News Release

Duane Jundt Presents “Birdwatcher in Chief: Theodore Roosevelt and America’s Birds”

Date: July 26, 2019
Contact: Cristy Brown, 970-529-4608

Historian Duane G. Jundt will present a special evening program entitled “Birdwatcher in Chief: Theodore Roosevelt and America’s Birds” at Mesa Verde National Park at 8:30 pm on Thursday, August 1, 2019. This illustrated presentation will take place at the Morefield Campground Amphitheater, located four miles inside the park entrance. This program is free and open to the public.
 
Theodore Roosevelt signed the legislation establishing Mesa Verde National Park on June 29, 1906. His reputation as the foremost conservationist president is assured, and his hunting exploits are the stuff of legend. What is less well known is that Roosevelt was an avid birdwatcher, a hobby started in his boyhood, and a champion of preserving America’s threatened bird species and habitats.  
 
As President, Roosevelt acted decisively on behalf of America’s birds, but his interaction with birds also had a marked effect on him.This talk will explore the role birds and birding played in the life of an American president.
 
Duane Jundt is a member of the Advisory Board of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) and a frequent contributor to the TRA Journal. A former college history professor, Jundt regularly speaks at state and national parks and nature centers across the Midwest and West, including Rocky Mountain and Theodore Roosevelt National Parks.  
 
Jundt was one of the featured speakers at the 2017 Theodore Roosevelt Center symposium “Theodore Roosevelt: The Naturalist in the Arena”. Most recently, he spoke at Roosevelt’s Pine Knot cabin in Virginia, where the President escaped the Washington DC summer heat. Like Roosevelt, Jundt is an avid birdwatcher.

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