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The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands or Leeward Islands lie far to the northwest of the main islands. They extend in a chain over 1,000 miles from Nihoa in the southeast to Kure Atoll in the northwest, almost to the International Dateline in the middle of the Pacific.
The group includes the islands of Necker, French Frigate Shoals, Gardner Pinnacles, Maro Reef, Laysan, Lisianski, Pearl and Hermes Atoll, and Midway Atoll.
The islands are primarily a national wildlife refuge, home to many thousands of seabirds, plus the endangered Hawaiian green sea turtle, rare Hawaiian monk seal and other land birds and marinelife species, some found nowhere else on earth.
The Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge was only recently opened in 1997 for the public to experience the birdlife and refuge eco-system. The National Park Service contracted with a private company to run eco/tours to Midway using the former military airbase and facilities as a tourism center. See the Kaua`i section of this book for details.
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