The National Park of American Samoa is a U.S. national park in the territory of American Samoa. It is spread out over three islands: Tutuila, Ofu, and Taʻū. The park protects and keeps safe coral reefs, tropical rainforests, fruit bats, and Samoan culture. Popular activities include hiking and snorkeling. The park covers 8,257 acres (about 3,341 hectares), with 2,500 acres (about 1,000 hectares) being coral reefs and ocean.
This park is the only American National Park Service unit located south of the equator. It includes the high ground and steep hills on the north side of Tutuila, the beach and coral reef at the Toʻaga area on the southeast coast of Ofu, and almost two-thirds of Taʻū Island.
History
In 1984, Delegate Fofō Iosefa Fiti Sunia introduced a bill at the request of the Bat Preservers Association and Dr. Paul Cox. The bill aimed to add American Samoa to the Federal Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act. Its goal was to protect the habitat of the flying fox and preserve the old rainforest. This action started the process of American Samoa joining the U.S. National Park System. The National Park Service began working to create the national park in July 1987.
The National Park of American Samoa was created on October 31, 1988, by Public Law 100-571. However, the National Park Service could not purchase the land because of the traditional communal land system. This issue was solved on September 10, 1993, when the National Park Service signed a 50-year lease for the park land with Samoan village councils. In 2002, Congress approved a 30% expansion of the park on Olosega and Ofu islands.
In September 2009, an earthquake and tsunami caused large waves. This event led to 34 confirmed deaths, over 100 injuries, and the destruction of about 200 homes and businesses. The park suffered major damage, including the destruction of the visitor center and main office. Only one injury was reported among National Park Service staff and volunteers.
Tutuila
The Tutuila unit of the park is located on the northern part of the island near Pago Pago. It is separated from other areas by Mount Alava (1,610 feet or 490 meters) and the Maugaloa Ridge. This unit includes the Amalau Valley, Craggy Point, Tāfeu Cove, and the islands of Pola and Manofā. It covers 2,500 acres of land (3.9 square miles) and 1,200 acres of waters near the coast.
This is the only part of the park that can be reached by car and is visited by most people who come to the area. The park includes a trail to the top of Mount Alava and historic WWII gun positions at Breakers Point and Blunts Point. The trail follows a ridge through thick forest. To the north of the ridge, the land slopes steeply downward toward the ocean.
Manuʻa Islands
The Ofu unit includes Ofu Beach, which is two miles long, and Sunuitao Peak. It is the smallest of the three park units, covering 70 acres of land and 400 acres of offshore waters. Many visitors who have visited Ofu say it is the most attractive unit. Ofu Island can be reached by small fishing boats from Taʻū Island, but these boats are not always reliable. Visitors can also travel by flights that leave every two weeks from Pago Pago. There are places to stay on Ofu Island.
The Taʻū unit is the largest of the three park units, with 3,700 acres of land and 1,100 acres of offshore waters. It is also the wildest unit and includes Lata Mountain, which is the highest point in American Samoa at 3,170 feet (970 meters). Taʻū Island can be reached by flights from Tutuila to Fiti‘uta village on Taʻū. There are places to stay on Taʻū. A trail runs from Saua to Siʻu Point and then along the southern coastline. There used to be a trail to the top of Lata Mountain, but it is now overgrown and too difficult to walk through without cutting through thick plants with a machete. A report says the National Park Service plans to rebuild the trail starting in June 2024.
Biodiversity
Because the area is far from other places, there are not many different types of land animals. About 30% of the plants and one bird species (the Samoan starling) are found only in this group of islands.
Three types of bats are the only native mammals: two large fruit bats (Samoa flying fox and white-naped flying fox) and a small insect-eating bat (Pacific sheath-tailed bat). These bats help pollinate the island's plants. The sheath-tailed bat was almost wiped out by Cyclone Val in 1991 and may have disappeared from some areas since then. Four reptiles are native to the island: the Oceania gecko and three skink species (mottled snake-eyed skink, Micronesian skink, and olive small-scaled skink). Eight reptiles were brought to the island by early Polynesian settlers: five skink species (copper-tailed skink, azure-tailed skink, black emo skink, Samoa skink, and moth skink), two gecko species (Pacific slender-toed gecko and mourning gecko), and the Pacific boa (found only on Taʻū).
Three reptiles were introduced to the island after the 18th century: stump-toed gecko, common house gecko, and Brahminy blind snake (found only on Tutuila).
Among mammals, Polynesian rats, pigs, and dogs were brought by early Polynesian settlers. Cats, black rats, brown rats, and house mice were introduced more recently. The only known amphibian on the island, the cane toad, was also introduced recently and is found only on Tutuila.
Several bird species live on the islands, including the wattled honeyeater, Samoan starling, and Pacific pigeon. Other birds include the Tahiti petrel, spotless crake, and the rare many-colored fruit dove.
A key purpose of the park is to manage and remove invasive plant and animal species, such as feral pigs, which harm the island's ecosystem.
The islands are mostly covered by tropical rainforest, including cloud forest on Taʻū and lowland ridge forest on Tutuila. Most plant species arrived by chance from Southeast Asia. There are 343 flowering plants, 135 ferns, and about 30% of these plants are found only in this region.
