Winter 2004

President's Message

This past year was the 100-year conservation legacy of President Theodore Roosevelt. What started in 1903 with one, small, four-acre bird sanctuary off the coast of Florida has since grown to the world’s largest network of lands managed for wildlife.

A year earlier, in 1902, Roosevelt came to Mississippi on his now famous bear hunt. Greenvillian Holt Collier was chosen to be the President’s guide. Collier strongly desired that the President kill a bear so he captured one and tied it to a tree. Roosevelt refused to shoot the tied animal. The story received wide press coverage. Clifford Berryman ran two editorial cartoons on the front page of The Washington Post. Morris Michtom saw the cartoon and designed the Teddy Bear, which the Mississippi Legislature recently named the official state toy.

This past year Congressman Bennie Thompson and Senator Thad Cochran introduced legislation to establish the “Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge” and the “Holt Collier National Wildlife Refuge.” Congressmen Wicker, Pickering and Taylor co-sponsored the legislation that was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The legislation will also rename the “Central Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge Complex” the “Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Complex” and create the “Holt Collier Wildlife Interpretation and Education Center.”

The “Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge” would celebrate President Theodore Roosevelt and his 1902 bear hunt in Mississippi, which also gave birth to the “teddy bear.” The “Holt Collier National Wildlife Refuge” would honor Roosevelt's legendary African American hunting guide Holt Collier. It would be the first refuge in the nation named for an African-American. The Center will highlight the life of Holt Collier and the conservation efforts of President Roosevelt.

President Roosevelt and Holt Collier were not only great hunters, but leaders in our Nation's conservation movement. The Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation worked closely with local citizens and our Congressional delegation to develop legislation to honor these gentlemen and help carry on their legacy.

Gale Norton, Secretary of the Interior, recently said, ”President George W. Bush is committed to carrying on the 100-year conservation legacy of President Theodore Roosevelt.” Your Foundation is playing a large role in helping them do that.



Jeff Clark, M.D.
President