Interior Celebrates Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Communities

Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities make our nation more vibrant through a diversity of cultures, languages and religions. President Biden’s Proclamation on Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Island Heritage Month is a call to reflect, as a nation, on these communities’ monumental contributions toward building and sustaining our country, our national character and our rich heritage.

Offices and bureaus in the Department of the Interior, such as the Office of Insular Affairs, the Office of Native Hawaiian Relations, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provide important funding assistance for natural and cultural resource protection, as well as resources to communities to help protect lives and livelihoods throughout Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations in the U.S. and in the territories.

Our recent work to preserve historic, cultural and natural resources includes the protection of the ‘ōhiʻa, a tree that is unique to the Hawaiian Islands, from a fungal disease called Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death. This disease is currently attacking and killing thousands of ‘ōhiʻa trees, a keystone species in Hawaiian forests and an important place for food and shelter for native birds. Our U.S. Geological Survey researchers helped prove that native ʻōhiʻa seedlings can survive for at least a year in areas that have active mortality from Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death, providing the first real hope the tree can be restored across its historic landscape.

Funding from the Department’s Office of Insular Affairs has helped the Kosrae Government build several traditional resting houses in the Kosrae Mahkontowe Conservation Area in the Federated States of Micronesia using traditional knowledge and local resources to support both eco-heritage tourism and local agri-foresters. The National Park Service also awarded the Underrepresented Communities Grant to the Kosrae Government in support of efforts to nominate the Mahkontowe Conservation Area to the nation’s official list of historic places worthy of preservation.

We celebrate the contributions and legacies as well as encourages representation of the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities through our art exhibitions, outreach, engagement and communications. The Department’s museum’s collection contains approximately 600 objects relating to the agency’s historical role with the U.S. territories and the freely associated states. Most of these are handcrafted items and official gifts presented to visiting Interior dignitaries.

President Biden said in his proclamation, “The American story as we know it would be impossible without the strength, contributions, and legacies of AANHPIs who have helped build and unite this country in each successive generation.” That sentiment drives Interior’s efforts to invest in developing local capacity and next generation leaders. For example, the Office of Insular Affairs provides funding for the Executive Leadership Development Program (ELDP) which was designed to assist the island area governments with developing and retaining qualified and talented professionals needed to lead their governments into the future. The ELDP now counts 149 alumni in the insular areas who represent an extraordinary group of young island leaders with diverse professional backgrounds and an enduring commitment to public service.

It is our hope that all Americans take this opportunity to learn more about the history and contributions of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Island cultures to the United States and honor them as indispensable threads in our national tapestry, as we celebrate the cultures, languages, and histories that enrich the quality and character of our great nation.

05/24/2021

Celebrating Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Communities

National Park of American Samoa

National Park of American Samoa

National Park of American Samoa

The National Park of American Samoa is located approximately 2,600 miles southwest of Hawai'i. It is one of the most remote national parks in the United States.

The Samoan culture is Polynesia's oldest. It is believed that, the first people on the Samoan Islands came by sea from southwest Asia some 3,000 years ago. Over the centuries, distinct cultural traits emerged that we now call fa'asamoa.
The ʻŌhiʻa

The lehua (flower) of the ʻōhiʻa is the official flower of the island of Hawai’i. ʻŌhiʻa lehua is an important part of Hawai’i’s forests and provides food and shelter for native birds.

The ʻŌhiʻa

ʻŌhiʻa lehua is an important part of Hawai’i’s forests and provides food and shelter for native birds.

The lehua (flower) of the ʻōhiʻa is the official flower of the island of Hawai’i.

ʻŌhiʻa is the keystone species in Hawaiian forests; however, a fungal disease called Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death is currently attacking and killing thousands of trees.
Wildlife Refuges

Photo by Jim Maragos, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Wildlife Refuges

Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and six other national wildlife refuges are seemingly just dots near the equator of the Pacific Ocean, but upon a closer look these islands, reefs, and atolls are at the epicenter of Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world.

These refuges host terrestrial and marine life in numbers and unique and specialized life forms beyond our imagination and they provide a safe haven for millions of birds and marine life that swarm to shallow areas and islands to rest, to feed, to mate, and to give life to their offspring.
Kosrae Island Mahkontowe Conservation Area

Picture courtesy of KIRMA.

Kosrae Island Mahkontowe Conservation Area

Using Compact of Free Association funding provided through OIA, the Kosrae Government built several traditional resting houses in the Kosrae Mahkontowe Conservation Area in the Federated States of Micronesia using traditional knowledge and local resources to support both eco-heritage tourism and local agriforesters.
Kili Bag from the Marshall Islands

U.S. Department of the Interior Museum, INTR 07106

Kili Bag from the Marshall Islands

Kili bags are woven by women from Kili Island in the Marshall Islands from pandanus and coconut fibers. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy popularized them as fashion accessories in the U.S. in the early 1960s.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell was gifted this Kili bag while attending the Pacific Islands Forum in the Marshall Islands in 2013.
Yap Stone Money

U.S. Department of the Interior Museum, INTR 00025

Yap Stone Money

Stone money found only in Yap — once part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands until 1986 and now a state within the Federated States of Micronesia — holds significant cultural and historic value and is still used for ceremonial exchanges. Men risked their lives crossing the ocean to transport the stone money quarried in Palau, over 200 miles away.
Palauan Storyboard and Samoan Fue

U.S. Department of the Interior Museum, INTR 02158 and INTR 03536

Palauan Storyboard and Samoan Fue

Palauan Storyboard (top)

Similar to motifs appearing on a “bai” or the traditional men’s meeting houses in Palau, carved wooden storyboards depict scenes from Palauan parables and legends. This storyboard depicts the story of Yapese men who transported stone money disks quarried from Palau limestone quarry sites and risked the dangerous journey back to Yap by canoe.

Samoan Fue (bottom)

A “fue” or orator’s whisk is a piece of regalia signifying a talking chief’s status in Samoan society. This one was presented to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt during his 1997 visit to the U.S. territory to dedicate the National Park of American Samoa.