National Geographic : 2005 Oct
Protection and restoration have come to the islands in layers over the past century. First in 1909 when President Teddy Roosevelt responded to the bird slaughter by declaring most of the islands a wildlife refuge. Most recently, in 2000, President Bill Clinton created the Northwestern Hawai ian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve, not only because these islands hold the majority of the coral reefs in U.S. waters, but because coral reefs worldwide are so imperiled. Here is a chance to study and save some of the healthiest reefs left on the planet. It now looks promising that the waters of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands will soon be further pro tected by becoming a national marine sanctuary. Researchers keep year-round field camps on Midway Atoll, French Frigate Shoals, and Laysan, with seasonal monitoring on the other islands. Except for scientific and conservation work, the islands are vir tually off-limits to people. We were allowed to go as photographers with a conservation mission: documenting wildlife by focusing on the sheer wonder of a creature's form. Our portraits cover a fraction of the more than 7,000 species, a quarter of them found nowhere else: teeming fish, corals and other invertebrates, and threatened green sea turtles that have scant success nesting on the main Hawaiian Islands. Fourteen million seabirds breed and nest here, including almost all of the world's Laysan and black-footed albatrosses. And this is the refuge of the last 1,300 Hawai ian monk seals on Earth. To be on these islands is to feel like a visitor in someone else's home. The islands are owned by wildlife-it is clearly their place, not ours-even though human intervention is needed to ensure protection. Everyone permitted on the islands bears that responsibility, and it begins with strict quarantines to keep alien seeds and insects from hitching a ride from the outside world or from one island to the next. All soft goods such as cloth ing and backpacks must be bought new, then frozen for 48 hours. Hard gear must be carefully cleaned and inspected. Managing the islands' welfare falls to three groups: the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA, and the Hawai'i Department of Land and Nat ural Resources. With biologists aboard the NOAA research vessel Hi'ialakai, we surveyed reefs the entire length of the chain. Wildlife researchers and managers taught us how to live lightly on the ground with minimal impact on nesting birds and sea turtles, seals, and vegetation. Over the course of two years we were immersed in an extravagance of life as we compiled a book, Archipelago, for the National Geographic Society. Because few people will ever be able to experience these islands directly, we welcomed the challenge to reveal their riches and share the treasure. N''i/i(>hi Neckcr 1. I4II MiIiiiiniiiii ) K i'id! \iii Ii 'i 0 \i 'i/ii The Northwestern HawaiianIslands (map) are all pro tected and hold most of the coral reefs in the U.S. The six-mile-wide lagoon of Kure Atoll (farleft) laps on the most distant and old est land. The youngest island, 190-acreNihoa (near left), is home to 19 bird species, two of them found only here. SOCIETY GRANT This Expeditions Council project was supported by your Society membership. ()'iri u hiok,'i AMI I f.lki'i 1f iiiiiiii Ktrlitolduvt i / It~iiii IiiI.