United States national park in American Samoa
Location of the park on Tutuila (left), Ofu, and Ta‘? (right)
The
National Park of American Samoa
is a
national park
in the United States territory of
American Samoa
, distributed across four islands:
Tutuila
,
Ofu
,
Olosega
, and
Ta‘?
. The park preserves and protects
coral reefs
, tropical
rainforests
, fruit bats, and the Samoan culture. Popular activities include hiking and snorkeling. Of the park's 8,257 acres (3,341 ha), 2,500 acres (1,000 ha) is coral reefs and ocean.
[3]
The park is the only American
National Park Service system unit
south of the equator.
[4]
[5]
[6]
History
[
edit
]
Delegate
Fofo Iosefa Fiti Sunia
introduced a bill in 1984, at the request from Bat Preservers Association and Dr. Paul Cox, to include American Samoa in the Federal Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act. The purpose of the bill was to protect the habitat for the
Flying fox
as well as to protect the old rainforest. The bill marked the beginning of American Samoa's entry into the U.S. National Park System. The National Park Service began the work of establishing the national park in July 1987.
[7]
The National Park of American Samoa was established on October 31, 1988, by Public Law 100-571
[8]
but the NPS could not buy the land because of traditional communal land system. This was resolved on September 10, 1993, when the
National Park Service
entered into a 50-year lease for the park land from the Samoan village councils. In 2002, Congress approved a thirty percent expansion on Olosega and Ofu islands.
[9]
In September 2009 an
earthquake
and tsunami produced several large waves, resulting in 34 confirmed deaths, more than a hundred injuries and the destruction of about 200 homes and businesses. The park encountered major damage. The visitor center and main office were destroyed but there was only one reported injury among the NPS staff and volunteers.
[10]
Tutuila
[
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]
Remains of a
World War II
encampment and the historic tramway on the World War II Heritage Trail
The Tutuila unit of the park is on the north end of the island near
Pago Pago
. It is separated by Mount Alava (1,610 feet (490 m)) and the Maugaloa Ridge
[11]
and includes the
Amalau Valley
, Craggy Point, T?feu Cove, and the islands of
Pola
and Manof?.
It is the only part of the park accessible by car and attracts the vast majority of visitors to the area. The park lands include a trail to the top of Mount Alava and historic World War II gun emplacement sites at
Breakers Point
and
Blunt's Point
.
[12]
The trail runs along the ridge in dense forest, north of which the land slopes steeply away to the ocean.
[13]
Manua Island group
[
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]
Ofu Unit
[
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]
Ofu island is only accessible via small fisherman boats from Ta‘? island.
[14]
Accommodations are available on Ofu.
Ta‘? Unit
[
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]
Ta‘? island can be reached by a flight from Tutuila to Fiti‘uta village on Ta‘?.
[15]
Accommodations are available on Ta‘?. A trail runs from Saua around Si’u Point to the southern coastline and stairs to the 3,170-foot (970 m) summit of Lata Mountain.
Biodiversity
[
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]
Because of its remote location, diversity among the terrestrial species is low. Approximately 30% of the plants and one bird species (the
Samoan starling
) are
endemic
to the archipelago.
[16]
Fauna
[
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]
Three species of
bat
are the only native mammals: two large fruit bats (
Samoa flying fox
and
white-naped flying fox
) and a small
insectivore
, the
Pacific sheath-tailed bat
. They serve an important role in pollinating the island's plants. The sheath-tailed bat was nearly eliminated by
Cyclone Val
in 1991 and possibly became locally extinct some time afterwards. Four reptiles are known to be native to the island: the
Oceania gecko
, and three species of
skinks
(
mottled snake-eyed skink
(
Cryptoblepharus poecilopleurus
),
Micronesian skink
(
Emoia adspersa
), and
olive small-scaled skink
(
Emoia lawesii
)).
[17]
Additionally, there are 8 reptiles introduced with Polynesian settlement: five skink species (
copper-tailed skink
(
Emoia cyanura
),
azure-tailed skink
(
Emoia impar
),
black emo skink
(
Emoia nigra
),
Samoa skink
(
Emoia samoensis
), and
moth skink
(
Ornithuroscincus noctua
)), two gecko species (
Pacific slender-toed gecko
(
Nactus pelagicus
) and
mourning gecko
) and the
Pacific boa
(currently only found on Ta'u).
There are three reptiles introduced in the modern (post 18th century) era:
stump-toed gecko
,
common house gecko
, and the
Brahminy blind snake
(only on Tutuila).
Among mammals,
Polynesian rats
,
pigs
, and
dogs
are Polynesian introductions, while
cats
,
black rats
,
brown rats
, and
house mouses
are modern introductions. Also, the only known amphibian on the island, the
cane toad
is also a modern introduction, but is only found on Tutuila.
There are several bird species, the most predominant being the
wattled honeyeater
,
Samoan starling
, and
Pacific pigeon
.
