On October 31, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 13022, which transferred the jurisdiction and control of the atoll to the United States Department of the Interior. The FWS assumed management of the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. The last contingent of Navy personnel left Midway on June 30, 1997 after an ambitious environmental cleanup program was completed.
On September 13, 2000, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt designated the Wildlife Refuge as the Battle of Midway National Memorial. The refuge is now titled as the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial.
On June 15, 2006, President George W. Bush designated the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as a national monument. The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument encompasses 105,564 square nautical miles and includes 3,910 square nautical miles of coral reef habitat. The Monument also includes the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.
In 2007, the Monument’s name was changed to Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The National Monument is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the State of Hawaii. In 2016 President Obama expanded the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, and added the Office of Hawaiian Affairs as a fourth co-trustee of the monument.
2011 Tsunami:
The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11 caused many deaths among the bird population on Midway. It was reported that a five foot high wave completely submerged the atoll’s reef inlets and Spit Island, killing more than 110,000 nesting seabirds at the National Wildlife Refuge. However, scientists on the island do not think it will have long-term negative impacts on the bird populations.
Transportation:
The usual method of reaching Sand Island, Midway Atoll’s only populated island, is on chartered aircraft landing at Sand Island’s Henderson Field, which also functions as an emergency diversion point runway for transpacific flights.
Unofficial Flag of Midway Atoll:
The top is sky blue, the thin stripe is white for the beach and the turquoise bottom stripe is for the color of the surrounding ocean. The bird, a Laysan Albatross, is white and black.
It was designed for the Memorial Day 2000 event being held at the USS Arizona. The flag was designed by the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge staff with assistance of a National Park Service employee. This flag has no official status, other than that it will be used to represent Midway Island in a Memorial Day ceremony. The flag has the same status as a small US city’s flag – it is accepted as the flag by the inhabitants even though the federal government hasn’t given the flag official status.