Palmyra Atoll

Palmyra Atoll is an incorporated atoll administered by the United States federal government. The atoll is 4.6 sq mi (12 km2), and it is located in the Northern Pacific Ocean. Geographically, Palmyra is one of the Northern Line Islands (southeast of Kingman Reef and north of Kiribati Line Islands), located almost due south of the Hawaiian Islands, roughly halfway between Hawaii and American Samoa.

Its 9 mi (14 km) of coastline has one anchorage known as West Lagoon. It consists of an extensive reef, two shallow lagoons, and some 50 sand and reef-rock islets and bars covered with vegetation—mostly coconut trees, Scaevola, and tall Pisonia trees.

The islets of the atoll are all connected, except Sand Island in the west and Barren Island in the east. The largest island is Cooper Island in the north, followed by Kaula Island in the south. The northern arch of islets is formed by Strawn Island, Cooper Island, Aviation Island, Quail Island, Whippoorwill Island, followed in the east by Eastern Island, Papala Island, and Pelican Island, and in the south by Bird Island, Holei Island, Engineer Island, Tanager Island, Marine Island, Kaula Island, Paradise Island, and Home Island (clockwise). Average annual rainfall is approximately 175 in (4,400 mm) per year. Daytime temperatures average 85°F (29°C) year round.

Palmyra is an incorporated territory of the United States, meaning that it is subject to all provisions contained in the United States Constitution and is permanently under US sovereignty. However, it is also an unorganized territory as there is no Congressional act specifying how it should be governed; the only relevant law simply gives the President the discretion to administer the island as best seen fit (see Section 48 of the Hawaii Omnibus Act, Pub. L. 86–624, July 12, 1960, 74 Stat. 411, attached as a note to former sections 491 to 636 of Title 48, United States Code).

The issue of Palmyra’s governance is generally a moot point, as there is no indigenous population remaining nor any reason to think that there will be one in the future. It remains therefore currently the only unorganized incorporated US territory.

Cooper Island is privately owned by The Nature Conservancy and managed as a nature reserve; the rest of the atoll is government land in the possession of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Since the territory has no local government, it is administered directly from Washington, DC, by the Office of Insular Affairs, United States Department of the Interior. Defense is the responsibility of the United States.

For statistical purposes, Palmyra is grouped as one of the US Minor Outlying Islands.

For more details see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmyra_Atoll

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