Co-Trustee Management

Click here for the Monument Management Plan

To provide the most effective management of Papahānaumokuākea, Governor Linda Lingle, Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez, and Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on December 8, 2006, which provided for coordinated administration of all the Federal and State lands and waters within the boundaries of the Monument.

Click here to view information and maps of the sanctuaries, refuges and reserves under the management of each respective Co-Trustee agency.

The MOA provided that management of the Monument is the responsibility of the three parties acting as Co-Trustees:

• The State of Hawai‘i, through the Department of Land and Natural Resources
  
• The U.S. Department of the Interior, through the Fish and Wildlife Service
• The Department of Commerce, through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  
• The MOA also established the institutional arrangements for managing the Monument, including representation of Native Hawaiian interests by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs on the Monument Management Board.

The Co-Trustees are committed to preserving the ecological integrity of the Monument and perpetuation of the NWHI ecosystems, Native Hawaiian culture, and other historic resources.

Proclamation 8031 states that management responsibilities will be portioned out as follows:

• The Secretary of Commerce, through NOAA, has primary responsibility regarding the management of the marine areas of the Monument, in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior.
  
  
• The Secretary of the Interior, through FWS, has sole responsibility for the areas of the Monument that overlay the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, the Battle of Midway National Memorial, and the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce.
  
  
• The State of Hawai‘i, through the Department of Land and Natural Resources, has primary responsibility for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine Refuge and State Seabird Sanctuary at Kure Atoll. Nothing in the Proclamation diminishes or enlarges the jurisdiction of the State of Hawai‘i.