10 Presidential Quotes About Nature in America

Happy Presidents Day!

President's Day is the perfect time for the CloudLine community of hikers, backpackers, and campers to be thankful for the Presidents who have helped preserve and protect our National Parks, forests, and wilderness areas. We enjoy our National Parks and other protected areas partly thanks to the wisdom of America's leaders, who wished to preserve our countries natural beauty for the future. So check out these quotes and grab your favorite pair of hiking socks and celebrate Presidents Day with a hike!

1. Obama on the True Value of National Parks

"It’s not just the iconic mountains and parks that we protect. It’s the forests where generations of families have hiked and picnicked and connected with nature." 

- Barack Obama

2. Roosevelt on Why The National Parks Belong to the People

“There is nothing so American as our national parks.... The fundamental idea behind the parks...is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us.”

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

3. Bush on Why We Have National Parks

"Our National Parks belong to each of us, and they are natural places to learn, exercise, volunteer, spend time with family and friends, and enjoy the magnificent beauty of our great land."

- George W. Bush

 4. Jefferson on the Wonder of Nature

"How sublime to look down on the workhouse of nature, to see her clouds, hail, snow, rain, thunder, all fabricated at our feet!"

- Thomas Jefferson

5. Kennedy on the Wisdom of Preserving America's Wilderness

“National parks and reserves are an integral aspect of intelligent use of natural resources. It is the course of wisdom to set aside an ample portion of our natural resources as national parks and reserves, thus ensuring that future generations may know the majesty of the earth as we know it today.”

- John F. Kennedy

6. Washington on the Incomprehensible Phenomena of Nature

"A reasoning being would lose his reason, in attempting to account for the great phenomena of nature"

- George Washington

7.  Johnson on the Importance of Protecting Nature

“We must not only protect the countryside and save it from destruction, we must restore what has been destroyed and salvage the beauty and charm of our cities … Once our natural splendor is destroyed, it can never be recaptured. And once man can no longer walk with beauty or wonder at nature, his spirit will wither and his sustenance be wasted.”

- Lyndon B. Johnson

8. Roosevelt on the Value of Conservation

“There is a delight in the hardy life of the open. There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy and its charm. The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased and not impaired in value. Conservation means development as much as it does protection.”

- Theodore Roosevelt

9. Lincoln on the Land 

“Laws change; people die; the land remains.”

- Abraham Lincoln

 10. Eisenhower on America's National Park's Inspiring the World

"The idea of preserving in a national grouping such spots of scenic beauty and historic memory originated here in this country...In Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, other countries have followed our pioneering example and set aside their most magnificent scenic areas as national treasures for the enjoyment of present and future generations."

- Dwight D. Eisenhower 

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