The Nature Conservancy Transfers Historic Theodore Roosevelt Brand Registrations to Presidential Library
In celebration of Roosevelt's upcoming birthday, Maltese Cross brands begin a new chapter of stewardship in North
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Medora, ND, Oct. 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library today announced the transfer of historic Maltese Cross livestock brand registrations connected to Theodore Roosevelt’s ranching years in North Dakota. Announced ahead of Roosevelt’s Oct. 27 birthday, the transfer includes one of Roosevelt’s three original Maltese Cross brand registrations and 32 related registrations, which the Library will now steward.
Interim CEO Robbie Lauf (center) holds the Library’s replica Maltese Cross branding iron with Angie Becker Kudelka of The Nature Conservancy and Joe Schettler, chairman of the North Dakota Brand Board, Oct. 23, 2026, in Medora.
Roosevelt’s original registration is for cattle, branded on the left hip. The 32 additional historic Maltese Cross brand registrations provide a unique connection to Roosevelt’s ranching years in the Dakota Badlands and the experiences that helped shape his conservation ethic.
“The Maltese Cross brand represents more than a piece of history. It connects us to the years that helped shape Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation vision and reminds us that stewardship of the land remains as important today as it was more than a century ago,” said Angie Becker Kudelka, deputy director for The Nature Conservancy in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. “We’re proud to transfer these brands to the Presidential Library, which shares a commitment to carrying forward the conservation values that Roosevelt developed here in North Dakota.”
The Maltese Cross is one of the most recognizable symbols of Roosevelt’s ranching years and remains an enduring connection to his time in North Dakota. For Roosevelt, ranching was more than a business venture. His time hunting and ranching in the Badlands helped shape the conservation vision that later defined his presidency through landmark efforts to conserve America’s lands, water and wildlife.
“Theodore Roosevelt came to the Badlands in 1883 to hunt bison and, before he left, became a cattleman. The Maltese Cross was the first brand he owned, and it marks the start of the Dakota years that shaped the conservationist and president he became,” said Robbie Lauf, interim chief executive officer of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. “The Nature Conservancy has cared for these registrations for more than four decades. The Library is honored to carry that stewardship forward and to keep this piece of Roosevelt’s ranching life here in the Badlands.”
Roosevelt bought into the Maltese Cross Ranch in September 1883, before returning to New York. Also known as the Chimney Butte Ranch, it sat about seven miles south of Medora on the Little Missouri River, with Sylvane Ferris and Bill Merrifield managing the herd. In 1884 he returned and started a second ranch, the Elkhorn, north of Medora. The Maltese Cross cabin built for him in the winter of 1883–84 still stands and is open to the public at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park visitor center in Medora. Today the Library sits on a butte just west of town, overlooking the country where that story began.
In the days of the open range, a livestock brand served as a rancher’s signature, identifying ownership among herds that often grazed together. Brands were registered to a specific owner and location on an animal, creating unique identifiers that could be maintained and passed down through generations. Over time, multiple Maltese Cross registrations were established, creating a family of related brands connected to Roosevelt’s iconic ranch symbol.
More than 140 years later, one of Roosevelt’s original registrations will be kept in Medora, just a few miles from where his Maltese Cross cattle once grazed.
The Nature Conservancy has maintained more than 30 Maltese Cross registrations since the 1980s, when it inherited them through the acquisition of land that became Cross Ranch Preserve and Cross Ranch State Park. For more than four decades, TNC has stewarded these registrations as part of Theodore Roosevelt’s ranching legacy while working alongside ranchers, landowners, agencies and local communities to conserve North Dakota’s grasslands, support working lands and advance stewardship across public and private lands.
Across North Dakota and the Northern Great Plains, healthy grasslands support wildlife, ranching communities, clean water and local economies. They are among the most threatened and least protected habitats on Earth. Yet many of these grasslands endure because they remain working lands, cared for by generations of ranchers whose stewardship continues to benefit both people and nature.
This transfer reflects a shared commitment to carrying forward Roosevelt’s conservation values and places one of his original registrations with the institution devoted to his life and legacy, in the place where his story as a rancher began.
Media kit: Video of the Oct. 23 ceremony, ceremony photos, the “T.R.’s Brands” infographic and images of the original Maltese Cross branding iron on display in the Library’s exhibits are available for download in the media kit.
About The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy is a global conservation organization dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends. Guided by science, we create innovative, on-the-ground solutions to our world’s toughest challenges so that nature and people can thrive together. Learn more online at nature.org/northdakota and connect with us on Facebook.
Robbie Lauf signs the brand registration transfer paperwork as Joe Schettler and Angie Becker Kudelka look on.
About Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library
The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library opened July 4, 2026, America’s 250th birthday, on a 93-acre butte above Medora, North Dakota, at the edge of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The site sits in the Badlands where a grieving young TR came in the 1880s to ranch, hunt, and rebuild his life after losing his mother and his wife on the same day. Designed by Snøhetta with North Dakota’s JLG Architects, the 96,000-square-foot building rises from the butte beneath a walkable green roof planted with native species. The Library is pursuing Living Building Challenge full certification, LEED Platinum, and SITES Platinum. More than 40,000 square feet of exhibits explore TR’s life and legacy through three pillars: Leadership, Citizenship, and Conservation. The Library is operated by the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation, an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and is not part of the National Archives presidential library system.
Press Inquiries
Matt Briney
matt [at] trlibrary.com
https://trlibrary.com
A video accompanying this announcement is available here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=L08bDsNwOOE
