(Bruce Smith/AP)President Obama declared five new national monuments Thursday, ranging from a Birmingham, Ala., church bombed by segregationists to the coniferous forests of Oregon. He has created or expanded 34 national monuments, two more than Franklin D. Roosevelt. While preservationists and civil rights proponents had long expected the Alabama sites to be designated as national monuments, Obama’s decision to establish one to Reconstruction was more surprising. The entire Alabama House delegation — including six Republicans — signed onto legislation Rep. Terri A. Sewell (D-Ala.) introduced to create the Birmingham Civil Rights National Historical Park site. (AP)However, at least one of the new protected landscapes, at the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, is more controversial.

Source: Washington Post January 12, 2017 23:04 UTC