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
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