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The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands - Leeward Islands
When most people think of Hawaii, they think about Honolulu,
Waikiki Beach and Pearl Harbor (which are all on the island
of Oahu); others are maybe even familiar with the neighbor
islands of Kauai, Maui, Lanai, Molokai or the Big Island,
the lesser visited Hawaii tourism destinations. But who
has ever heard of Nihoa, Laysan, Necker, Lisianski or the
Gardner Pinnacles? These and many other small islands, reefs,
shoals and atolls are called the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands,
or the Leeward Islands.
Spanning more than 1,200 miles (1,931 km) of the Pacific
Ocean, all of them are uninhabited, little known and rarely
visited (except for a few researchers do their work there).
If you were to lay these islands atop the continental United
States, they would cover a distance from Boston, Massachusetts,
to the Florida Everglades. The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
encompass a land area of 8.0485 km˛ (3.1075 sq mi).
The largest of the islands are: Nihoa, Necker (Mokumanamana),
French Frigate Shoals (Mokupāpapa), Gardner Pinnacles (Pūhāhonu),
Maro Reef (Nalukākala), Laysan (Kauō), Lisianski (Papaāpoho),
Pearl and Hermes Atoll (Holoikauaua), Midway (Pihemanu)
and Kure (Kānemiloha‘i). They are administered by the U.S.
state of Hawaii, except Midway Atoll, which is administered
by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and has temporary
residential facilities.
All of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands were formed over
the same volcanic hotspot that formed the eight Main Hawaiian
Islands (Kauai, Niihau, Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe
and the Big Island) to the south. As time went by, the islands
gradually eroded and subsided, evolving from high islands
(in the south) to atolls or seamounts (in the north). Each
one of the islands is in a different stage of erosion. Because
the northwesternmost islands are the oldest, they have eroded
the most. Necker, Nihoa and the Gardner Pinnacles are rocky
basalt islands that haven’t eroded enough to form an atoll,
while Laysan and Lisianski are low, sandy islands that have
eroded longer. The French Frigate Shoals, Pearl and Hermes,
Midway and Kure are all atolls. As the Pacific Plate moves
northwest, the islands become seamounts and will eventually
sink beneath the ocean. Kure Atoll will be the first.
Because of the isolation of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
(they are about 2,500 miles from North America and 3,800
miles from Asia), they are home to a large number of endemic
or unique species. While the ecosystem of the Main Hawaiian
Islands has changed over the years (mainly because humans
introduced foreign species), the ecosystem in the Northwestern
Hawaiian Islands remains largely intact. More than 1,700
species in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are endemic,
which means that they can’t be found anywhere else in the
world. That’s why this region has also been called “America’s
Galapagos.”
In the late 1800s to the early 1900s, the Northwestern Hawaiian
Islands experienced abuse when fishermen, feather hunters
and guano miners killed most of the birds and sea life there.
Also, rabbits were brought to Laysan and Lisianski where
they multiplied and consumed all the vegetation, extinguishing
several species forever. But luckily, the islands were later
restored and are now almost in the same condition as they
were before their exploitation.
Today’s endemic species in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
include the Laysan Duck, the Laysan Albatross, the Nihoa
and Laysan Finch, the Hawaiian monk seal and the green sea
turtle. Seventy percent of all coral reefs in the United
States are located here. These coral reefs are some of the
healthiest and most undisturbed reefs in the world. More
than 7,000 species, including fish, turtles, birds, marine
mammals and invertebrates can be found here (about a quarter
are endemic).
President George W. Bush issued a proclamation on June 15,
2006 that created the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National
Monument under the Antiquities Act of 1906. The monument
encompasses the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and surrounding
waters and is the largest marine wildlife reserve in the
world. It is about the size of the U.S. state of California,
139,000 square miles (360,000 km˛).
A strict permit system is in place that must be followed
by anyone who wishes to come here. This is to prevent any
stray species from entering and disrupting the ecosystem.
The permit system is administered by the state of Hawaii,
NOAA and FWS. All clothes must be new and one must keep
them wrapped just before arrival. “Soft” items like blankets
or camera straps must also be new, and all “hard” items
like cameras or binoculars must be thoroughly cleaned and
frozen for 48 hours. To prevent inter-island species introduction,
one must prepare a new set of equipment for each island
one is going to. This rule applies for all islands, except
for the French Frigate Shoals and Midway Atoll because they
are already too altered by humans.

Courtesy of United States Department of Interior
The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands:
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