[18]
Other unusual birds include the
Tahiti petrel
, the
spotless crake
, and the rare (in this locality)
many-colored fruit dove
.
[16]
A major role for the park is to control and eradicate
invasive plant and animal species
such as feral pigs, which threaten the park's ecosystem.
Flora
[
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]
The islands are mostly covered by
tropical rainforest
, including
cloud forest
on Ta‘? and lowland ridge forest on Tutuila. Most plants arrived by chance from
Southeast Asia
. There are 343 flowering plants, 135 ferns and about 30% are endemic plant species.
Marine
[
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]
The surrounding waters are filled with a diversity of marine life, including
sea turtles
,
humpback whales
, over 950 species of fish, and over 250 coral species. Some of the largest living coral colonies (
Porites
) in the world are at Ta‘? island.
Geology
[
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]
The volcanic islands of Samoa that dominate the acreage of the national park are composed of
shield volcanoes
which developed from a
hot spot
on the
Pacific Plate
, emerging sequentially from west to east. Tutulia, the largest and oldest island, probably dates from the
Pliocene
Epoch, approximately 1.24 to 1.4 million years ago, while the smaller islands are most likely
Holocene
in age.
The islands are not made up of individual volcanoes, but are rather composed of overlapping and superimposed shield volcanoes built by
basalt
lava
flows. Much of the lava that erupted has since broken into angular fragments known as
breccia
. The volcanoes emerged from the intrusion of basaltic
dikes
from a rift zone on the ocean floor during the Pliocene Epoch, and were heavily eroded during the Pliocene and early
Pleistocene
Epochs, leaving behind
trachyte
plugs
and exposed outcrops of volcanic
tuff
throughout the park. Ta‘? island, the youngest of the islands included within the national park, is all that remains from the collapse of a shield volcano during Holocene time. This collapse produced sea cliffs over 3,000 feet high on the north side of the island, some of the highest such
escarpments
in the world.
While the Samoan islands have not shown evidence of volcanism for many years, the
Samoa hotspot
beneath the islands continues to give indications of activity, with a submarine eruption detected just east of American Samoa in 1973. The
Vailulu'u Seamount
, located east of Ta‘?, is a future Samoan island developing from submarine lava flows, continuing the eastward progress of volcanic development from the hotspot below the islands. The lava flows forming the
seamount
have been dated by
radiometric
methods to between 5 and 50 years, during which time the seamount has risen 14,764 feet from the ocean floor.
Evidence exists of past submarine and surface
landslides
as a result of
weathering
and other forms of
erosion
of the rocks and soil making up the islands. On Ta‘? island, an inland escarpment known as Liu Bench (a feature of
mass wasting
) threatens to slump into the nearby ocean, an event which could produce a tsunami strong enough to bring devastation to the islands of
Fiji
to the southeast.
[19]
Olivine basalts
were extruded from a N. 70° E. trending
rift zone
, oriented along the current Afono and Masefay bays of
Tutuila
, in the Pliocene or earliest Pleistocene. The Masefau dike complex and
talus
breccias are remnants of this rifting. Development of the Taputapu, Pago, Alofau, and Olomoana
shield domes
followed long parallel
fissures
followed, but when the Pago and Alofau summits collapsed, calderas were formed. Thick
tuffs
were deposited in the Pago caldera, and the southern rim was buried by lavas composed of picritic
basalts
,
andesites
, and trachytes. Subsequent erosion in Early to Middle Pleistocene enlarged the calderas, the Pago River in particular carved a deep canyon, the forerunner of today's Pago Pago Bay. A submarine shelf formed from the erosional runoff, allowing for the development of
coral reefs
before the island was submerged 600 feet (180 m) to 2,000 feet (610 m).
Sea level fluctuations
continued in the Middle to Late Pleistocene. A barrier reef formed, was submerged 200 feet (61 m), before emerging 50 feet (15 m), leaving
sea caves
above sea level. Leone volcanics erupted in recent time generating tuff cones undersea, such as Aunuu Island, and cinder cones on land. The
pahoehoe
flows buried the submerged barrier reef, enlarging the island by 8 square miles (21 km
2
). The island has since emerged another 5 feet (1.5 m).
[20]
Ofu and Olosega
are the remains of a single basaltic volcano, 4 miles (6.4 km) north to south and 6 miles (9.7 km) east to west, which formed in the Pliocene to Early Pleistocene. Remnants of one half of the caldera, ponded flows, form the north center portion of Ofu. The steepest cliffs, 600 feet (180 m) high, are found on this north coast. The Ofu-Olosega island group formed along the same N. 70° W. trending rift which formed Ta‘?, another single basaltic dome. The remnant of Ta‘?'s caldera is found on the south coast. A 2,000-foot (610 m) cliff marks the north coast of this island.
