Roosevelt's Fishery Legacy - This Day in History

Craig Springer, the editor of the outstanding Eddies Magazine, sent me a blurb worth repeating today. It's a special anniversary! The 140th anniversary of the Fish & Wildlife Service.

Robert Roosevelt was a prodigious writer and ardent outdoorsman. This uncle to the future conservationist-president, Teddy Roosevelt, authored such books as Game Birds of the North and Superior Fishing; or The Striped Bass, Trout, Black Bass and Bluefish of the Northern States. Both were published in the 1860s at a time when he served on the New York State Fishery Commission -- a commission that he created.

Roosevelt's most lasting written work was a Congressional resolution that he penned during his single term in the U.S. House of Representatives. He wrote the resolution that created the U.S. Fish Commission, which later became the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and today's Fisheries Program.

The resolution became effective 140 years ago today, Feb. 9, 1871, and you can read it here at the Library of Congress.

-- Craig Springer (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)