Today President Obama designated an additional six areas as part of the California Coastal National Monument. The six areas total 6,230 acres and include some small islands off the coast of Orange County as well as a large piece of land in Santa Cruz. Currently all of the land is managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, some of it since 2014, but the new status protects the areas from future development. Image from Shutterstock.
The February issue of National Geographic magazine will contain an article titled Sea of Hope: America’s Underwater Treasures that features a photograph of president Barack Obama snorkeling underwater on Midway Atoll. The image is the first known photograph of a US president underwater and was shot by National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry. The magazine has published a short article with Skerry about his experience as well as a video.
At the 2016 Our Ocean conference, president Obama officially designated the first Marine National Monument in the Atlantic Ocean. The marine monument is roughly the size of Connecticut, 4,913 square miles, and includes seamounts and deep water canyons. The newly created marine monument is known as the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument and is off the coast of New England.