Nihoa

Nihoa island

Nihoa is part of the Hawaiian – Emperor seamount chain of volcanic islands, atolls, and seamounts starting from the island of Hawaiʻi in the southeast to the Aleutian Islands in the northwest. It is the youngest of ten islands in the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), having formed 7.2 million years ago; the oldest, Kure Atoll, formed 30 million years ago. Over the millennia, Nihoa has experienced significant erosion; along with Necker, French Frigate Shoals, and Gardner Pinnacles, Nihoa is one of only four islands in the NWHI that still has an exposed basalt rock substrate.[2] Six valleys slant down from north to south, meeting at the south side of the island: West Valley, West Palm Valley, Miller Valley, Middle Valley, East Palm Valley, and East Valley.

The valley's slant towards Adam's bay on the south side, which also has sea cave.[3]

Among features on Nihoa are Dog's Head Peak (358 ft or 109 m), named for its likeness, and Pinnacle Peak (626 ft or 191 m), a volcanic dike created when less resilient rock was eroded away and harder rock was open to the elements. The only flat area on the island is Albatross Plateau, just below Miller's Peak. The Devil's Slide is a narrow cleft descending 700 feet (210 m) irrespective of the surrounding elevation. Extending northward from Albatross Plateau, it ends at the vertical cliffs with a 190-foot (60 m) drop straight down to the ocean below. In this chasm, rare ferns grow, along with several endemic species, including a giant cricket.[4]

The island is about 1371 meters long going from east to west, and 274-914 meters wide.[5] The overall shape is that of half saddle, with one side having sheer cliffs and the other sloping towards the ocean.[6]

The highest peaks on the island include Miller peak at 277 meters high and Tanager peak at 260 m. high.[7]

Nihoa millerbird

Nihoan fan palms

Nihoa's inaccessibility and lack of major guano deposits made the island unattractive to humans, helping to preserve its endemic species from extinction. Because of Nihoa's small size, most of its endemic organisms are endangered, as one single disaster such as an island-wide fire or an introduction of invasive species could wipe out the whole population. One such invasive species is the gray bird grasshopper, Schistocerca nitens; from the period between 1999 and 2003, grasshoppers devastated much of the vegetation on the island and posed a real threat to the continued health of plants on Nihoa.[8] The following year, the numbers decreased and the vegetation became lush again. The grasshoppers probably came to Nihoa by way of wind from Kauai.

The north side of the island's cliffs are mostly bare, but the sloping valleys are covered with a variety of grasses and shrubs.[9] The two most common grasses on these slopes are Eragrosis Varabilis and Panicum torridum.[10]

There is also a variety of scrubs and bushes on the island slopes, such as Chenopodium sandwicheum and ilima bushes (Sida fallax).[11]

Unique species include:

• Pritchardia remota fan palm, the only tree on the island
• Nihoa millerbird
• Nihoa finch
• Nihoa conehead katydid
• Nihoa carnation
• Sesbania tomentosa
• the amaranth Amaranthus brownii
• the trapdoor spider Nihoa mahina
• Thaumatogryllus conanti, a giant cricket found in the Devil's Slide area
• Plagithmysus nihoae, a longhorned beetle
• Eupelmus nihoaensis, a wasp
• Hylaeus perkinsian, Perkin's yellow-faced bee

Nihoa Island Archeological District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
View of Nihoa Island
Nearest city	Kauai, Hawaii
NRHP reference No.	88000640[13]
Added to NRHP	June 13, 1988

Nihoa was well known to the early Hawaiians. Archaeological expeditions found extensive prehistoric agricultural terraces and house sites.[14] At least one site has been dated to around the 1st millennium AD, sometime between 867–1037.[15] There is some doubt as to the number of people that lived on Nihoa, because while the large terraces suggest a considerable number, there is scant fresh water to be found. Archaeologists Kenneth Emory[16] and Paul Cleghorn[17] estimate that water could support as many as 100 people, although if the island were previously forested, this would have increased fresh water supplies relative to its current state. It is also thought that Nihoa may have been used only for religious purposes, which would have meant that ancient Hawaiians only visited here occasionally and did not stay for long. Because of the island's importance, the island was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988, and subsequently became part of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in June 2006.

