Today, the kuleana (responsibility and honor) for managing the island resides with U.S. (Hawaiian monk seal) and other seabirds and native plants, the island is also a sanctuary for many endangered and threatened plants and wildlife. With mōlī, along with 'ilio holo I ka uaua Mōlī (albatrosses) take over the landscape between October and January. The ‘āina (lands or place) is also integral to Hawaii’s wildlife. Whether it’s called Pihemanu, Kuaihelani or Midway, the island’s history and cultural significance is tied directly to the land. The Northwestern Hawaiian island chain is more than protected sanctuaries for native plants and wildlife, but also the lands were souls come to rest. Hawaiian written and oral traditions depict Nihoa as the gateway to the afterlife. Of the islands from Nihoa to Midway - from west to east - is culturally significant. The orientation of the setting sun and the alignment Photo: Nihoa Island and all the other islets and reefs of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands were recognized as a valuable National treasure, to be protected in perpetuity as the Hawaiian Islands Reservation. Resting along its sands in the afterlife. A spiritual Hawaiian nameįor this ancestral island is Kuaihelani - backbone of heaven - for the souls With albatrosses, petrels and many more birds. “loud den of birds” is an accurate Polynesian name describing an atoll covered Photo credit: USFWSįor anyone who has ever visited Midway Atoll, Pihemanu – who gave rise to the Hawaiian Archipelago, the taro plant and the Hawaiian people. Midway is an island withinĬommemorates the union of two Hawaiian ancestors – (albatrosses) are Midway’s most abundant inhabitant. All these aspects make Midway unique and important, but it’s also what the island means to people and cultural that makes it so valuable. The continental US and other foreign nations. Perhaps even the hundreds of aircraft that rely on it’s remote emergency runway necessary for air traffic flying each year from and to Midway isn’t important because of the immense ongoing conservation and Is a place worth more than the sum of it’s parts? Not to say that Many willing to give their time, energy and life. But why is this atoll of rock, sand and mortar so important to so Midway’s islands - Eastern and Sand - has been the intense focal point of commerce, military strategy andĬonservation. Of the Northwest chain of the Hawaiian archipelago.
Tectonic power residing below the surface of the sea. Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial is a reminder of the earth’s Fish and Wildlife Service’s Pacific Region. Papahānaumokuākea Marine National MonumentĪrticle by Aaron Ochoa, a public affairs officer with the U.S. Midway is one of the multiple islands from the Northwest Hawaiian Islands and Aloha ʻĀina, love for the land, describes a deep spiritual and emotional connection between Hawaiians and the land. Photo: The sun setting on the off the shore of Midway.