President Obama and the First Family Visit Yosemite National Park

He described the threat posed by more intense wildfires with climate change, and noted that soon there could be no more glaciers at Glacier National Park, and no more Joshua trees at Joshua Tree National Park.

A member of the National Park Service, left, leads Malia Obama, President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, and Sasha Obama, on a tour of Carlsbad Caverns in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, in Carslbad, N.M., on Friday, June 17, 2016.

He adds that a rabbit-like animal known as a pika is being forced further upslope in Yosemite to escape warming temperatures.

President Barack Obama spent time Saturday with about two dozen youngsters who are about the same age he was when he visited his first national park, Yellowstone.

The Yosemite National Park spans a territory of over 1,000 square miles, most of which is occupied by wildlife. He said about 1,100 of those went to fourth-graders in Merced County, and that nearly all of them never had visited Yosemite before. Obama has also protected over 260 million acres of land and water, more than any other president. “You’ve got to come in and breathe it in here yourself”.

People wait near Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park.

“It’s a park that captures the wonders of the world; that changes you by being here”.

Obama also recalled that fire seasons were becoming longer and more expensive, while rising sea levels could one day destroy the Everglades National Park in Florida or “even threaten” the Statue of Liberty in NY.

The hope is to keep the disruptions of the president’s visit to a minimum, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said during a Thursday conference call.

The Obamas handed out the passes to the kids and posed for group photos, telling them to say “cheese”, “national parks” and “Happy Birthday”, as it was the birthday of one of the children. “We’ve got to change that”, Obama said. “There is something sacred about this place”.

“I wish that his administration would devote the same attention to restoring sound forest management practices, restoring public access to the public lands and restoring the federal government as a good neighbor to those communities that are directly impacted by those lands”, said Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, whose district includes Yosemite.

As a green meadow waved gently in the breeze behind him, Obama marveled at Yosemite’s natural beauty even as he warned of the imminent threats posed by climate change. The last president to visit was Jimmy Carter in 1980 – before that was John F. Kennedy in 1962.

“That’s not the legacy I think any of us want to leave behind”, he said.