Adventures in conservation with Franklin D. Roosevelt

Possibly Franklin Roosevelt's best-known legacy in conservation was his executive order proclaiming the Jackson Hole National Monument in Wyomingthis in the middle of WW II. But he was directly involved in other projects: Olympia (Wash.) and Kings Canyon (Calif.) National Parks, the Carl Inn Sugar Pines (Calif.) as well as measures for wildlife protection. The late Brandt was himself a crusader, tireless lobbyist and major figure in conservation circles who also wrote speeches and plotted strategy for FDR and Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes in their fight to expand and create national parks. Brandt here portrays a president who was accessible to his staff and committed to conserving natural resources; the bitter wrangling between the Park and Forestry Services and the implacable opposition (and dirty tricks) by Western lumber and power interests. All this is narrated in excruciating detail, with correspondence, accounts of public and private meetings and official hearings, in an instructive study of conservation history, presidential style and public policy in the making.