In January, 1902, a plan was hatched by members of the Boone and Crockett Club to create a system of wildlife refuges across the United States with support of fellow member Theodore Roosevelt. And by Executive Order of March 14, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt established Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, along Florida's central Atlantic coast, as the first unit of the present National Wildlife Refuge System. It is misleading, however, to conclude that this was the genesis of wildlife sanctuaries in the United States.