Obama creates three new national monuments to protect California desert

Mojave Trails, Sand to Snow and Castle Mountains designated as national monuments to push total land and water protected by Obama to 265m acres

Barack Obama is to nearly double the amount of public land he has protected as national monuments, by signing off on the conservation of nearly 1.8m acres (0.7m hectares) of California desert.

The three new national monuments designated by President Obama - the Mojave Trails national monument, Sand to Snow national monument and Castle Mountains national monument - will further burnish the president's reputation for using executive action to protect vast tracts of public land and water.