National Park of American Samoa

Park Information

• Date Established: October 31, 1988
• Location: American Samoa
• Area: 13,500 acres

Overview

The National Park of American Samoa is the only US national park that falls below Earth’s equator. It is located in the Pacific Ocean more than 2,600 miles (3,218 kilometers) away from California and the American mainland. It includes three islands consisting of 13,500 acres, of which 4,000 acres are underwater.

The park exists through a cooperative agreement between the United States and Samoan chiefs. It includes the only rainforest on American soil and has five different rainforest environments. In addition to the rainforest, the ecosystems in the National Park of American Samoa include a large coral reef, a popular beach, several volcanoes, and American Samoa’s highest mountain.

The Samoan culture includes great reverence for the land. The name Samoa means “sacred earth” in the native language. Accordingly, the people of Samoa play an active role in managing the park and its natural resources. Native Samoans operate some facilities for park guests within their villages. Some even open their homes to overnight park guests as part of a homestay program that is unusual in American national parks.

History

Samoa is an island country located roughly midway between Hawaii and New Zealand. Samoa is believed to have been the first Polynesian island to be inhabited. There is evidence that people arrived there from Asia in ocean-worthy canoes about three thousand years ago. European whalers, traders, and explorers found the island in the early 1700s.

In the late 1800s, civil war broke out between the islands that make up Samoa. In 1899, the war was settled by dividing the country. Germany took control of the western islands. The United States assumed control over the islands to the east, where America already had a naval base established by a treaty with the Samoan chiefs. These islands became known as American Samoa. In 1904, the chiefs ceded the islands to the United States, although Congress delayed accepting this until 1929. The country was run by American-appointed governors until 1977, when the Samoans began electing their own leaders.

American Samoa is made up of seven islands and atolls, or islands encircled by a coral reef. The largest and main island is Tutuila. The park includes parts of this island as well as the islands of Ta’ū, and Ofu.

These areas and thousands of acres of underwater reefs nearby were declared a national park on October 31, 1988. This helps to protect the ecosystems there, as well as a number of sites of cultural and archaeological importance. However, the park land included several inhabited villages and other areas that were not available for purchase or acquisition, as is usually done with national parks. Instead, in 1993 the Samoan chieftains signed a fifty-year agreement to lease the park lands to the American National Park Service. In 2002, two additional villages on nearby Olosega Island were added to the national park.

Geology and Ecology

The park’s islands are volcanic in origin. Lush tropical rainforests cover much of the land surface of the islands, which are surrounded by environmentally and culturally significant coral reefs. In addition to the unique ecosystems, the National Park of American Samoa is also unusual among US parks because it allows both fishing and farming on the grounds, as long as the activities are not commercial in nature.

Hundreds of plant species can be found within the confines of the park, most within the five types of rainforest environments found there. These include the following:

• Lowland: dense areas with diverse plant life on more level ground where water is very plentiful from both ground sources and precipitation.
• Montane: the type of forest found on the sides of mountains, where the ecosystem changes according to the elevation.
• Coastal: forested areas along the coast.
• Ridge: located at the higher points of mountain ridges.
• Cloud: a forest that is nearly always covered with a low-lying cloud that hovers at the same level as the tops of the trees.

The park was created to protect this unique rainforest ecosystem along with the coral reefs that surround much of the islands. These reefs include more than two hundred species of coral and more than nine hundred different types of fish. The waters that are part of the park serve as a protected habitat for endangered humpback whales and sea turtles. Fishing in these areas is allowed but only for food used by those doing the fishing; this is in keeping with the cultural beliefs of the Samoans, who hold a reverent respect for the land and its creatures.

The park is also home to a number of animals. These include three different species of bats that are native to the island, one of which has a 3-foot (.91-meter) wing span. It also includes endangered flying foxes; these highly mobile animals are excellent at carrying seeds from one area to another and are important in efforts to preserve the health and diversity of forestland.

The park is also home to many types of birds, about thirty-five of which are native to the island. The other bird species found in the park were introduced either intentionally or accidentally over the centuries. They include tropical doves and pigeons, honeyeaters, and Samoan starlings.

Access to the park is by air or water. A fourteen-hour flight, including a multi-hour layover, brings visitors from California to the islands; the flight from Hawaii into the airport near the Pago Pago Harbor is a little over five hours. From there, visitors reach park grounds either by taxi or car, or on foot. Native fishermen help transport visitors who wish to see the park lands on other islands or on the reefs that surround them. In 2022, the National Park of American Samoa was the nation's least visited national park. Just 1,887 recreational visitors travelled to the park that year.

Bibliography

“American Samoa.” Nations Online, www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/american‗samoa.htm. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

Matthews, Brad. "National Park of American Samoa the Nation's Least Visited in 2022." Washington Times, 7 Mar. 2023, www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/mar/7/national-park-american-samoa-nations-least-visited/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“National Park of American Samoa.” National Park Foundation, www.nationalparks.org/explore-parks/national-park-american-samoa. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“National Park of American Samoa.” National Park Service, www.nps.gov/npsa/index.htm. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

Payne, Stefanie. “Three Islands, One Park: The National Park of American Samoa.” Huffington Post, 7 Aug. 2017, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/three-islands-one-park-the-national-park-of-american‗us‗5988f2fce4b0f25bdfb31f15. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Visit This Unique, Tropical National Park.” National Geographic, www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/american-samoa-national-park/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Welcome to American Samoa National Park.” National Park, 26 Apr. 2016, www.national-park.com/welcome-to-american-samoa-national-park/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.