Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 10, 1 October 2005 — FACES OF NATURE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FACES OF NATURE

I" 1999, while they were working on Remains ' of a Rainbow, their dazzling book ' on Hawai'i's endangered species, San Francisco-based photographers and environmentalists Susan Middleton and David Liittschwager took a trip to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands of Laysan, Nihoa and Mokumanamana, intending to incorporate the rare Laysan duck and other threatened species into the book.

"It was such a different experience," Middleton says of the journey. "You had to go through quarantine, freezing everything for 48 hours and sealing it in buckets to avoid accidentally introducing new species to the islands. It was really this sense of going to a completely different plaee." When they eame back and showed their shots from the trip to their book designer, she agreed, saying, "You know, I really think what you have here is a whole other book." And so was born the idea for the duo's latest effort, Archipelago: Portraits of Life in the Worīd's Most Remote Isīand Sanctuary, whieh will be released this month, along with a 22-page portfolio in

f National Geographic magazine and an exhibit at Bishop Museum. The book chronicles the extraordinary wildlife of the Northwestern Islands, whieh stretch some 1,200 miles northward from the main Hawaiian Islands, tiny specks of land surrounded by thousands of square miles of reef. These places of refuge amid a vast sea are home to some 7,000 species, about one-quarter of whieh are found nowhere else on earth. In addition, archaeological sites on several of the islands indicate that ancestral Polynesian seafarers frequented the area, and the islands themselves are part of the lands that were "ceded" to the U.S . following the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom. For two years, Middleton and Liittschwager visited the islands every ehanee they could get, hopping aboard research ships at a moment's notice; eamping out on lonely atolls for weeks

at a time; struggling to shelter their equipment - and themselves - from heat, sand and bugs; performing what Middleton describes as a "delicate dance" of diplomacy to secure permits and assistance from the bureaucratic tangle of federal and state agencies that share responsibility for safeguarding the fragile islands. The photographers set up elahorate field studios under the most challenging of conditions to eapture minutely detailed images of the Northwestern Islands' unique plants, birds, insects and marine life. The photographs "are intended to work as formal portraits," Liittschwager says, "so that you have no ehoiee but to regard eaeh creature as an individual. Our point, or agenda if you will, is to strip away any idea of these creatures as 'other.' There is no 'other' - we are all related, and that is why it is so important that we protect and care for these incredibly special creatures."

PU'UHONUA OLA • LIVING SA NCTU ARY

Photographers Susan Middleton and David Liittschwager turn their intimate style to portraits of the Northwestern Hawaiian lslands ' extraordinary wildlife

By Derek Ferrar Public lnformation Specialist

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Alook through Archipelago is indeed an experience of connectedness with nature on a personal level, as the portraits reveal the tiniest detail and shading of every scale, tendril or feather. Transluscent purple Portuguese man-o-war float in elegant dignity, trailing their stinging tentacles like bridal trains. A close-up of a mushroom coral offers a transcendent maze of riotous color, like a living Tibetan mandala. Newly hatched sea birds and turtles present a vision of adorable innoeenee. And then, suddenly, the idyllic vision is jarred by awful reality, as an image of an autopsied albatross ehiek reveals the deadly diet that killed it: a stom-

aeh full of lighters, toothpaste caps and other bits of seaborne plastic 'ōpala. "What it really shows is that nowhere on the planet is truly remote anymore," Middleton says. "It's all connected to us, and we're all connected to it." The photographers are very up-front about the fact that they hope their work ean help bring about a more thoroughly protected permanent refuge status for the Northwestern Islands (see sidebar). "Being on these islands is like going back in time before the main Hawaiian Islands were overtaken by human habitation," Middleton says. "It's not a tourist destination, and it shouldn't be. It's owned by

the wildlife, and being out there, you realize how mueh impact even one person ean have." Since very few people ever get

to see the islands in person - and it would be harmful for more & to do so - she and Liittschwager see . 1 theirArc/iipe/agoproject as offering a kind of "virtual visitor center." "We really approached this work with a complete sense of awe, respect and wonder," Middleton says. "To get to be in a plaee where the web of life is so intact and fertile is such an immense privilege. It's amazing how prolific the life force i up there."

Seeking Sanctuary In 2000, outgoing President Bill Clinton issued an executive order designating the Northwestern Hawaiian lslands as an ecosystem reserve, with some restriction of commercial fishing activities in the area. A process is now underway to have the region designated as a national marine sanctuary, with even further levels of protection on a permanent basis. In May, the state Board of Land and Natural Resources approved a plan that would establish a marine refuge for the state-controlled waters extending three miles around eaeh of the islands. Commercial and recreational fishing would be prohibited in the refuge, and all other access, including scientific research, Native Hawaiian subsistence fishing and other traditional practices, would require a permit. Soon afterward, Rep. Ed Case introduced federal legislation that would provide similar protection for federal waters in the region, whieh extend 50 miles out to sea from the state waters. Calling for the creation of an "oeean Yellowstone," Case described his plan as a "revolutionary proposal to create the largest marine protected area in our world ... whieh would provide the maximum level of permanent protection for a magnificent marine system and international treasure." For more information about fhe sanotuary designation, visit hawaiireef. noaa.gov. To read more about Rep. Case's proposal, visif his website af wwwo.house.gov/oase.

PU'UHONUA OLA • LIVING SANCTUARY

Opposite page: With o lorge mouth, needle-shurp teeth, und long supple body, this young moray eel, or puhi, is superbly outfitted for hunting. This page, clockwise from right: The oval butterflyfish, or kapuhili, feeds ūlmost exclusive ly on corul polyps. Mūles ond females form monogamous pairs early in life, ūlthough they sometimes sneak spawnings with other partneis. The beach morning glory, or pōhuehue, offers nesting grounds for seabirds and nectarfor Hawaiian sphinx moths. The red-toiled tropicbird, or koo'e ulo, nests on oll of the Northwestern Howoiion lslonds ond several of the more isolūted main islands.

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