Tern Island, French Frigate Shoals, is a tiny 30-acre coral island located in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, approximately 490 miles WNW of Oahu. The island is maintained as a field station in the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). It provides critical breeding habitat to millions of nesting seabirds, endangered Hawaiian Monk Seals, and threatened Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles. The infrastructure on Tern Island, inherited from the US military, enables scientists to use Tern Island as a base for research. Because of its remote location, and the sensitivity of the breeding animals to human disturbance, the general public is not admitted on Tern Island. Only specially permitted biologists and researchers are allowed on the island. If you want to go, try volunteering for the USFWS. You'll have one of the most memorable experiences of your lifetime.

History
In 1909, by Executive Order 1019, President Theodore Roosevelt established what is now known as the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. This Refuge includes the lands and waters of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands from Nihoa Island to Pearl and Hermes Atolls. One atoll within the Refuge is French Frigate Shoals, and that is where Tern Island is found. In the 1940's, with the looming war, the U.S. military occupied French Frigate Shoals. The U.S. Navy used Tern Island as a stopover and refueling point for aircraft flying between Hawaii and Midway. To make the island large enough to accommodate landing planes, the Navy enlarged the island by building a retaining steel wall, blasting and dredging a channel around the island, and using the blasted coral to fill in the wall. The result was an island shaped like an aircraft carrier. Later they turned over occupation to the U.S. Coast Guard who used the island for operation of a Loran station. In 1979, after technology replaced Loran, the U.S. Coast Guard gave management authority of the island back to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Since 1979, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has worked to restore wildlife populations of French Frigate Shoals back to pre World War II levels.

Housing and living arrangements
All Tern Island residents are housed in the old coast guard barracks. In addition to dormitory-style bedrooms and bathrooms, the barracks contain a common room, kitchen, and food storage room. The kitchen is equipped with the basics (minus electricity-greedy appliances) and cooking is done on a propane stove. A several-month supply of canned and dried food is stored carefully in a large pantry. Island residents cook communally on a rotating schedule and usually eat together.

Transportation and supplies
Everything and everyone arrives on Tern in one of two ways: by boat or plane. The "Sarah K", usually piloted by Bob Justman, flies between Honolulu and Tern about once a month. It shuttles scientists to and from the island, carries mail, and occasionally brings groceries. Heavier items or larger field crews arrive by boat. Large ships anchor well outside of the reef, so smaller boats shuttle the equipment and personnel between the island and ship. "Receiving" occurs at the dock, where heavy items are lifted up and out of the boats using a crane.

Electricity and water
The main source of electricity on the island is a bank of solar panels located on the roof of the barracks. A back-up dielsel generator is used only when needed, usually after consecutive cloudy days. Fresh water is generated through a reverse osmosis system, and most of the solar-powered electricity goes to this important task.

Communications
Residents on Tern communicate with the outside world in a few different ways. Mail arrives and leaves about once a month by plane. Satellite phone, an expensive option, is used for short conversations or for sending brief emails. Single side-band radio is used regularly to communicate with the USFWS office in Honolulu. Additionally, thanks to the NOAA/NMFS/Marine Turtle Research Program, Tern Island is now equipped with a high speed online connection. This connection is via a large satellite dish which has been installed primarily for transmitting remote operated video camera feed from East Island to specific users in Honolulu. When it is not being used for operating the camera, the system can be used to access the internet (pretty much only at night when the camera cannot "see" anything and therefore there is nothing to transmit).

The Seawall Project
In the 1940's, the US Navy created Tern Island. The Navy built a steel wall in dimensions similar to an aircraft carrier. The navy blasted a channel in the coral reef around the island and used the coral rubble to fill in the wall like a giant sandbox. Now, 70 years later, the seawall is rusting and falling apart. The rusted wall can trap animals behind it. Every single morning, a USFWS volunteer or staff person walks the length of the wall to find and rescue any animal that may have become trapped behind the wall. The island is eroding away, decreasing the valuable habitat used by the birds, seals, and turtles, and jeopardizing the field station. Furthermore, the erosion is exposing potentially harmful chemicals left by US military and US Coast Guard operations. Those chemicals are washing into the fragile coral reef ecosystem surrounding the island. To rectify these problems, the USFWS has spent millions of dollars to replace key sections of the wall. In 2004 approximately one third of the wall was replaced with rock, but funding ran out before the entire wall could be completed.

USFWS Nesting Seabird Monitoring Study
Since the 1970's, the USFWS has been monitoring the numbers of nesting seabirds on Tern Island. Because the island is so small, it is possible to census the entire population of any given seabird on the island. In addition, more in-depth studies are conducted on White Terns, Red-tailed Tropicbirds, Red-footed Boobies, Black Noddies, and Masked Boobies. For these species, a biologist/volunteer collects detailed information about nests, eggs, chicks, and fledglings within set plot areas on the island. The data are extrapolated to assess the breeding success of the species across the entire north Pacific.

Tern Island is a major bird banding station in the north Pacific. To "band" a bird is to put a small metal bracelet around its leg. Each band has a unique identification number. When a banded bird is found or recaptured, the band number can be referenced to find out where the bird was hatched, when it banded, how old the bird is, etc. In one example, the fisheries industry is recording the band number seabirds found dead in fishing nets and lines. Scientists are using the information to better understand the number of birds being killed, their feeding range, and their age structure. The Tern banding station banded more Laysan and Black-footed Albatrosses than anywhere else in the Pacific (more than 2,250 birds in 2002). In addition, USFWS volunteers and staff banded hundreds of Black Noddies, Brown Noddies, Red-footed Boobies, Masked Boobies, White Terns, Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, and Bulwer's Petrels.

Boating on the shoals
Most researchers use Tern Island as a base from which to study the animals within the entire French Frigate Shoals. For example, USFWS staff and volunteers travel regularly to other islands to count and band seabirds. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) staff travel daily to other islands on the atoll to census and monitor Hawaiian monk seals. The biologists use small boats to travel from island to island. Conditions are typically windy and wavy, but the unusual calm day (as pictured, left) can be a real treat.


Rest and Relaxation
The work schedule on Tern is intense. Special-permit biologists, usually on the island for only a few weeks, work long hours. Other biologists work as their study subject dictates, which can be seven days a week. Most people try to take off a half or full day per week. Each person spends their down time a little differently. Reading, writing in journals, photographing the island wildlife, and watching movies are popular activities. And, of course, great beaches are available for lounging, as long as no seals or turtles have claimed the area for themselves (which happens almost always).