Historic Feature: Six Presidents Can't Be Wrong

Theodore Roosevelt took the first presidential action to protect the NWHI. Photo Credit: www.theodore-roosevelt.com

Over the last 110 years six U.S. Presidents have taken action to protect the unique ecosystems and wildlife of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Theodore Roosevelt took the first action to protect the region against seabird poachers in 1903, and created the Hawaiian Islands Bird Reservation in 1909. Franklin D. Roosevelt broadened the protections to all wildlife and formed the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge in 1940. Lyndon B. Johnson provided additional protections in 1967. In 1988 Ronald Reagan created Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge as an overlay refuge. In 1996 William J. Clinton transferred jurisdiction of Midway Atoll from the U.S. Navy to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and created the NWHI Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve, under NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries in 2000/2001. Finally, in 2006 President George W. Bush issued Proclamation 8031, creating the NWHI Marine National Monument, later named Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

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