“‘Everybody in the conservation community was surprised. This was not expected,’ said Dr. Dennis Heinemann, senior scientist for the Ocean Conservancy.” Don’t look now, but Dubya may actually have done something laudable for once: namely, he has declared the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a national monument, “securing strong and immediate ecological protections from the federal government” for the region. “‘It’s the single largest act of ocean conservation in history,’ said Conrad Lautenbacher, NOAA administrator. ‘It’s a large milestone.’“