A sprawling 490,000-square-mile marine national monument now has a new name to go along with its intriguing history.
Capping a studious effort kicked off in March 2023, President Joe Biden deep-sixed the old name of the “Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument” and instead declared it will be called the “Pacific Islands Heritage National Monument.”
Biden accompanied the renaming with a salute to the Hui Panalāʻau, a group of 135 mainly Native Hawaiian men who were sent by the U.S. government to explore five uninhabited Pacific islands in the years leading up to World War II.
“These young men recorded weather conditions and marine life, cultivated plant life, and prepared landing strips, deepening our understanding of the islands’ ecosystems,” Biden said in a statement.
