Hawai'i, the fiftieth state, has a storied juxtaposition of politics with scenery befitting paradise found.  Grover Cleveland's American business interests and political plotters engineered a faux crisis to rip the reigns of power away from Queen Liliʻuokalani late in the nineteenth century. The American Florentine style of the Iolani Palace is one of its unique charms along with the first World Heritage Site in the islands, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

The new president of the United States was born in Hawaii.  The current governor of the state is a republican along with the outgoing president of the United States. The Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument received President George W. Bush ministrations to set it up as a UNESCO WHS alongside the recently refurbished visitor's museum of Mount Vernon on the mainland, in Virginia.  Bush created the monument of islands and waters in Northwestern Hawaii in 2006.  A decade and a half has elapsed since the last US offering to get on the prestigious list.  Now the pristine Pacific Marine Park along with the Mariana Trench and the Rose Atoll near American Samoa spread out for 50 nautical miles in each direction.

Native Hawaiian fisherman William Aila said the UNESCO designation for the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument has both natural history and cultural value. The designation would "put it on a much higher pedestal in terms of importance to the world." (James Maragos, U.S.. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE)

The Monument and the miles of Pacific Ocean it covers would be a first marine entrant for the coveted status.  The ecosystems and range of marine life encompasses more than 7,000 different species, the largest albatross colony on the planet and the 23 endangered or threatened species including the habitats of the monk seal and green turtles are markers enhancing the application.  The entire process takes eighteen months seeping one of the rare good tokens of Bush environmental legacy well into a President Obama's first term. Hawaii is currently suffering a steep decline in tourism which could also be helped and hurt with a WHS moniker in rare areas where 14 million birds call home.  The unspoiled beauty is what makes it so valuable now as the new park legally bans commercial fishing and mining in the exclusive economic zone.

Papahanaumokuakea is being nominated as a “mixed” site (for both its natural and cultural resource values) because of its unique geology, ecology, biology, Native Hawaiian cultural heritage, and its significance to the world.
Native Hawaiians view the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) as an integral part of the archipelago and a deeply spiritual location. 

Physical remnants of wahi kupuna (ancestral places) and oral traditions provide evidence of the various past uses of the islands and surrounding ocean by Native Hawaiians both as a home and a place of worship.

What a beautiful part of the world with a range of political viewpoints melding together to work together to garner the seal that graces less than 1000 sites on Earth.  It is truly the embodiment of the spirit of Hawai'i. 

Mahalo & Aloha.