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Hawaiian Islands Wilderness Proposal Public Hearing Statement by John D

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Hawaiian Islands Wilderness Proposal Public Hearing Statement by John D HAWAIIAN ISLANDS WILDERNESS PROPOSAL PUBLIC HEARING STATEMENT BY JOHN D. FINDLAY BUREAU OF SPORT FISHERIES AND WILDLIFE REPRESENTATIVE Aloha Ladies and Gentlemen: I am John D. Findlay, Regional Director, Region 1, of the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife. Our Regional Office is in Portland, Oregon, It is with a great deal of pleasure that I welcome you to this hearing on a wilderness proposal of the islands of the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. The Wilderness Act of 1964 directed the Secretary of the Interior to review all roadless areas of 5,000 acres or more and every roadless island within the National Wildlife Refuge System to determine their suitability or non-suitability as wilderness. Further, regulations of the Secretary of the Interior published on February 22, 1966, require this Bureau to review those areas qualifying for study under the Wilderness Act that are: (1) reasonably compact; (2) undeveloped; (3) possessing general characteristics of wilderness; and (4) without improved roads suitable for public travel by conventional automobile. The National Wildlife Refuge System consists of over 330 units containing nearly 30 million acres. Units of the system are found on lands reaching from the shores of the Arctic Ocean to Puerto Rico and from Maine to the islands of Hawaii here in the Central Pacific. There are one or more national wildlife refuges in every one of the 17 major life zones of North America. Therefore, the ecology of each national wildlife refuge differs—at least to some degree—from that of any other refuge. Because of these differences, management objectives of individual refuges are often quite different. About 90 national wild- life refuges, containing nearly 25 million acres, qualify for study as wilderness. These refuges are located in 32 different states. As you can see, the wilderness review program in the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, of which this proposal is a part, encompasses a wide spectrum of lands within our national wildlife refuges. Only through careful study and analysis can a proper determination be made regarding whether a refuge, or a portion of a refuge, qualifies for con- sideration by the Secretary of the Interior as wilderness. We are presenting the results of our study of the Hawaiian Islands Refuge for your consideration today. You have before you a copy of the summary of the study. Copies of the complete study report are available for your scrutiny after the hearing. We ask you to please leave them in the hearing room when you have finished with them because the number of copies is very limited. You should also have a copy of my statement for your information and use. In 1786 the French explorer Comte de La Perouse on a voyage of discovery made landfall on a small island some 400 miles northwest of Kauai. He named it Necker in honor of the French Minister of Finance, Jacques Necker. The Journal of La Perouse, written some nine years after Captain Cook's discovery of Hawaii, is our earliest account of lands of the present-day Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. In the next 40 years other Captains, on other ships, pursuing other mis- sions, gradually unrolled the map of the Northwestern or Leeward Hawaiian Islands. But they were not the first to gain a knowledge of the Leewards- early Polynesians proceeded them by perhaps a thousand years. Over 100 archeological sites on Nihoa and Necker attest to Polynesian presence on these islands over 700 years ago. Early accounts of the Leewards noted the great abundance of bird life and the immense rookeries of sea birds. In the late 19th century man began exploiting what natural resources the islands' had to offer. Sea birds died by the hundreds of thousands to supply feathers for the millinery rage of the day. Finally, in 1909 after years of exploitation and thoughtless destruction, President Theodore Roosevelt established the Hawaiian Islands Reservation as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds. About a year later a party of 23 "plume hunters" was discovered on Laysan and Lisianski Islands. They were promptly arrested by personnel of a revenue cutter and taken to Honolulu for trial. Almost 260,000 bird wings and other plumage were seized at the time. The Executive Order establishing the original refuge reflected that era's incomplete knowledge of the region. The Order included one area that apparently does not exist and another whose shallowest point is 50 feet below the ocean's surface. Today, the refuge consists of eight distinct islands, reefs and atolls extending over 