Emergency Appeal Ever since 1934 when the Theodore Roosevelt National Park was created as first a state park and then in 1947 a national park, the objective was always to include the entirety of TR’s original Elkhorn Ranch. All that was included was the former site of the ranch buildings such as TR’s cabin, stables, blacksmith shed, etc. The surrounding viewshed and grazing land immediately adjacent the building site which Roosevelt wrote so eloquently about as he would sit on the veranda and gaze at the viewshed across the Little Missouri River has never been a part of the Park. Last fall the objective of including the viewshed within the surrounding federal government property was realized when an agreement was signed with the landowners to purchase 5,200 acres together with an adjacent 18,350 acre grazing allotment. The contract to purchase the property is for $5,300,000. An appraisal was done which indicated the value to be $5,450,000. However because of federal appraisal regulations that relate to what the government calls their “yellow book” appraisal standards, the government can only pay $4,800,000, which leaves a $500,000 deficit that must be made up prior to the closing on April 25, 2007. Until last week, a major national corporation had indicated for 9 months a serious interest in providing the required $500,000. However, we’ve now been advised that this property no longer has the corporate priority it did 9 months ago. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has indicated that they will most likely provide a $250,000 grant on a matching basis, which will require the private sector to contribute $250,000. We are currently in the process of finalizing the grant with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, but are now forced to raise in a very short period of time the matching $250,000. The acquisition of this property will finalize an effort which started over 60 years ago. It will secure the memorialization of Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation legacy established in the Badlands of North Dakota. Why save the Elkhorn? It was here that he conceived the very notion of the conservation of America’s natural resources between 1884 and 1887 when he rode by horseback throughout the Dakota and Montana Territories and observed first hand the degradation and destruction of the natural resources in the Territories by man for timber, minerals, food, and grazing lands. It was during the three and one-half years of Roosevelt’s first hand observations of the west that the very notion and concept of preserving our national resources for time and memorial was conceived and born. For this reason, the Elkhorn Ranch has been termed the cradle of conservation and the Walden Pond of the American West, because this is where the idea of conservation was born. Roosevelt’s notions and observations are well documented in his diaries and journals, and in 6 separate books that he wrote on the west between 1895 and 1907. Why is the TRA involved? Ever since the TRA was chartered in 1919, it has been responsible for memorializing and placing into the public trust most of TR’s significant geographic touchstones: TR Memorial Park in Oyster Bay; TR Island in Washington, D.C.; TR Birthplace and Sagamore Hill in New York; and Pine Knot in Virginia. The Elkhorn Ranch is the last major geographic TR touchstone yet to be protected, and the TRA should lead the way. What do I do to help? This is an appeal for contributions that are needed immediately to fulfill the public sector’s requirement to contribute $250,000 to this campaign to secure the future of the Elkhorn Ranch in perpetuity. Contributions may be made to the or click here to give online Time is critical, so we urge you to not delay in your consideration of this vital matter of national interest.
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