The land areas at Wake and Johnston Atolls remain under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Air Force, but the waters from 0 to 12 nmi (22 km) are protected as units of the National Wildlife Refuge System.

[5] The monument includes endemic trees, grasses, and birds adapted to life at the equator, the rare sea turtles and whales and Hawaiian monk seals that visit Johnston Atoll, and high-quality coral reefs.

U.S. federal law prohibits resource destruction or extraction, waste dumping, and commercial fishing in the monument areas.

On June 17, 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama proposed using his executive powers to expand the marine protected area to 782,000 square miles (2,030,000 km2).

Expanding the monument protected the deep coral reefs, seamounts, and marine ecosystems unique to this part of the world, which are also among the most vulnerable areas to the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification.

Johnston Atoll and Kingman Reef have a tropical climate but are generally dry, with consistent northeast trade winds with little seasonal temperature variation.

Because the atoll is located within the low-pressure area of the Intertropical Convergence Zone where the northeast and southeast trade winds meet, it is extremely wet with between 4,000–5,000 mm (160–200 in) of rainfall each year.

[4] A recent study in the journal Climatic Change suggests the expanded reserve could make pelagic fish populations in the Pacific more resilient to ocean warming.

[14] Researchers found that by 2060, warmer temperatures will attract skipjack tuna from the Western Pacific to the protected waters of the monument, away from areas that are heavily fished.