Though consumed by the
day-to-day duties of office, deep in the mind of every American
president must be questions about how his decisions will be
dissected by historians in the decades and even centuries after he
leaves office.
Presidents, especially those in their
second term, usually turn a watchful eye to their so-called
legacies. The inaugural address, Rose Garden ceremonies and tours
aboard Air Force One all become staging grounds to mold images read
by the future.
The issues that form presidential legacies
are as diverse as the presidents themselves, yet they usually share
a common vein — the betterment of humankind, peace and world
stability, nurturing and expanding the U.S. and world economy and
justice, here and abroad.
Though conservation was an idea
that arrived on the scene roughly 100 years ago, it has also become
one of the underpinnings of presidential legacies. Chief executives
from both parties and of various political philosophies have
dedicated at least some effort to improving the environment.
Theodore Roosevelt left one of the most enduring
environmental legacies. He established 51 wildlife refuges, ushered
through the Antiquities Act, which led to the designation of 18
national monuments, and set the stage for the establishment of the
National Park Service. But in the world of modern presidents,
Roosevelt is not alone.
Lyndon Johnson helped push
through the landmark Clean Water and Wilderness acts and, with the
assistance of Lady Bird Johnson, the Beautification of America
programs.
Richard Nixon worked cooperatively with
Democrats and Republicans in Congress to pass landmark
environmental laws, including the creation of the Environmental
Protection Agency, the Clean Air Act amendments and several laws
that protect and preserve the species we share the planet with.
He doesn’t always get credit for it, but Ronald
Reagan oversaw the designation of more wilderness in the Lower 48
states than any other president, Democrat or Republican.
Bill Clinton established several national monuments and initiated
the Roadless Area Conservation Rule to protect more than 50 million
acres of America’s intact forests. Although he served only
one term in office, the current president’s father, George H.
W. Bush, worked with Congress to pass the far-reaching Clean Air
Act amendments of 1990, which he signed despite the objections of
utilities and industries.
The reason for the role of the
environment in presidential legacies is easy to understand.
Presidents, especially the wiser among them, recognize that safe
water, clean air, and the protection of wilderness and other
species besides our own are important to all people. That is why
environmental accomplishments are listed in the biographical
sketches of nearly every modern president and why they feature
prominently in presidential libraries.
In the context of
legacy and history, one has to wonder what is going through
President George W. Bush’s mind today. His first
administration implemented the most regressive environmental
policies in American history. Whether it’s the decision to
pull out of the Kyoto accords on global climate change, the
thwarting of the Clinton administration’s roadless forest
policy, the giving to antiquated power plants a pass on having to
reduce their dangerous emissions of mercury — a reversal of
one of his father’s policies — or efforts to gut the
Endangered Species Act, nearly every aspect of the environment has
felt the heavy hand of the Bush administration.
His
policies have been so negative and so broadly damaging that one has
to question if he can do anything now to avoid being characterized
as the worst environmental president in American history. His early
announcements that he plans to dedicate his second term to opening
up a wildlife refuge in Alaska to oil exploration, easing Clean Air
Act restrictions and ending habitat protections for salmon make one
wonder if he even cares.
Bush’s environmental
policies are troubling enough. Equally troubling is his active
involvement in undermining the environmental legacies of his
predecessors, including those of his father. Unfortunately for
Americans and for the world, the impact of Bush’s
environmental legacy will go well beyond the pages of a history
book. It will be felt for generations in the health of humankind
and in the loss of those places and species that we have shared
this planet with for as long as we have existed.
Mike Dombeck is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a
service of High Country News (hcn.org). He has
served as chief of the U.S. Forest Service and director of the
Bureau of Land Management, and is now a professor of environmental
management at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens
Point.
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