In one of his final acts as commander-in-chief, President Barack Obama on Thursday protected six California sites, including one in Orange County, as part of the expanded California Coastal National Monument.

The rock formations along Orange County’s beaches were among the coastal locations included in the 6,230-acre expansion, along with the Lost Coast Headlands, Lighthouse Ranch and Trinidad Head in Humboldt County; the Piedras Blancas Outstanding Natural Area in San Luis Obispo County; and the Cotoni-Coast Dairies in Santa Cruz County.

Former President Bill Clinton first designated the area as a national monument in 2000, and in 2014 Obama expanded it to include a portion of Mendocino County. Thursday’s designation was part of a larger expansion of protections for historically significant sites nationwide to commemorate the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Other protected places include the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument and the Freedom Riders National Monument, both in Alabama.

As part of protecting these sites, Obama directed agencies tasked with managing the nation’s land and water resources with having a more inclusive work force that reflects the diversity found in the United States, and asked that the agencies make these resources more accessible.

“By being part of the California Coastal National Monument, our rocks and our community become part of an extended network of scientists and conservation practitioners that includes not only the (Bureau of Land Management) but many other agencies and (non-governmental organizations),” said Ed Almanza, director of the Laguna Oceans Foundation, in a statement released by the Campaign for the California Coast.

“We’re grateful for President Obama and for the widespread bipartisan support our campaign has received from Congressmen Dana Rohrabacher, John Campbell and other local elected officials.”

Obama expanded the national monument through the Antiquities Act of 1906.