Laysan, located at N25° 42' 14" W171° 44' 04", is one of the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. It comprises one land mass of about 1,015 acres (4.1 km²), about 1 by 1.5 miles in size (1.6 by 2.4 km).

Interesting physical characteristics include fringing reefs along portions of the coastline and, within the island, a large body of water about eight feet (2.4 meters) above sea level that has a salinity about three times higher than the surrounding ocean.

Laysan is noted for its bird life; early expeditions to the island in the 19th century estimated the avian population at several hundred thousand or even several million. However, the island's ecosystem was all but destroyed by human influence around the turn of the 20th century. A period of guano harvesting lasting about a dozen years was followed by the introduction, for commercial purposes, of rabbits that bred rapidly and devoured most of the island's vegetation. Complaints about this and about Japanese poachers led President Theodore Roosevelt to declare the northwestern island chain a bird sanctuary in 1909. The bird population had by that time been reduced to about a tenth of its former size, and three endemic species had become extinct. Two other endemic species, the Laysan Duck and the Laysan Finch, survive to this day, but are endangered.

Laysan was inhabited by humans for a period in the early 20th century, during the guano mining operations and the introduction of rabbits. Like all of the northwestern Hawaiian islands, it is currently uninhabited. It is protected by the Hawaiian Natural Life Act of 1961 and cared for by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who have had success in eliminating pests and restoring native vegetation and animal populations.

External links

• Ecological description of Laysan
• History of Laysan