Palmyra Atoll - Palmyra Under The Jurisdiction of The U.S. Navy

Palmyra Under The Jurisdiction of The U.S. Navy

In 1934, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, and Palmyra were placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of the Navy. The Navy took over the atoll for use as the Palmyra Island Naval Air Station on August 15, 1941. From November 1939 through 1947, the atoll had resident Federal Government representatives, the island commanders.

Following World War II, much of the Naval Air Station there was demolished, with some of the materials piled up and burned on the atoll, dumped into the lagoon, or in the case of unexploded ordnance on some of the islets, left in place. After the war, the Fullard-Leo family sued for the return of the ownership of Palmyra Atoll to themselves all the way up to the Supreme Court. The family won its court case in 1947. The Cooper family still owns two of the five islands.

When Hawaii was admitted to the United States in 1959, Palmyra was explicitly separated from the new state as a federal incorporated territory, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior. In 1962, the U.S. Department of Defense used Palmyra as an observation site during several high-altitude nuclear weapons tests high above Johnston Atoll. A group of about ten men supported the observation posts during this series of tests, while about 40 people came for the actual tests to carry out the observations using their technical equipment.

In December 2000, most of Palmyra Atoll was bought by The Nature Conservancy for coral reef conservation and research. In 2003, a scientific study was published about fossilized coral that was washing up on Palmyra. This fossilized coral was examined for evidence of the behavior of the effect of El Niño on the tropical Pacific Ocean over the past 1,000 years.

In November 2005, a team of scientists joined with The Nature Conservancy to open up a new research station on Palmyra to study global warming, the disappearing coral reefs, invasive species, and other environmental concerns.

The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, including Palmyra Atoll, was established on January 6, 2009. The Secretary of the Interior has delegated the responsibility for supervising this National Monument to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.