Nature Group to Buy Pacific AtollMay 4 — A tropical paradise once considered for use as an atomic waste dump will now be preserved for birds and animals instead. The Nature Conservancy plans to raise $37 million to buy Palmyra Atoll, the last intact marine wilderness in the U.S. tropics.
THE ATOLL, located 1,052 miles south of Hawaii, includes 680 acres of land and 15,512 acres of pristine coral reefs, emerald islets and turquoise lagoons. An atoll is a coral island encircling a lagoon like a ring. Palmyra was formed by coral growth on the rim of an ancient volcano.
Palmyra is the only nesting habitat for migratory seabirds and shorebirds within 450,000 square miles of Pacific Ocean. About a third of the atoll will become a Nature Conservancy preserve, with the remainder to be set aside as a national wildlife refuge.
“In mid-March the Conservancy announced it would commit $1 billion through its Campaign for Conservation to protect critical natural areas in the U.S. and abroad,” said John Sawhill, president and CEO of the Conservancy. “The acquisition of Palmyra is an early down payment on that commitment. In fact, the acquisition of Palmyra is one of the most important land deals ever undertaken by The Nature Conservancy.” “As the only privately owned U.S. possession, Palmyra represents the last remaining opportunity to protect an undeveloped, uninhabited, pristine tropical marine ecosystem in the U.S. tropics,” Sawhill said.
The atoll was used as a naval airbase and refueling station during World War II. Palmyra’s current owners, the Fullard-Leo family of Hawaii, defeated U.S. government claims to ownership of Palmyra under a 1947 U.S. Supreme Court decision. When Hawaii became the 50th U.S. state in 1959, Palmyra was specifically excluded from the State of Hawaii, making it the only completely privately owned territory in the United States. To ensure the atoll’s preservation, the family has signed a purchase agreement with the Nature Conservancy to sell Palmyra for considerably less than its $47 million asking price. The Conservancy will have until the first quarter of 2001 to raise the money to purchase and close on the property. The first $10 million has already been raised, through donations from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and five anonymous donors. Before agreeing to sell the atoll to the Conservancy, the Fullard-Leo family received a number of offers for commercial developments at Palmyra, including a U.S. repository for spent nuclear fuel and a major resort and casino development.
“This is a bold act of conservation leadership,” said Sawhill. “The Fullard-Leos have been good stewards of Palmyra. By entrusting this last great place to The Nature Conservancy, they have created a legacy that will benefit people and wildlife for generations.” The atoll has a long and colorful history. Stories of pirates, curses, buried treasure, and early American sea captains accent Palmyra’s past. In recent times, Palmyra played prominently in the double murder of a yachting couple - the subject of a 1991 novel by Vincent Bugliosi, and a 1991 television movie, both entitled, “And the Sea Will Tell.” “Palmyra is probably the only remaining uninhabited atoll of its type,” said Carl Safina, the National Audubon Society’s vice president for marine conservation. “Protection of Palmyra Atoll would result in protecting a much larger area than just Palmyra and its surrounding reefs. Because Palmyra’s nesting seabirds, migratory fishes, and threatened turtles travel to inhabit vast areas of the Pacific, the ecological footprint of Palmyra is quite large.”
MORE SPECIES THAN OTHER REEFS
Palmyra is located 1,052 miles due south of Honolulu, Hawaii, about five degrees north of the equator. Thanks to its geographic location, Palmyra provides habitat for more than a million nesting seabirds and a remarkably diverse assortment of coral and marine species. Species from both the eastern and western Pacific meet in the waters around Palmyra, including a diverse assortment of coral.
The atoll’s reefs support three times the number of coral species found in Hawaii and the Caribbean, and five times the number of species found in the Florida Keys. Other marine species found around Palmyra include pilot whales, bottle-nosed dolphins, hawksbill turtles, black-tip sharks, tiger sharks, manta rays and giant clams. Globally threatened green sea turtles nest on Palmyra’s white sand beaches. The atoll also is home to the world’s largest land based invertebrate, the coconut crab, so named because of its ability to crack open a coconut with its huge claws.
LOTS OF RAIN, VEGETATION
Palmyra is situated in an area known as the intertropical convergence zone, where trade winds from the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere meet, just above the equator. As the winds meet, they create a phenomenon called the doldrums: light winds and lots of rain. As a result, Palmyra receives 175 inches of rain a year and is covered with lush tropical vegetation, including a large stand of Pisonia grandis, a rare tropical forest type found only on wet atolls.
The vegetation provides forage and shelter for thick flocks of birds. Resident species include the world’s second largest colony of red footed boobies - second only to the Galapagos Islands — brown boobies and masked boobies, white terns and sooty terns. Palmyra also provides a solitary and vital rest stop for migratory bird species, such as the bristle-thighed curlew. The curlew, which is listed as a species of concern, migrates from Alaska to French Polynesia and other areas in the Southern Pacific. Some 4,000 miles from Alaska, Palmyra is the first place the bird rests on its journey. Only 6,000 of these birds are thought to exist. Several hundred curlews spend the winter on Palmyra.
Palmyra’s pristine lands and waters and abundant wildlife make the atoll a world class destination for individuals interested in nature photography, birdwatching and catch and release sportfishing. For the few snorklers and scuba divers who have seen it, Palmyra ranks as one of the world’s most spectacular coral gardens. The crystal clear waters of Palmyra teem with hundreds of fish species and more than 130 species of hard corals.
ECOTOURISM LIKELY
In addition to raising the money to cover the costs of acquiring Palmyra, the Conservancy will begin immediately working to produce a management plan for the atoll. Priorities for the atoll include protection and enhancement of wildlife habitat and determining how best to manage public access to the atoll.
The Conservancy plans to retain the developed section of the atoll, about 220 acres, as a private sanctuary for ecotourism. The group is building a tent camp on the site and plans to upgrade the island’s runway to allow small groups of tourists to visit, at a price of $3000 to $4000 a week.