of predators in
coyotes and 36 wolves were killed. In National Park Service Director Horace Yellowstone will always be debated as
having been good or bad. Yet one thing
is clear: Roosevelt attempted to estab-
lish policies that he believed were in the
park’s best interest as he understood it
at the time. Unfortunately, he did not
understand many of the environmental
changes that were occurring in Yellow-
stone, nor did he recognize how drasti-
cally the environment had been changed
by those before him, especially how
much damage had been done to the
predator populations. He also believed
that the natural increase of the elk pop-
ulations and the effects of winter kills,
which are now recognized as part of the
natural process in Yellowstone’s ecosys-
tem, were inhumane and needed to be
managed with what he viewed as more
humane methods. Despite these short-
comings, Roosevelt’s changes to
Yellowstone’s predator control policies
were fairly advanced for his day and
age. Roosevelt must be given credit for
T.R. on Officer’s Row in Mammoth, 1903. NPS photo archives. his effort to look beyond the image of
20 Yellowstone Sciencepredators as “beasts of waste and desolation” to critically Jeremy at Sagamore
examine their valuable role in the Yellowstone ecosystem. Hill National Historic
Site, New York.
I would like to thank Lee Whittlesey and Paul Schullery Roosevelt built this
for their assistance in my research for this article. Queen Anne home from
plans he sketched in
1885 and lived in it
until his death in 1919.
Photo courtesy Jeremy
Jeremy M. Johnston is an assistant professor of history at Johnston.
Northwest College located in Powell, Wyoming. For over six
years he has taught Wyoming and Western history, including
a college level course on the history of Yellowstone National
Park. He has been researching the role of Theodore
Roosevelt in Yellowstone National Park for over eight years.
His writings have been published in Readings of Wyoming
History, The George Wright Forum, and various newspa-
pers.
Endnotes Library of Congress, 1969). (Hereafter Courtesy of the White River Museum.
cited as TR papers.) 34 TR to J. Goff, May 2, 1906. TR papers.
1 12 TR Works, Volume II, pg. 393-444. 35 The Cody Enterprise, July 20, 1961.
Theodore Roosevelt, The Works of
13 TR to P.B. Stewart, October 13, 1902. TR 36 TR to J. B. Goff, May 2, 1906. TR Papers
Theodore Roosevelt, edited by Herman
Hagedorn volume II (New York: Charles papers. 37 TR to S.B.M. Young, January 22, 1908.
14 TR to P.B. Stewart, January 22, 1903. TR TR papers.
Scribner’s Sons, 1927), p. 305.
(Hereafter cited as TR Works.) papers. 38 Aubrey L. Haines, The Yellowstone Story,
2 Ibid. p. 272. 15 TR to P.B. Stewart, January 26, 1903. TR vol. 2 (Boulder, Colorado: University of
3 TR Works, Volume XX pg. 16. papers. Colorado Press, 1977), pg. 82.; Adolph
4 TR Works, Volume II, Pg. xxix. 16 TR to J. Pitcher, February 18, 1903. TR Murie, Ecology of the Coyote in the Yel-
5 Books regarding Theodore Roosevelt’s Papers. lowstone, (Washington D.C.: United
17 TR to J. Pitcher, February 18, 1903. States Government Printing Office, 1940)
early life: Paul Russell Cutright,
Theodore Roosevelt: The Making of a 18 ibid. pg. 15; and Paul Schullery and Lee
Conservationist, (Urbana: University of 19 ibid. Whittlesey, “Greater Yellowstone Carn-
Illinois Press, 1985). David McCullough, 20 J. Pitcher to TR, March 2, 1903. TR ivores: A History of Changing Attitudes,”
Mornings on Horseback, (New York: Papers. Carnivores in Ecosystems: The
Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1981). 21 J. Pitcher to TR, March 2, 1903. TR Yellowstone Experience, edited by Tim
Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore papers. W. Clark, A. Peyton Curlee, Steven C.
Roosevelt, (New York: Ballantine Books, 22 J. Pitcher to TR, March 21, 1903. TR Minta, and Peter M. Kareiva, (New
1979). papers. Haven: Yale University Press, 1999).
6 George Bird Grinnell, Introduction to 23 TR to J. Pitcher, March 26, 1903. TR 39 TR Works, volume 12, pg. 379–380.
papers. 40 ibid., pg. 381.
volume I, TR Works. For an early histo-
24 ibid. 41 Haines, The Yellowstone Story, volume 2,
ry of the Boone and Crockett Club see
John F. Reiger, American Sportsmen and 25 ibid. pg. 77–79.
26 ibid. 42 TR Works, Volume XII, pg. 381.
the Origins of Conservation, revised edi-
tion (Norman: University of Oklahoma 27 John Burroughs, Camping and Tramping 43 Haines, The Yellowstone Story, volume 2,
Press, 1986). with Roosevelt, (Boston: Houghton pg. 79.
7 Paul Schullery, Searching for Yellow- Mifflin Company, 1907), Doris Whithorn, 44 Murie, Ecology of the Coyote, pg. 15.
stone: Ecology and Wonder in the Last Twice Told on the Upper Yellowstone, vol- 45 TR to George Bird Grinnell, April 17,
Wilderness, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin ume 1, (Livingston: Doris Whithorn, 1918, pg. TR Papers.
Company, 1997). 1994), and TR Works, Volume III, pg 85- 46 Horace M. Albright and Frank J. Taylor,
8 Theodore Roosevelt to John Pitcher, 107. Oh, Ranger!, (Stanford University Press,
December 17, 1902, Theodore Roosevelt 28 Interview of John W. Meldrum by Newell 1928) pg. 15. Note: this quote was delet-
Papers (Washington D.C.: Manuscript F. Joyner, August 16, 1930. Yellowstone ed from later editions of this book, prob-
Division, Library of Congress, 1969) Research Library, C. J. Jones subject ably due to the ending of predator control
(Hereafter cited as TR Papers). folder. policies in 1935.
9 TR Works, Volume II, pg. 265-274. 29 TR Works, Volume III, pg. 95. 47 Paul Schullery, Searching for Yellowstone
10 TR Works, Volume V, pg. 390-391. 30 ibid., pg. 97. and James Pritchard, Preserving Yellow-
11 C. H. Merriam to TR, May 3, 1901. 31 TR Works, Volume III, pg. 90-91. stone’s Natural Conditions: Science and
Theodore Roosevelt papers. 32 TR to J. Pitcher, May 6, 1905. TR papers. the Perception of Nature, (Lincoln:
(Washington, D.C.: Manuscript Division, 33 The Meeker Herald, June 3, 1905. University of Nebraska Press, 1999).
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