About Us

The first recorded western contact at Kingman Reef was by an American seaman, Captain Fanning, in 1798, but was named after Captain Kingman, who visited in 1853. The United States annexed the reef in 1922, and in 1934 delegated jurisdiction to the Department of the Navy. Its sheltered lagoon served as a way station and anchorage for Pan American Flying Clippers on Hawai‘i to American Samoa flights and for U.S. warships during the 1930s before a channel and dock were constructed at Palmyra. 

Kingman Reef was under the administrative jurisdiction of the Navy until September 1, 2000, when the Department of the Interior accepted rehabilitation over it. Kingman Reef National Wildlife Refuge was officially established on January 18, 2001. 

On January 6, 2009, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument was established, which includes Kingman Reef National Wildlife Refuge within its boundaries. 

Kingman Reef National Wildlife Refuge is only three feet in elevation and lies 934 nautical miles southwest of Honolulu and consists of all emergent areas of the reef and its surrounding 487,016 acres of submerged lands and waters that extend out 50 nautical miles. This includes more than 25,000 acres of thriving coral reef habitat. Kingman is known to be the most undisturbed coral reef within the U.S., complete with a greater proportion of apex predators than at any other studied coral reef ecosystem in the world. 

Entry onto Kingman Reef is by permit only. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel, scientists, and researchers. 

Our Mission

The mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System is to administer a national network of lands and waters for the conservation, management and, where appropriate, restoration of the fish, wildlife and plant resources and their habitats within the United States for the benefit of present and future generations of Americans. 

Our History

  • September 1, 2000 - Administrative jurisdiction of Kingman Reef transferred from the Department of the Navy to the Department of the Interior.  
  • January 18, 2001 - Secretary's Order 3223 establishes Kingman Reef as a national wildlife refuge national wildlife refuge
    A national wildlife refuge is typically a contiguous area of land and water managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service  for the conservation and, where appropriate, restoration of fish, wildlife and plant resources and their habitats for the benefit of present and future generations of Americans.

    Learn more about national wildlife refuge
  • January 6, 2009 - The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument was established, which includes Kingman Reef National Wildlife Refuge within its boundaries. 

Other Facilities in this Complex

While Kingman Reef National Wildlife Refuge is not a complex, it does fall within the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument that incorporates more than 490,000 square miles within its boundaries, which extend 50 nautical miles from the mean low water lines of Howland and Baker Islands, Kingman Reef, and Palmyra Atoll, and out to 200 nautical miles around Jarvis Island, and Johnston and Wake Atolls.