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Welcome to Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge

The Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge was established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1909. It encompasses most of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, a chain of islands and atolls stretching 1,200 miles northwest of the island of Kaua‘i, except for Midway and Kure Atolls. The Refuge includes a rich, varied, and unique natural, cultural, and historic legacy. Small islands and islets provide critical breeding grounds and nesting sites for endangered, threatened, and rare species that forage on land and throughout the coral reef and shallow waters of the marine environment. On June 15, 2006, the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge was overlain with a new designation as part of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

Nihoa Island - Photo credit USFWS

Within this protected area, the refuge has a total of 1,729 acres of emergent land and surrounded by more than 638,360 acres of submergent lands and waters. Refuge islands and atolls include Nihoa, Mokumanamana, French Frigate Shoals, Gardner Pinnacles, Maro Reef, Laysan, Lisianski, and Pearl and Hermes. This is a special place where seabirds nest by the millions and large predatory fish like sharks and Hawaiian grouper dominate the marine waters.

Nihoa Island and Mokumanamana are recognized for their rich cultural heritage. Some of the densest concentrations of prehistorical structural sites in Hawaii are located on these islands and both are on the National Registry of Historic Places. The Native Hawaiian sites on Mokumanamana are thought to date from before the 13th century A.D. Nihoa sites include house terraces, burial caves, and agricultural terraces. As many as 175 Native Hawaiians may have lived on Nihoa, but Mokumanamana appears to have been used primarily for religious purposes.

Except for field stations on Tern and Laysan Islands, these remote islands are not inhabited by humans or open to public visitation. Even scientific research or education permit opportunities are limited and closely scrutinized to minimize unnecessary disturbance.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
300 Ala Moana Boulevard
Room 5-231, Box 50167
Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96850
(808) 792-9480
(808) 792-9585 fax

Link to FWS Papahānaumokuākea monthly updates.