Nihoa, along with Necker Island to the northwest, is among the most northern, isolated, smallest and driest of the Hawaiian islands, and receives the lowest dust and tephra input. All of these features were found to strongly predict deforestation among the Pacific Islands. The collapse of the Nihoa population may stem from this, similar to how Easter Island became inclement to its human civilization following deforestation and depletion of seabirds and other natural resources.[18]

Artifacts of previous habitation on the island include:[19]

• Stone terraces
• Upright stones
• Carved stone bowls (One of these was taken by a Hawaiian Queen to Hawaii in the 19th century)
• Stone tools
• Cave shelters
• Heiau

The terraces are thought to be for agriculture purposes, and wide variety of practical items such as stone tools and bowls have been found.[20] However, later scholars have suggested a more ritual aspect to the island due to the large number of Heiau.[21]

1891 photograph of Nihoa by J.J. Williams

The first Westerner to discover Nihoa was Captain James Colnett of the Prince of Wales, on March 21, 1788. Due to Colnett's lengthy absence from England, including his imprisonment by the Spanish for his part in the Nootka Sound Incident, the discovery was once widely accredited to Captain William Douglas of the Iphigenia, who sighted Nihoa almost a year later.[22]

The abandoned settlements seen by the early explorers caused Nihoa and Necker islands, to be called the 'mystery islands'.[23]

By the end of the 18th century, Nihoa had been forgotten by most Hawaiians. In 1822, Queen Kaʻahumanu and her husband King Kaumualiʻi traveled with Captain William Sumner to find Nihoa, as her generation had only known the island through songs and myths.[14] Later, King Kamehameha IV sailed there to officially annex the island as part of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. Finally, in 1885, Princess Liliuokalani made a pilgrimage to Nihoa with her escorts, but their luncheon was cut short when one of the party ignited a wildfire by accident. The group tried to flee the island, but the rising tides made it difficult and several boats were flooded, destroying some of the photographs taken.[24] One this visit a carved basalt bowl was found and taken back to the main islands by the Queen.[25]

In 1859 the position of Nihoa island was determined by the survey schooner, USS Fenimore Cooper.[26]

Tanager peak

During 1923-4 the Tanager expedition was a noted scientific exploration of Nihoa island.[27] This resulted in various biological and archeological discoveries.[28][29]

The Tanager expedition conducted the first archeological survey of the island.[30] Evidence of an ancient settlement on Nihoa was discovered, along with platforms, terraces, and human remains.[28]

Noted events include finding a specimen of Amaranthus brownii and the discovery of the Nihoa millerbird which was formally named Acrocephalus familiaris kingi,[31]

On this expedition, several hundred Loulu fan palms were counted on the island.[32] Twenty other flowering plants were also noted at this time.[33]

Examples of exploration work:[34]

• Survey map of island
• Bird life
• Plants
• Insects
• Marine life
• Geology

On the Tanager expedition they also found the remnants of a modern Fishing camp in a cave near the landing, with some leftover coats and bags of rice.[35]

• List of volcanoes in the Hawaiian – Emperor seamount chain
• List of islands
• Desert island

• Beardsley, John W. (1966). "Insects and other terrestrial arthropods from the leeward Hawaiian Islands". Proc Hawaiian Entomol Soc. 19: 157–185. hdl:10125/10915. ISSN 0073-134X.
• Clapp, Roger B.; Eugene Krindler; Robert R. Fleet (May 1977). F. R. Fosberg; M. -H. Sachet; D. R. Stoddart (eds.). "The Natural History of Nihoa Island, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands" (PDF). Atoll Research Bulletin. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution (207). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 13, 2006. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
• Cleghorn, Paul L. (1987). Prehistoric Cultural Resources and Management Plan for Nihoa and Necker Islands, Hawaiʻi. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press.
• Gagné, Wayne C.; Sheila Conant (1983). "Nihoa: Biological Gem of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands". Bishop Museum News. Bernice P. Bishop Museum (7): 3–5.
• Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources (2008). "Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument Management Plan: Appendix A - Cultural Impact Assessment" (PDF). Volume II: Final Environmental Assessment. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 15, 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-30.
• Juvik, Sonia P.; James O. Juvik; Thomas R. Paradise (1998). Atlas of Hawaii. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-2125-8.
• Kirch, Patrick Vinton (1985). Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780824819385.
• Lebo, Susan A.; Kevin T.M. Johnson (2007). "Geochemical sourcing of rock specimens and stone artifacts from Nihoa and Necker Islands, Hawiʻi". Journal of Archaeological Science. Elsevier. 34 (6): 858–871. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2006.08.009.
• Olson, Storrs L. (1996). "History and ornithological journals of the Tanager Expedition of 1923 to the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Johnston and Wake islands". Atoll Research Bulletin. National Museum of Natural History (433).
• Palmer, H. S. (1927). "Geology of Kaula, Nihoa, Necker and Gardner Islands, and French Frigate Shoals". Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin. Tanager Expedition Publication Number 4. 35.
• Wong, Sterling (2008). "Nihoa". Ka Wai Ola. Office of Hawaiian Affairs. 25 (11): 12.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nihoa.

• Pacific Islands Benthic Habitat Mapping Center
• NWHI Multi-Agency Education Project
• Peter T. Oboyski
• Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument Information Management System