Theodore Roosevelt did several groundbreaking things in conservation that had never been done before. He made conservation a major part of his administration and set a precedent for active natural stewardship. Notably, Roosevelt:

• Established the United States Forest Service.
• Created five national parks, four game refuges, and 51 national bird reservations.
• Signed the Antiquities Act into law, giving presidents the authority to designate national monuments to protect natural and cultural landmarks without needing congressional approval. Roosevelt used this power 18 times.
• Set aside over 230 million acres of land for conservation, a scale of federal protection unprecedented at the time.
• Extensively used executive orders to protect forest and wildlife lands, creating 150 national forests and many forest reserves, despite resistance from Congress.

Roosevelt's aggressive use of executive orders and his comprehensive approach to conservation transformed how the federal government preserved natural resources and wildlife, actions that had never been done on such scale or with such presidential authority before.