President Obama today announced plans to create five additional National Monuments in the United States – including over 1,100 acres in the state of Delaware, currently the only state with no national parks.
The decision paves the way for Delaware’s first National Park – an idea promoted by Vice President Joe Biden when he was a U.S. Senator of Delaware.
“This national monument will tell the story of the essential role my state played in the history of the United States,” Biden said in a statement celebrating the news. “I couldn’t be more proud to call Delaware home.”
The president will issue an executive order to designate the moments, a power granted to him by the Antiquities Act.
According to DelawareOnline, three different areas in Delaware will be placed under the management of the National Park Service, including the 1,100-acre Woodlawn property.
The Woodlawn Property, was purchased last year by the Conservation Fund, a environmental non-profit conglomerate founded by Pat Noonan, former head of the Nature Conservancy. The purchase was possible thanks to $20 million donated by the Mt. Cuba Center, another organization dedicated to land conservation.
In the 1980s, Biden promoted the idea of Delaware’s Great Cypress Swamp as a National Park – a 6,000-acre tract then owned by the nonprofit group Delaware Wild Lands. That plan failed, however, after it was met by opposition from local residents.
