Lehua Island is a small, crescent-shaped island in the

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

an islands, north of

Niihau Niihau ( Hawaiian: ), anglicized as Niihau ( ), is the westernmost main and seventh largest inhabited island in Hawaii. It is southwest of Kauaʻi across the Kaulakahi Channel. Its area is . Several intermittent playa lakes provide wetland ha ...

, due west of Kauai. The uninhabited, barren island is a

tuff cone Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic landforms. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and s ...

which is part of the active Niihau

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the Crust (geology), crust of a Planet#Planetary-mass objects, planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and volcanic gas, gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Ear ...

. Lehua was one of the first five islands sighted by Captain James Cook in 1778 which he spelled as "Oreehoua". Lehua Island is a Hawaii State Wildlife Sanctuary. As a restricted sanctuary, all activities are prohibited on the island without a permit. Public access to the island is restricted to areas below the high tide water mark. Lehua provides habitat for at least 16 species of

seabirds Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same envi ...

. A population of

European rabbit The European rabbit (''Oryctolagus cuniculus'') or coney is a species of rabbit native to the Iberian Peninsula (including Spain, Portugal, and southwestern France), western France, and the northern Atlas Mountains in northwest Africa. It has b ...

s had lived on the island for many years but were removed in 2005.

Polynesian rat The Polynesian rat, Pacific rat or little rat (''Rattus exulans''), known to the Māori as ''kiore'', is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the brown rat and black rat. The Polynesian rat originated in Southeast Asia, ...

s, first documented on the island in the 1930s, were declared eradicated in 2021. When weather and wave conditions permit crossings from Kauai, Lehua is a noted destination for

snorkeling Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped breathing tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters ...

and

scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for " Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chr ...

. It is also well known for an unusual geological formation dubbed "the keyhole". Located in one of the crescent's narrow arms, this is a tall, thin notch cut from one side, all the way through to the other side of the arm. The

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

maintains Lehua Rock Light (a lighthouse) on Kaunuakalā, at the highest point of the island.

Conservation and Restoration

Lehua is one of the largest and most diverse seabird colonies in the main Hawaiian Islands with 17 seabird species and 25 native plants (14 Hawai`i endemics – occurring nowhere else in the world) inhabiting the steep, rocky, windswept slopes of the tiny island. Lehua is an important part of native Hawaiian culture—the Ni‘ihau community gathers ‘opihi ( limpets) in adjacent marine waters and on the island are several important native Hawaiian cultural sites. Invasive rats were foraging on native plants and seeds, which imperiled the entire ecosystem. These impacts contributed to erosion which can in turn impair near-shore marine and coral ecosystems and fisheries. Native birds like the threatened Newell's Shearwater were likely being restricted from breeding on Lehua Island due to predation by rats. Smaller, open-nesting seabirds such as terns and noddies were conspicuously absent from Lehua (save small numbers found in sea caves), also a suspected artifact of rat predation. Invasive rats ravaged other threatened birds. Therefore, in August 2017, the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) with project implementation partner Island Conservation implemented an aerial application of bait with supplemental hand application to eradicate non-native invasive rats. Signs of seabird revival were found post-eradication. The official Final Monitoring Report Issued on Lehua Restoration Project found no rodenticide in environmental samples and minimal impact to species other than rats.

References

Citations

General sources

* Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources. (12 January 2010)
Rules Regulating Wildlife Sanctuaries
(PDF). In, ''Hawaii Administrative Rules'', § 13–126. * Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. (29 September 1995)

''Volcano Watch''. *

* Final Environmental Assessment - Lehua Island Restoration (8 October 2005

External links

Island Conservation: Lehua Project
{{coord, 22, 01, 12, N, 160, 05, 51, W, display=title, region:US-HI_type:isle_source:dewiki Kauai County, Hawaii Niihau Uninhabited islands of Hawaii Volcanoes of Hawaii Tuff cones Island restoration Islands of Hawaii

Conservation and Restoration

See also

References

Citations

General sources

External links