Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge
Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge
Honolulu, HI 96850
Phone:808-674-8237
Web: www.fws.gov/midway
Established: In 1988 Midway became a NWR, subject to the U.S. Navy. In 1996, after the navy closed the facility, custody and accountability transferred to the Department of the Interior.
Location:North-central Pacific Ocean, about 1,150 miles northwest of Honolulu.
Facilities:Visitor contact station, viewing sites, hiking trail, historic features.
Activities:Boaitng, fishing, hiking, educational programs.
Special Features:One of the most remote coral atolls in the world, Miday also has a fascinating history. It was the last link in a global telegraph system, inaugurated by a message from President Teddy Roosevelt on the fourth of July 1903; served as a landing site for Pan Am Clippers enroute across the Pacific Ocean in the late 1930s; and was the focus of a 1942 battle that changed the tide of war in the Pacific.
Habitats: 296,819 acres of ocean and three flat coral islands totaling about 1,549 acres.
Access: Because of Midway Atoll's remote location in the middle of the north Pacific Ocean, it can only be accessed by air or sea under a special-use permit system. Permits may be obtained by contacting the Midway Phoenix Corp.
Wild life: Laysan albatross, red-tailed noddies, white terns, also Hawaiian monk seals (endangered), green sea turtles (threatened), and Hawaiian spinner dolphins.
See other parks in Hawaii.