DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM As old structures from World War II fall into decay, the huge population of albatrosses at Midway continue to thrive. Public access to the atoll has been cut off since January, but federal officials hope to reopen the wildlife refuge, with a new contractor, to tourists by next year.

Feds review
Midway ecotourism

Problems with a previous
contractor fail to deter officials

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

MIDWAY ATOLL >> Federal officials hope this tiny and remote wildlife refuge will again be open to the public by March, when the Interior Department celebrates the 100th anniversary of the creation of the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Since January, the only people to set foot on this atoll, known mainly for a pivotal World War II battle and located 1,250 miles west-northwest of Honolulu, has been a skeleton crew of Fish and Wildlife Service officials and maintenance workers.

Home to a million Laysan albatrosses, better known as "gooney birds," and 14 other species of migratory seabirds, endangered monk seals, green sea turtles and other wildlife, Midway in 1996 became the site of the Interior Department's first experiment of trying to blend a commercial tourist operation with a wildlife refugee.

The National Wildlife Service hired Midway Phoenix Corp. to run the airport and harbor facilities on Sand Island, the largest of three islands in the atoll. There it built a restaurant and conducted an ecotourism operation. Visitors could stay in the restored barracks while visiting the battle sites and wildlife sanctuaries.

But Midway Phoenix said the Fish and Wildlife Service placed too many restrictions on its ability to attract tourists, particularly cruise ships. There weren't enough visitors each year to keep it in the black. The government claimed the contractor failed to pay its bills.

Public access to Midway was cut off in January, and the contract between Fish and Wildlife Service and Midway Phoenix was terminated in March.

Barbara Maxfield, Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman, said the settlement with Phoenix means that "all debts were forgiven."

H. Craig Manson, assistant secretary of the interior, last week said GeoEngineers Inc. of Portland, Ore., was awarded a six-month contract for minimal maintenance as the National Wildlife Service evaluates its options for operating Midway.

He believes the goals of the Fish and Wildlife Service and a commercial ecotourism operator can co-exist.

He dismissed Phoenix's claims, saying restrictions were required by law to protect the ecological values of the atoll.

"Those weren't in place to cripple Midway Phoenix," Manson said. "They were imposed because the law requires them. That is what the new contractor will have to take into account and factor those things into its economic and business decisions. We are going to do it best to make it available and make it accessible to the public."

But critics, especially those representing the veterans of the Pacific campaign, disagree. In one case, they want the Interior Department to replace the Fish and Wildlife Service with another agency, introducing legislation in Congress to support those demands.

James D'Angelo, president of International Midway Foundation, believes it was the Fish and Wildlife Service that repeatedly objected to the atoll being designated as a national historic landmark for seven years. He also believes Midway Phoenix deserves another chance.

"They invested more than $20 million," D'Angelo said. "No other company was willing to come out here without requesting payment from Fish and Wildlife."

Phoenix paid the salaries of the Fish and Wildlife Service officers who managed the refuge and flew them and their families back and forth to Honolulu.

He said many of the restrictions imposed by Fish and Wildlife, such as lowering street signs so that they were only knee-high, was done to protect flying birds, but bordered on being ridiculous "because people then would be stumbling over them."

Maxfield said the Fish and Wildlife Service isn't allowed to take a position on pending legislation.

Manson said the Bush administration has not taken a position yet on such a proposal, but added that the Fish and Wildlife Service has a historical preservation plan for Midway and "they are implementing it and they are sensitive to the history of the place."

He does not see a need to replace the Fish and Wildlife Service.

As for the debate over designating the five-mile wide atoll as a national landmark, Maxfield said that portions of Sand Island, were given such a distinction in 1982. These limited areas include defensive positions such as ammunition huts and gun emplacements.

"There are numerous other historical structures on the island that are eligible to be listed on the Registry of Historic Sites," Maxfield added. "We are managing those historic places as if they were on the register."

D'Angelo said the atoll was designated the Battle of Midway National Memorial because of congressional action two years ago and not from the actions of the Fish and Wildlife Service. "Their policies are too extreme."

But Mason is confident that commercial tourism operations can co-exist with a wildlife refugee.

"As far as I am concerned, if we can make this one work, it will be a model," Manson said, "and we could do this elsewhere. The National Wildlife Refugee System is underutilized and basically a secret to lot of people."