With fuel prices up, airfares up, and incomes stagnant if not down, is it any surprise that visitation to national parks on the Hawaiian Islands is down quite a bit this year?

The World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument recently proclaimed by President Bush incorporates the USS Arizona Memorial and eight other historic sites in Hawaii, Alaska, and California closely associated with the Pacific Theater of Battle. Adding this Monument to the National Park System helps people appreciate the tremendous geographic scale and complexity of the war and its aftermath.