Teddy Roosevelt was a big game trophy hunter, who set aside swaths of unspoiled north American soil for appreciation by many.
I think conservative didn't imply conserving nature as much as conserving social norms and policies.
I think conservative didn't imply conserving nature as much as conserving social norms and policies.
I think a conservative then and now is someone intent on preserving the structures that enable their revenue stream.
Social issues merely correlate with conservatism (purity concerns mostly), but are side issues to the monetary concerns.
But anyway, that's a long winded way of saying you are correct. The term "conservative" refers to conserving the norms, values, economics, and power structures that already exist, and resisting changes that would challenge them in any way, or at least being naturally skeptical of anyone proposing big sweeping changes, both to protect the old order and out of a fear of unintended consequences going forward. It doesn't refer to conserving nature in any way, even though Teddy Roosevelt was a champion of conservation and Nixon created the EPA.
However, in the US at least, "conservative" now seems to mean whatever the GOP wants it to mean. When things like decades-long commitments to free trade or international security or even domestic security can fall by the wayside seemingly on the whim of a human random number generator, you know Edmund Burke's hands are completely off the wheel and have been for a long time.