Obama visits Hawaii as part of his conservation legacy tour
From Midway to Katahdin, it has been the summer of the national parks for President Obama as he works to solidify his legacy as a conservationist.
Mr. Obama will travel to the far-flung waters of the Midway Atoll on Thursday, after designating the area as part of the world's largest marine conservation area听last week.
"Ancient islanders believed it contained the boundary between this life and the next," Obama said in a talk with leaders of Pacific island nations before the trip, according to the Associated Press. "This is a hallowed site, and it deserves to be treated that way. And from now on, it will be preserved for future generations."
Last July, Obama cemented听his status as the US president to set aside听the most protected public lands and waters, with a record 260 million acres. Since then, however, the president has designated many more, including a nearly 90,000-acre national monument in听Maine's Katahdin woods, which was unveiled last week,听: so huge that they almost doubled the total amount of land he had conserved at the time, in mid-February 2016.听
With the addition of the听Papah膩naumoku膩kea Marine National Monument,听Obama鈥檚 total land conservation count is up to 548 million acres of land and sea. For comparison, President Teddy Roosevelt, also known as a听, conserved about 230 million acres.
Obama鈥檚 work to create national monuments has long been coupled with his concern about climate change. His several trips to national parks and monuments this summer, with and without his family, support this environmental legacy as the National Park Service celebrates its 100th anniversary.
The Obamas听kicked off the summer with a grand trip to Yosemite National Park and Carlsbad Caverns on Father鈥檚 Day weekend. Last week, the president established the听Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maine. During another visit last听Sunday, the Obamas 听of Prince William Forest Park in Virginia. On Wednesday, Obama visited a summit about the health of Lake Tahoe, which has been affected by high temperatures this year.
"The challenges of conservation and combating climate change are connected, they're linked," said Obama at the summit.
During his trip to Papah膩naumoku膩kea听Marine National Monument,听Obama will spend time on the Midway Atoll, the site of World War II's Battle of Midway and a part of the new national monument, learning about some of Papah膩naumoku膩kea's听7,000 species听and meeting with conservationists.听
Critics of Obama鈥檚 environmentalist policies have complained that the president often puts the environment and conservation ahead of local economies, where many residents rely on conservation land for their livelihoods. Others object to his use of executive power to set aside such broad swathes of land.
The Pacific visit is part of a ten-day trip to address climate change and attend the G20 summit in China alongside President Xi Jinping, with whom Obama worked during the Paris climate conference to try and cut carbon emissions around the world.听
"No nation, not even one as powerful as the United States, is immune from a changing climate," Obama said after landing in Hawaii this week.
This report includes material from Reuters and the Associated Press.
[Editor's note:听An error in this report that suggested Obama was in Maine for the dedication of the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument has been corrected.]
