Welcome to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial, which is part of Papah膩naumoku膩kea Marine National Monument! Midway Atoll (Kuaihelani) is a sanctuary for millions of seabirds, shorebirds, ducks, and various marine life who all call the island home, for all or part of their lifecycle. Kuaihelani is the ancient Hawaiian name for the three small island encircled by a coral reef which make up the atoll.

Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial are currently closed to public visitation. Only activities that directly support airfield operations and conservation management of the refuge, memorial and monument are allowed. However, we offer a few exciting virtual experiences that we hope you will enjoy under the Visit Us section.
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Visit Us

Most National Wildlife Refuges offer us all a chance to unplug from the stressors of daily life and reconnect with our natural surroundings.  Although Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial is currently closed to public visitation, these links provide for several exciting virtual ways to visit and even tour the Refuge.

Location and Contact Information

      Tsunami impact summary for Midway Atoll

      Throughout the State of Hawai鈥榠 on July 29, 2025, it was widely reported that tsunami waves would be experienced first on Midway Atoll before reaching the main Hawaiian Islands.  This activity resulted from an earthquake off the Kamchatka peninsula, Russian Federation.

      From the shelter in place location on Sand Island, several small waves were observed by staff to impact North Beach. There were no significant impacts on refuge facilities resulting from the tsunami.  A few days after the tsunami waves hit Midway, the staff conducted post-tsunami assessments of Sand Island and Eastern Island. The below summary details observations of tsunami impacts.

      Sand Island:

      • Limited overwash occurred on Sand Island, the dunes on North Beach were hardly impacted. There was no evidence of overwash into the vegetation along West Beach, and minimal intrusion into Rusty Bucket area was found.  

      • Beaches that often have been found to shift in extent and shape after storms seemed largely unchanged across Sand Island.

      Eastern Island:

      • Eastern and Spit presented more significant evidence of overwash leading to impacts to wildlife and habitat with water extending inland up to 150 ft, though the vast majority of shoreline presented intrusion of 50ft or less.  

      • The heavily vegetated isthmus between Split and Eastern Island did not wash over, sparing the thousands of sooty tern chicks present there at the time.  

      • Water still moved through stands of coastal vegetation with enough energy to dislodge and concentrate groundcover vegetation, primarily alena (Boerhavia repens), mauka (upland) of the shrubs and create wrack lines in which albatross and other chicks became buried or entangled.

      • It is unlikely that any individuals of threatened or endangered birds were killed as a result of the tsunami. This includes Laysan ducks and the newly-translocated Laysan finches.

      • No turtles were found washed ashore, and the refuge's last mom-pup monk seal pair of the season were seen together, still nursing, at their usual spot of the north shore between Eastern & Spit two days following the event.

      • Nearly all black-footed albatross chicks had already fledged prior to the tsunami.

      • The scale of the effects on albatross chicks is difficult to assess. FWS staff freed ~80 entangled or entrapped albatross chicks during the first two days after the tsunami.

      • Many areas that over washed had been occupied by sooty tern chicks of varying ages and dozens of red-tailed tropicbird chicks. An unknown number of chicks from these two ground-nesting species were impacted. However, due to the time of year and mobility of chicks, the majority of sooty tern subcolonies were unscathed.  Most overwashed areas, even those closest to the beach, had numerous chicks present again shortly after the event, suggesting that many if not most were able to survive.

      • A few sooty tern chicks and adults were also freed from entanglement/entrapment, and a handful of smaller tropicbird chicks were found in open areas, displaced from their nests under naupaka vegetation.

      • Low winds during the second half of July this year delayed fledging for a large percentage of Laysan albatross. As a result, an unusually large number of chicks moved to and were congregated along the shorelines at the time of the wave, unable or unwilling to fly off. This makes it difficult to assess the true impacts of the tsunami on Laysan Albatross.

      • In summary, Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge estimates that a few hundred albatross chicks and sooty tern chick, as well as a few dozen tropicbird chicks were impacted by the tsunami.  We do not believe that any population-level impacts occurred for any of the species on Midway Atoll as a result of the tsunami.

      About Us

      Located on the far northern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial is located within the . It is one of the oldest atoll formations in the world, and it provides nesting habitat for millions of seabirds as well as being a touchstone for one of the most significant naval battles in our human history.  Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff, volunteers and contractors live on Midway to support the recovery and integrity of wildlife habitat and species while balancing their own human impact on the land and seascape, and protecting historical resources. 

      What We Do

      The purpose of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial is to serve as a refuge and breeding ground for migratory birds, monk seals, sea turtles and other wildlife, while also protecting cultural resources from the Commercial Pacific Cable Company to the historic Battle of Midway.  

      Our Species

      Midway Atoll's (Kuaihelani) three small islands provide a virtually predator-free safe haven for the world's largest albatross colony. Marine wildlife, which visit or live at the atoll, include green sea turtles, spinner dolphins, endangered Hawaiian monk seals and an unusually high number of endemic fish. 

      To learn about what birds, mammals, reptiles, fish, invertebrates, and plants live at Midway Atoll, see the Species section.

      Projects and Research

      The principal refuge management objective on land is to enhance the quality of habitat for the full diversity of nesting seabird species. This is accomplished by preventing the reintroduction of rats, controlling noxious plants and by replanting specific areas with native vegetation. 

      Several steps have been taken or are underway to minimize human activities that adversely impact wildlife. Examples include: the elimination of overhead wiring, the modification of lights that disorient night-flying birds and the timing of construction or repair activities to reduce wildlife impacts. Some particularly important beaches have been declared "off limits" to encourage undisturbed use of these areas by Hawaiian monk seals and Green sea turtles.