Obama uses executive authority to name Calif. preserve a national monument

President Obama used his executive authority Tuesday to designate his 10th national monument, a 1,665-acre nature preserve on the Northern California coast. The Point Arena-Stornetta Public Lands — which includes jagged bluffs as well as tidal pools and sand dunes — provides habitat for several types of migratory waterfowl as well as the threatened Point Arena mountain beaver. The Garcia River, which runs through the area, is home to both coho and chinook salmon. In signing the proclamation, Obama noted that he had vowed in his State of the Union address two months ago “to act wherever I could to make sure that our children, our grandchildren are going to be able to look upon this land of ours with the same wonder as we have.” The preserve will be added to the existing Coastal California National Monument, a collection of 20,000 rocks, islands, exposed reefs and pinnacles along California’s 1,100-mile coast that President Bill Clinton protected in 2000. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), chairman of the House Natural Resources subcommittee on public lands and environmental regulation, questioned why Obama invoked his authority since a bill making the area a national monument had unanimously passed the House in July. “The legislation was held up in the Senate so the president could usurp the congressional process,” Bishop said. “In other words, the House was punked by the president.”...more