Nature Conservancy to Buy Coral Reef ‘Jewel’ in Pacific

An isolated speck in the center of the Pacific Ocean, the Palmyra Atoll, a pristine network of 52 small islands, is being purchased by a conservation group to guarantee the preservation of its marine wilderness.

The Nature Conservancy will announce today that it is buying the uninhabited islands--680 acres of land in all--and adjacent coral reefs and lagoons, from the Fullard-Leo family in Hawaii.

The price was not disclosed, but is said to be in the range of $30 million.

Although privately owned, the atoll is considered a territory of the United States and under the civil jurisdiction of the Interior Department. The Nature Conservancy hopes that two-thirds of the atoll eventually will be administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a wildlife refuge.

Calling it a “jewel of America’s Pacific coral reefs,” Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said the atoll--just north of the equator and 1,052 miles south of Honolulu--”should be protected from exploitation” and preserved for future generations.

The island’s colorful history dates back more than two centuries and includes everything from buried pirates’ treasure and talk of an island curse to a battle before the U.S. Supreme Court over ownership. It played a key part in a murder mystery that eventually produced a best-seller and a made-for-television movie. And while now seen as an ideal place for ecological research, in the 1970s it almost became a place to dump nuclear waste.

Folklore has it that in 1816 a Spanish pirate ship, full of Inca treasures, wrecked on the Palmyra reefs and its crew supposedly buried the loot under a palm tree. But treasure hunting is only one of the potential threats to the island’s plush, tropical foliage, pristine coral treasures and crystal-clear lagoons.

“There have been a range of threats over time,” prompting the Nature Conservancy’s interest in buying the atoll, says Nancy Mackinnon, who has been working on the Palmyra project for the conservation group since 1997.

In the 1970s, the Energy Department saw Palmyra as a place to dump nuclear waste, only to abandon the idea. Private entrepreneurs more recently wanted it for chemical and nuclear waste storage. Other buyers have had plans to build a hotel and casino and even a retreat for senior citizens.

During World War II, Palmyra was a U.S. Navy way-point for airplanes crossing the Pacific. A 6,000-foot runway and other buildings were built, but they are now dilapidated and overgrown by jungle. No one lives on the islands today.

Mackinnon says the island’s rich ecological treasures will provide a paradise for research and eco-tourism. “But only in small groups,” she adds quickly.

The islands, which receive 175 inches of rain a year, are covered by lush tropical vegetation that provides a place for an estimated million nesting seabirds. Countless birds rely on the islands as a resting place as they migrate--some from as far away as Alaska to the South Pacific.

The atoll’s reefs have three to five times the number of coral species found in Hawaii or the Florida Keys. Black-tip and tiger sharks abound in its waters and other marine species include pilot whales, bottlenose dolphins, hawksbill turtles, giant clams and the coconut crab, the world’s largest land-based invertebrate that cracks open coconuts with its claws.

Some old salts have suggested the atoll is cursed because of tales of mariners who have landed there and later fell upon misfortune.

In 1974, a San Diego couple were murdered aboard their expensive yacht by another couple they had befriended, and their bodies were dumped in waters near Palmyra. The woman’s skeletal remains were found six years later after they had washed ashore. The double murder later became a best selling book, “And the Sea Will Tell,” and a made-for-television movie.