And these days, most of us know that the oceans are in deep and serious trouble, and badly in need of protection. So let's imagine what life would be like if we could make the right choice — to protect and repair our oceans while reviving our pioneer spirit.

The potential Yosemite in question is known as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands — the world's most remote archipelago. Unknown to most Americans, this vast region stretches 1,200 nautical miles north of the populated islands we think of as Hawai'i. It encompasses an astounding 132,000 square miles — an area larger than all the nation's national parks combined. These living coral-reef colonies are a spectacular underwater landscape — home and haven to more than 7,000 species, including marine mammals, fishes, sea turtles, birds and invertebrates. At least one quarter are found only in Hawai'i. A distressing number are rare, threatened or endangered.

We have a rare opportunity to relive a glorious moment. It is like we have stepped back in time — back to the creation of the nation's first national parks, when we insisted that some places deserve to be set aside. Today, we can decide that there are other areas worth such protection, fragile natural marvels worth being designated a national marine sanctuary.

The waters surrounding the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are a deserving candidate for national marine sanctuary status, worthy of our best efforts to safeguard forever the unique geology, biology and cultural history of this vast, ecologically rich region. Isolation has helped make these coral reefs some of the healthiest and most extensive reef ecosystems remaining on the planet. This ocean wilderness, largely undisturbed by human presence, offers a rare glimpse of what a thriving ecosystem looks like. Here, nature — not man — dominates, and large predators, such as jacks, sharks, and groupers, still roam in swirling abundance.  

Marine sanctuaries such as these have the promise to become another Yellowstone or Grand Canyon — enlarging our vistas, teaching our history and restoring our souls. Each could become a living research laboratory, where we probe the secrets of the universe and learn how the oceans might play a larger role in supporting human life. All this can be done while strengthening the oceans' fragile hold on survival.

In this generation, we have this opportunity to set aside this area for all time. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Sanctuary Program has for several years been in the process of designating the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a national marine sanctuary. We must act now to do just that, and we must ensure we protect all of it.  

The waters around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands exist as proof that there are still a few special areas out there. While reminding us of how much has been lost — other places just as special, once as abundant as this one — they also offer hope. Our active stewardship, if we can but summon the will, can turn the tide and heal our troubled waters.

We call on the nation to have the vision of Teddy Roosevelt and resolve of John Kennedy to set the waters surrounding the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands aside as a national marine sanctuary — so we can know we are leaving a legacy for all.

Editor's note: Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., introduced legislation Thursday to address threats to the world's oceans, including tougher rules to reduce overfishing and strict new limits on agricultural and storm-water runoff. The measure also would spin off the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration into an independent agency similar to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The legislation faces an uphill battle in Congress, which has not taken up a broad overhaul of the nation's oceans policy for more than three decades.