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Twenty individual national wildlife refuges are scattered across the central and western Pacific Ocean, with 10 refuges located on the main Hawaiian Islands and 10 found from the Central Pacific to Guam and American Samoa. The Hawaiian and Pacific Islands NWR Complex office, which provides administrative guidance and oversight for these 20 refuges, is located in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. This Complex also manages Rose Atoll Marine National Monument, Marianas Trench Marine National Monument, Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, and co-manages the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the State of Hawai‘i.

Within this administrative structure is a subset of eight refuges known as the Pacific Remote Islands Complex. This Complex straddles the Equator near the center of the Pacific Ocean. These refuges are farther from human population centers than any other U.S. area and represent one of the last frontiers and havens for fish and wildlife in the world. These remote refuges are the most widespread collection of coral reef and seabird/shorebird protected areas on the planet under a single country’s jurisdiction. They include Baker Island, Jarvis Island, Howland Island, Kingman Reef, Johnston Island, Palmyra Atoll, Rose Atoll, and Wake Atoll.

Palmyra Atoll is managed cooperatively by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and The Nature Conservancy, which owns Cooper Island within the refuge. For more information about TNC work on Palmyra, click here.