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Nature Conservancy
to buy ‘tropical
Garden of Eden’
Palmyra Atoll offers coral reefs,
By Lori Tighe
seabirds, endangered marine life
—and black rats
Star-BulletinPalmyra Atoll has been called a "dense, tropical Garden of Eden," a "jewel of America's Pacific coral reefs" and the nation's "last true marine wilderness."
But what people may not know about the recently bought Palmyra, haunted by murder and pirate treasure, 1,000 miles south of Hawaii -- is its black rat problem. Even during the day rats unchecked by predators can be seen scuttling into the underbrush.
Blissfully to conservationists, the rats remain Palmyra's biggest problem now that the 52 islets have been saved from human destruction.
It took the Nature Conservancy three years of negotiations with Oahu's Fullard-Leo family to buy the islands for an estimated $30 million. The deal was to be announced to the public today.
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, who described Palmyra as the "jewel of America's Pacific coral reefs," said the atoll "should be protected from exploitation" and preserved for future generations.
Although privately owned, the atoll is considered a U.S. territory under the jurisdiction of the Interior Department. The Nature Conservancy hopes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will eventually manage two-thirds of the atoll as a nature refuge and an ecotourism destination.
"This is a splendidly wonderful thing for wildlife," said Beth Flint, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist in Honolulu. "Oh yes, we're celebrating."
Palmyra is so important, Flint said, that last year the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ranked it first in the nation to buy and save.
"It represents habitat not well represented in the United States and protected land systems."
Palmyra is the most important unprotected marine wilderness left in the U.S. tropics, according to the Nature Conservancy. It offers one of the world's most diverse coral reefs, likened to the rain forests of the ocean. An abundant array of seabirds and marine life, including numerous endangered species, make their home at Palmyra.
"The family is excited about the sale and sad at the same time," said Peter Savio, who represented Fullard-Leo family in the sale. "They've always wanted to protect the island."
Ellen and Leslie Fullard-Leo bought Palmyra in 1948 for $100,000. The U.S. Navy took over the island and used it as a naval air base during World War II. Then the Fullard-Leos fought for the return of Palmyra all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and won in 1947.
Over the years, Palmyra brushed with fates to become a nuclear waste dump, a casino and a senior citizen retreat. But the Fullard-Leos wanted to preserve it as they knew it: untouched, pristine and wild.
"I'm grateful to the Fullard-Leo family," said Robert Smith, Pacific manager for U.S. Fish and Wildlife. "I know how difficult it is for them to give up their family heritage."
Smith, who once described Palmyra as a "dense, tropical Garden of Eden," recalls first scuba-diving Palmyra in 1997 with Nature Conservancy's head, Chuck Cook.
They dived a vertical coral wall section when a pod of bottlenose dolphins, including a calf, approached them closely.
"When we surfaced, Cook, who had dived in Palau, the seventh wonder of the diving world, said he had never seen that," Smith said.
"I noticed the animals of Palmyra are completely unafraid," he said when asked what impressed him most about Palmyra.
People will soon be able to visit Palmyra and witness its wonders once Congress appropriates between $8 million and $10 million for it as planned. This will allow the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help manage it.
Nature Conservancy Honolulu spokesman Grady Timmons said: "It's a big purchase for us, one of the biggest conservation purchases we've made. We still have to raise more money for it."
The sale ensuring Palmyra's survival into the millennium could be a happy ending to what some old salts have described as a mariner's curse. A Spanish pirate ship, full of Inca treasure, wrecked on the Palmyra reefs in 1816, and its crew buried the loot under a palm tree, according to legend. But the sailors died before it could be found.
A San Diego couple was murdered aboard their luxury yacht by another couple they had befriended. Their bodies were dumped in waters near Palmyra in 1974.
The woman's bones were found six years later after they washed ashore. The double murder later became a best-selling book, "And the Sea Will Tell," and a TV movie.
But only Palmyra's animal inhabitants, including the rats, know the truth about the curse.
The rats, who jumped ship for Palmyra sometime unknown in the past, pose a threat to the ground-nesting seabirds, said Flint.
"The rats could be removed. That's probably one of the first things we would do if we manage Palmyra."
The Assciated Press contributed to this report
