--- title: Obama Designates 3 New National Monuments description: Obama established the Berryessa Snow Mountain, Basin and Range area of Nevada and the Waco Mammoth excavation area in Texas as monuments. canonical: https://time.com/3954269/barack-obama-national-monuments/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-10T21:31:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T09:09:40.777Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Designates 3 New National Monuments og:description: Has designated or expanded more national monument space than any other president og:url: https://time.com/3954269/barack-obama-national-monuments/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e25ddde352e6402/69885a7be20a8728d6a8c3ec/obama-national-monuments.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Barack Obama signs proclamations to designate three new national monuments as Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell (2nd L) looks on in the Oval Office of the White House July 10, 2015 in Washington, DC. President Obama has designated three new na og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Designates 3 New National Monuments twitter:description: Has designated or expanded more national monument space than any other president twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e25ddde352e6402/69885a7be20a8728d6a8c3ec/obama-national-monuments.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Designates 3 New National Monuments  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Jul 10, 2015 9:31 PM UTC  President Barack Obama signs proclamations to designate three new national monuments as Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell looks on in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on July 10, 2015. President Barack Obama signs proclamations to designate three new national monuments as Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell looks on in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on July 10, 2015.Alex Wong—Getty Images  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Jul 10, 2015 9:31 PM UTC President Obama established three new national monuments Friday: the Berryessa Snow Mountain in California, the Basin and Range area of southeastern Nevada, and the Waco Mammoth excavation area in Texas. “I am especially pleased to be able to announce three new designations that are going to be taking place in varied landscapes, but all of them speak to some incredible history,” Obama said as he signed the proclamations in the Oval Office. The President established the three sites as monuments using the Antiquities Act of 1906, according to the proclamations. Obama has designated or expanded 19 national monuments covering [260 million acres](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/07/10/fact-sheet-president-obama-designates-new-national-monuments), an amount more than the total protected by any other president. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3954269/barack-obama-national-monuments/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3954269/barack-obama-national-monuments/"},"headline":"Obama Designates 3 New National Monuments","datePublished":"2015-07-10T21:31:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:09:40.777Z","description":"Has designated or expanded more national monument space than any other president","url":"https://time.com/3954269/barack-obama-national-monuments/","keywords":["White House","Barack Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e25ddde352e6402/69885a7be20a8728d6a8c3ec/obama-national-monuments.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e25ddde352e6402/69885a7be20a8728d6a8c3ec/obama-national-monuments.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Barack Obama signs proclamations to designate three new national monuments as Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell (2nd L) looks on in the Oval Office of the White House July 10, 2015 in Washington, DC. 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