The surrounding ocean has many types of marine life, including sea turtles, humpback whales, over 950 fish species, and over 250 coral species. Some of the largest coral colonies (Porites) in the world are located on Taʻū island.
Geology
The volcanic islands of Samoa that cover most of the national park are made of shield volcanoes. These volcanoes formed from a hot spot on the Pacific Plate, appearing one after another from west to east. Tutuila, the largest and oldest island, likely formed during the Pliocene Epoch, about 1.24 to 1.4 million years ago. The smaller islands are probably from the Holocene Epoch, which is more recent.
The islands are not made of separate volcanoes but are built from overlapping shield volcanoes formed by basalt lava flows. Much of the lava that erupted has turned into angular rock pieces called breccia. The volcanoes formed when basaltic dikes from a rift zone on the ocean floor intruded during the Pliocene Epoch. These volcanoes were heavily eroded during the Pliocene and early Pleistocene Epochs, leaving behind trachyte plugs and exposed volcanic tuff throughout the park. Taʻū, the youngest island in the national park, is what remains after a shield volcano collapsed during the Holocene. This collapse created sea cliffs over 3,000 feet high on Taʻū’s north side, some of the tallest cliffs in the world.
Although the Samoan islands have not shown volcanic activity for many years, the Samoa hotspot beneath them still shows signs of activity. A submarine eruption was recorded east of American Samoa in 1973. The Vailuluʻu Seamount, located east of Taʻū, is a future island forming from submarine lava flows. This seamount has risen 14,764 feet from the ocean floor, and its lava flows have been dated to between 5 and 50 years old.
Evidence shows past submarine and surface landslides caused by weathering and erosion of the islands’ rocks and soil. On Taʻū, an inland escarpment called Liu Bench threatens to collapse into the ocean, which could create a tsunami strong enough to damage the islands of Fiji to the southeast.
Olivine basalts erupted from a rift zone trending north 70 degrees east, aligned with Afono and Masefay bays on Tutuila during the Pliocene or earliest Pleistocene. The Masefau dike complex and talus breccias are remnants of this rifting. Shield domes like Taputapu, Pago, Alofau, and Olomoana formed along long parallel fissures. When Pago and Alofau summits collapsed, calderas formed. Thick tuffs were deposited in the Pago caldera, and the southern rim was buried by lavas made of picritic basalts, andesites, and trachytes. Erosion during the Early to Middle Pleistocene expanded the calderas. The Pago River carved a deep canyon, which became today’s Pago Pago Bay. A submarine shelf formed from runoff, allowing coral reefs to develop before the island was submerged 600 to 2,000 feet. Sea level changes during the Middle to Late Pleistocene caused a barrier reef to form, submerge 200 feet, then emerge 50 feet, leaving sea caves above sea level. Leone volcanics erupted recently, creating underwater tuff cones like Aunuu Island and land cinder cones. Pahoehoe lava flows covered the submerged barrier reef, expanding the island by 8 square miles. The island has since risen another 5 feet.
Ofu and Olosega are remnants of a single basaltic volcano, 4 miles north to south and 6 miles east to west, formed during the Pliocene to Early Pleistocene. Remnants of one half of the caldera and ponded lava flows form the north center of Ofu. The steepest cliffs, 600 feet high, are on Ofu’s north coast. The Ofu-Olosega island group formed along the same north 70 degrees west trending rift that created Taʻū, another single basaltic dome. A 2,000-foot cliff marks Taʻū’s south coast.
Upolu formed as an elongated basaltic shield volcano due to Late Tertiary to Late Pliocene rifting along a south 70 degrees east trend. Remnants of these eruptions are found as inliers and monadnocks, such as Mt. Tafatafao, Mt. Vaaifetu, and Mt. Spitzer. Volcanic activity resumed in the Middle Pleistocene along the same rift trend, with olivine basalt pahoehoe and aa lava flowing north and south from a point 8 miles west of the island’s center. Pleistocene cinder cones aligned east and west form the island’s central axis. Savai’i lies along this same rift trend, with Quaternary lava flows covering its surface. Examples include olivine basalt pahoehoe from Mount Matavanu (1905–1911) and the Mauga Afi chain of spatter cones from 1902.
Threats
Coral reefs are facing a big danger because of warmer ocean temperatures, higher levels of carbon dioxide, and rising sea levels. These problems, along with others, may cause the corals that build the reefs to disappear by the middle of this century if carbon dioxide levels keep increasing at their current speed.
2020 American Samoa quarter
In 2018, the U.S. Mint created several possible designs for the 2020 National Park of American Samoa quarter as part of the America the Beautiful series. One design shows the well-known image of George Washington, created by John Flanagan, which has been on the quarter since 1932. The back of the quarter displays a Samoan fruit bat mother hanging in a tree with her pup. This image shows the great care and effort the species puts into raising their young. The design aims to inform people about the endangered status of this species, which faces challenges from habitat loss and hunting for trade. The bat images were created by Richard Alan Masters, who was a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Art at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. The designs were chosen by the Citizen's Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) and the Commission on Fine Art (CFA). The coin was made available to the public in February 2020.