800 miles within the Hawaiian Archipelago. The refuge islands are a northwestern extension of the main Hawaiian Islands and are part of the chain commonly referred to as the Leewards. All are in the City and County of Honolulu. The 1909 Executive Order was also vague in reference to the boundaries of the reservation. The Order implies that shallow waters associated with land masses were to be part of the reservation, but provides no guide to their extent. For practical management of the refuge, it has been necessary to establish a boundary for administration. We realize this boundary—shown in red on the maps of the individual units—is rather arbitrary and in need of more definite location. It is presented to you today only to indicate the area studied for suitability as wilder- ness and to indicate the area currently managed as part of the refuge. The refuge includes a large variety of volcanic islands and rocks, sand and coral islands and islets, atolls and near atolls, and reefs and shoals. Each unit has its own individuality and supports its own eco- system differing in at least some degree from that of any other unit. Nihos is the refuge's third largest island and the closest to the main Hawaiian Islands. At 175 acres it is the largest of the lava islands. Nihoa's most striking physical feature is a series of vertical cliffs encircling most of the island. From its heights, some 900 feet above the ocean, the entire island slopes inward into Adams Bay. In variety of plant and animal life Nihoa is rivaled only by Laysan. Twenty plant species have been identified on Nihoa, including four found nowhere else. One of these, a Loulu palm is the island's moat conspicuous plant. Nihoa is a popular nesting site for a variety of sea birds and shelters the entire x\rorld's populations of two small land birds—the Nihoa finch and Nihoa millerbird. Necker Island is only 47 acres in size and supports proportionately smaller numbers and variety of life than Nihoa. Necker is long, narrow and rises steeply from its ocean base. Much of the island is exposed rock and low-growing vegetation is limited to the upper portions. Only five plant species have managed to survive on the island. None are unique to Necker. Sea birds make extensive use of the island but there are no land birds. Like the other volcanic islands, Necker is surrounded by only small amounts of coral reef. The submerged portions of these islands taper rapidly into deeper waters. Gardner Pinnacles covers only 5 acres above the ocean. It consists of a main island and several small associated rocks. The Pinnacles is the most westerly volcanic island and may well represent the oldest piece of lava remaining above the ocean surface in the Hawaiian Chain. Only one species of plant is present—a low succulent, forming a sparse growth on the higher parts of the island. The extensive white fecal stains are evident from a distance and attest to its frequent use by sea birds. French Frigate Shoals seems somewhat out-of-place among the other volcanic islands. The shoals is a typical atoll representing the last stages of degradation of a high island. A single small lava island, La Perouse Pinnacle, is the only remaining remnant. All other land masses in the shoals are small coral-sand islets typical of an atoll. French Frigate Shoals covers an area about 18 miles long and 10 miles wide. Within this area there are currently 11 small islets and the Pinnacle. Collectively they total only 65 acres. Tern Island, the largest, is inhabited and contains an aircraft runway and a Loran navi- gational station. The other small islets are sand and coral and subject to more or less constant shifting by currents and storm-driven wave action within the lagoon. Winter storms may at times cause complete inundation. The more stable islets support extensive vegetation and are important nesting sites for sea birds. Coral heads are scattered throughout the lagoon—as they are on many of the other refuge units. Even in a small boat care must be taken to avoid corals which rise abruptly to within a few feet of the surface. At low tides emerging coral heads are evident—often over substantial areas of the lagoons. Maro Reef is a near atoll which is entirely, although shallowly, sub- merged except for a single rock extending about 2 feet above high water. It is a vast network of coral reefs covering an area of over 70 square miles. Reefs are exposed throughout the area at low tides and are interspersed with deep water channels 10 to 60 feet in depth. Little is known about the ecology of this extensive reef formation, but our knowledge of similar areas in the Hawaiian Chain strongly suggests that it is rich in biological resources. It is an important feeding area for sea birds and may also play a significant role in the life cycle of seals and turtles.
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