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Nihoa
Island
 Nihoa
is unlike any of the other Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) with
its 900 foot cliffs, basalt rock surface, and tiny beach. This small
island is about 1 square km (171 acres) and is at the southeastern
end of the NWHI chain.
Although
difficult to imagine today, this remote land of rugged cliffs and steep
valleys provided a home for Hawaiians between A.D. 1000 and A.D. 1700.
More than 80 cultural sites are known, including habitation terraces
and bluff shelters, religious places, agricultural terraces, and burial
caves. Many of the mea makamae (cultural objects) and structures  associated
with these wahi pana (cultural places) are similar to many found throughout
the Main Hawaiian Islands. It is believed that the abundance of natural
resources and at least three freshwater seeps may have supported as
many as 175 people between A.D. 1000 and A.D. 1700.
Nihoa was
no longer occupied when Captain Douglas visited the island in 1789.
Queen Ka`ahumanu visited Nihoa in 1822 and annexed it as part of Hawai'i.
In 1857, King Kamehameha IV officially annexed the island as part of
the Hawaiian Kingdom. In 1885, Queen Liliu`okalani and her 200-person
entourage visited Nihoa and documented their trip. In 1909, Nihoa and
the other islands, islets, and reefs of the NWHI (except Midway) were
recognized by the United States as a valuable treasure to be protected
in perpetuity as the Hawaiian Islands Reservation. "The Reservation" was
the forerunner of one of the earliest established National Wildlife
Refuges in the country.
In 1923-24,
the Tanager Expedition visited Nihoa to conduct cultural and biological
research. In 1997, the Native Hawaiian group Hui Mälama I Nä Küpuna
O Hawai`i Nei returned ancestral bones to Nihoa that have been removed
from the island decades earlier.
The island's
rugged landscape may seem uninhabitable from a distance but the very
essence of Nihoa is life, a treasure chest of species found nowhere
else in the world. Niches in rocky outcroppings support some of the
most unique and varied insect, seabird, and plant life of all the NWHI.
 Seventy-two
terrestrial arthropods including giant crickets and earwigs, and two
endemic landbirds, the Nihoa finch and Nihoa millerbird, are found
only on Nihoa. Native endangered plants include a loulu or fan palm
and 'ohai shrub.
Basalt underlies
most shallow water habitats surrounding Nihoa. Limu (algae), wana (sea
urchin), and opihi (limpet) inhabit these shallow waters, while sharks
and jacks hover in deeper waters offshore. The submerged coral reef
habitat covers about 142,000 acres with seventeen species of stony
corals documented. Sheer basaltic cliffs on the north side of the island
continue underwater, plunging vertically to great depths. Due to strong
wave action and lack of protected areas encrusting corals are the dominant
coral species found here,
and they exist mostly in waters deeper than forty feet. Fishes uncommon
or rare in the main Hawaiian Islands but typical of the NWHI, such
as spotted knifejaws (Oplegnathus punctatus), are often seen at Nihoa.
In order
to protect the island's fragile ecosystem, few visitors are allowed
on Nihoa and strict protocols are required. Approval must be given
by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and is mostly granted to those
doing cultural and scientific research.
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