It is also a place where ecotourism meets edutourism. In cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the atoll's new caretaker, UH Hilo offered its first on-site summer course in 1997. The program has expanded to six offerings this summer, including week-long courses on seabirds, cetaceans, sharks and invertebrates. This summer's program also featured a course on teaching marine science and a nature writing class that covered topics from environmental journalism to literary writing. We are the only state with an atoll.
Students fly for miles to get here and are rewarded with a unique educational experience.
Many return as Fish and Wildlife Service volunteers or interns or employees of Midway Phoenix Corporation, the Atlanta-based company that operates housing and recreation facilities and maintains the airstrip and other infrastructure. It is a window on the future of how people and nature can interact. It is also a rich resource for scientists, she adds. During our first year here, we discovered seven new species of seaweeds. Since rats were eradicated, the rare Bonin petrel, a ground-burrowing bird, has been making a comeback.