[20]
: 1313?1318
Upolu
formed as an elongated basaltic shield volcano due to Late
Tertiary
to Late Pliocene rifting along a S. 70° E. trend. Remnants of these eruptions are found as
inliers
and
monadnocks
forming Mt. Tafatafao, Mt. Vaaifetu, and Mt. Spitzer. Volcanic activity renewed in the Middle Pleistocene along the same rift trend, with olivine basalt pahoehoe and
aa
flowing northward and southward from a point 8 miles (13 km) west from the center of the island. Pleistocene cinder cones trending east and west, are aligned along the center axis of the island.
Savai'i
lies along this same rift trend, its surface marked by
Quaternary
lava flows. Examples include the olivine basalt pahoehoe which emerged from
Mount Matavanu
from 1905 to 1911, and the
Mauga Afi
chain of
spatter cones
of 1902.
[20]
: 1318?1328
Threats
[
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]
The coral reefs are under significant threat due to rising ocean temperatures and
carbon dioxide
concentration, as well as
sea level rise
. As a result of these and other stresses, the corals that form the reefs are projected to be lost by mid-century if carbon dioxide concentrations continue to rise at their current rate.
[21]
2020 American Samoa quarter
[
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]
In 2018, the
U.S. Mint
had several candidate designs developed for the 2020 America the Beautiful National Park of American Samoa Quarter, which was in accordance with the act that authorized them. One of the designs features the familiar image of
George Washington
by
John Flanagan (sculptor)
, used on the
quarter
(heads) since 1932. The obverse (tails) of the quarter features a
Samoa fruit bat
mother hanging in a tree with her pup. The image represents the remarkable care and energy that this species puts into their offspring. This design is intended to promote awareness to the threatened status of this species due to habitat loss and commercial hunting. The National Park of American Samoa is the only known park in the United States that is home to the Samoan fruit bat. The bats on the coins were designed by Richard Masters, who worked as Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh's Department of Art. The designs were selected by the Citizen's Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) and the Commission on Fine Art (CFA). The coin was released to the public in February 2020, and will be followed by four other
America the Beautiful quarters
for the remainder of 2020.
[22]
[23]
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]
- ^
National Park Service Land Resources Division Summary of Acreage 12/31/2020
- ^
"NPS Annual Recreation Visits Report"
. National Park Service
. Retrieved
2019-03-11
.
- ^
"The National Parks: Index 2009?2011"
(PDF)
. National Park Service
. Retrieved
2011-03-05
.
- ^
https://www.nps.gov/npsa/learn/news/fact-sheet.htm
National Park of American Samoa
. National Park Service. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
- ^
Schermeister, Phil (2016).
National Geographic Guide to National Parks of the United States
. National Geographic Books. Page 316.
ISBN
9781426216510
.
- ^
Hughes, Holly (2010).
Frommer’s 500 Extraordinary Islands (500 Places)
. Frommer’s. Page 86.
ISBN
9780470500705
- ^
Sunia, Fofo I.F. (2009).
A History of American Samoa
. Amerika Samoa Humanities Council. Page 332.
ISBN
9781573062992
.
- ^
"Public Law No: 100-571"
. Library of Congress: THOMAS. 1988-10-31
. Retrieved
2009-01-30
.
- ^
"Public Law No: 107-336"
. Library of Congress: THOMAS. 2002-12-16
. Retrieved
2009-01-30
.
- ^
"American Samoa Earthquake and Tsunami Damage"
(PDF)
. Department of the Interior. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 2011-10-23
. Retrieved
2011-08-27
.
- ^
Maugaloa Ridge is the northwest rim of the
Pago Volcano
caldera
.
- ^
"Hiking and Beachwalking"
. National Park Service
. Retrieved
2009-01-30
.
- ^
National Geographic Guide to the National Parks of the United States
.
National Geographic Society
. 2006.
ISBN
0-7922-5322-1
.
- ^
"Directions"
.
National Park Service
. Retrieved
31 December
2023
.
- ^
"A Complete Guide to Visiting American Samoa"
.
American Field Trip
. Retrieved
31 December
2023
.
- ^
a
b
Hart, Rise (2005-02-14).
"Pacific Island Network Vital Signs Monitoring Plan?Appendix A: National Park of American Samoa Resource Overview"
(PDF)
. National Park Service
. Retrieved
2009-01-30
.
- ^
National Park home page
, retrieved 2009-10-01
- ^
Craig, P.
"Natural History Guide to American Samoa"
(PDF)
. National Park of American Samoa, Department Marine and Wildlife Resources, American Samoa Community College
. Retrieved
2009-08-16
.
- ^
Ann G. Harris, et al.,
The Geology of National Parks
,(Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall-Hunt, 2004)
- ^
a
b
c
Stearns, Harold (1944). "Geology of the Samoan Islands".
Bulletin of the Geological Society of America
.
55
(November): 1312?1313.
Bibcode
:
1944GSAB...55.1279S
.
doi
:
10.1130/gsab-55-1279
.
- ^
Report to the Congress Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, 2009
- ^
"American Samoa National Park |CCAC Images | U.S. Mint"
.
- ^
"2020 American Samoa Quarter Preview"
. 3 January 2020.
Bibliography
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]
External links
[
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]