2017-01-16



U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Flickr

On January 12, President Barack Obama created five new national monuments, bringing his total to 34 — more than any other president.

In total, the new monuments cover about 55,000 acres. Two of the protected areas — the California Coastal National Monument and Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument — are expansions of monuments designated by Bill Clinton. The other three will preserve historic sites related to Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement, including the hotel that once served as Martin Luther King’s civil rights campaign headquarters.

Throughout his time in office, Obama has used the Antiquities Act, which Roosevelt signed into law in 1906, to set aside public land for conservation. He has ramped up those efforts as the end of his presidency draws near, furthering his administration’s environmental legacy before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. In December, 2016, he created two national monuments in Utah and Nevada, covering over 1.5 million acres of land.

Added up, Obama has protected more than 550 million acres — more than double the amount that the well-known conservationist Theodore Roosevelt did. His preservation agenda has been largely applauded by environmentalists but criticized by some conservatives for placing too much land under federal control.

The majority of Obama’s addition to the nation’s protected acreage, however, is water — the president created and expanded several massive marine national monuments in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans (not to mention his ban on Arctic drilling).

Here’s the full list, in reverse chronological order.

Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument



Location: Oregon and California

Size: 48,000 additional acres

Date of proclamation: Bill Clinton established the monument in June, 2000, setting aside 52,000 protected acres. On January 12, 2017, Barack Obama expanded the monument by adding roughly 42,000 acres land in Oregon and 5,000 acres in California.

Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument



Location: Birmingham, Alabama

Size: 0.88 acres

Date of proclamation: January 12, 2017

California Coastal National Monument

Location: California

Size: Obama first expanded the monument to include 1,665 additional acres, then later added 6,230 more acres.

Date of proclamation: Bill Clinton established the monument in January, 2000, and Obama has since expanded it two times (so it counts twice in his list of monuments created). The first expansion was on March 11, 2014, and the second on January 12, 2017.

Reconstruction Era National Monument

Location: South Carolina

Size: 15.5 acres

Date of proclamation: January 12, 2017

Freedom Riders National Monument

Location: Anniston, Alabama

Size: 6 acres

Date of proclamation: January 12. 2017

Bears Ears National Monument

Location: Utah

Size: 1.35 million acres

Date of proclamation: December 28, 2016

Gold Butte National Monument

Location: Nevada

Size: 300,000 acres

Date of proclamation: Dec 28, 2016

Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument

Location: Marine waters off the coast of New England

Size: 4,913 square miles

Date of proclamation: September 15, 2016

Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument

Location: Marine waters near the Northwest Hawaiian Islands

Size: 582,578 square miles — the world’s largest marine protected area. (The original monument was created in 2006 by President George W. Bush. Obama expanded the protected territory by 442,781 square miles.)

Date of proclamation: August 26, 2016

Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument

Location: Maine

Size: 87,500 acres

Date of proclamation: August 24, 2016

Stonewall National Monument

Location: New York City

Size: 0.12 acres

Date of proclamation: June 24, 2016

Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument

Location: Washington, DC

Size: 0.34 acres

Date of proclamation: April 12, 2016

Mojave Trails National Monument

Location: California

Size: 1.6 million acres (including 400,000 acres of wilderness previously designated by Congress)

Date of proclamation: February 12, 2016

Sand to Snow National Monument

Location: California

Size: 154,000 acres (including 100,000 acres of wilderness previously designated by Congress)

Date of proclamation: February 12, 2016

Castle Mountains National Monument

Location: California

Size: 20,920 acres

Date of proclamation: February 12, 2016

Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument

Location: California

Size: 331,000 acres

Date of proclamation: July 10, 2015

Waco Mammoth National Monument

Location: Texas

Size: 5 acres

Date of proclamation: July 10, 2015

Basin and Range National Monument

Location: Nevada

Size: 704,000 acres

Date of proclamation: July 10, 2015

Honouliuli National Monument

Location: Hawaii

Size: 123 acres

Date of proclamation: February 24, 2015

Pullman National Monument

Location: Chicago

Size: 0.24 acres

Date of proclamation: February 19, 2015

Browns Canyon National Monument

Location: Colorado

Size: 21,586 acres

Date of proclamation: February 19, 2015

San Gabriel Mountains National Monument

Location: California

Size: 346,177 acres

Date of proclamation: October 10, 2014

Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument

Location: Marine waters west of Hawaii

Size: 308,316 square nautical miles

Date of proclamation: Obama established the monument on January 6, 2009, and expanded it on September 25, 2014

Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument

Location: New Mexico

Size: 496,330 acres

Date of proclamation: May 21, 2014

First State National Monument

Location: Delaware

Size: 1,108 acres

Date of proclamation: March 25, 2013

Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument

Location: Maryland

Size: 11,750 acres

Date of proclamation: March 25, 2013

Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument

Location: Ohio

Size: 59 acres

Date of proclamation: March 25, 2013

Rio Grande del Norte National Monument

Location: New Mexico

Size: 242,555 acres

Date of proclamation: March 25, 2013

San Juan Islands National Monument

Location: Islands off the coast of Washington

Size: 970 acres

Date of proclamation: March 25, 2013

Cesar E. Chavez National Monument

Location: California

Size: 10.5 acres

Date of proclamation: October 8, 2012

Chimney Rock National Monument

Location: Colorado

Size: 4,726 acres

Date of proclamation: September 21, 2012

Fort Ord National Monument

Location: California

Size: 14,651 acres

Date of proclamation: April 20, 2012

Fort Monroe National Monument

Location: Virginia

Size: 325 acres

Date of proclamation: November 1, 2011

The post Here’s every piece of land Obama has put under protection during his presidency appeared first on Business Insider.

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