- Niʻihau
Migratory ocean voyages between the Marquesas Islands, Tahiti and the Hawaiian Island of Niʻihau are recounted in legends of the Niihauans. Various myths describe Niʻihau as a child of the gods, and in one version, the creator goddess Pāpā and the sky father Wākea conceive Niʻihau, along with the nearby islets of Lehua in the north, Kaʻula in the west, Kauaʻi 27 kilometers (17 miles) in the east, and farther out, the Northwestern Hawaiian Island of Nihoa 193 kilometers (120 miles) to the west. Niʻihau is a 4.89 million year-old shield volcano that lies in the rain shadow of Kauaʻi, receiving only 50-100 centimeters (20-40 inches) of rain per year, giving it a semi-arid climate. Three miles inland from the southwestern shore of the island lies Halulu Lake, the largest natural lake in Hawaii. When Captain James Cook visited Niʻihau in 1778, the Niihauan population was estimated at around 10,000.[1] Almost a century later, population levels dropped to 300 due to drought conditions and subsequent migration to Kauaʻi, introduced diseases, and other factors. The island was privately purchased by the Sinclair family in 1864, and is now owned by their descendents, the Robinsons.
- August improvement drive
As a B-Class, top-importance article, Niʻihau is well on its way to a good article nomination. More importantly, a future featured article nomination is realistic for several reasons: 1) many of the required references are available in the current article, making expansion easier and convenient for editors; 2) free images have been uploaded and location maps are available on commons; 3) daughter articles have either already been split out of the parent article (Niihau Incident, Keith Robinson, Pu'uwai, Hawaii) or exist as drafts in userspace (Cyperus laevigatus, History of Niihau, Elizabeth McHutcheson Sinclair) and are ready to be cleaned up and moved into mainspace by any editor. It is also feasible to consider splitting out new geography, culture, and flora of Niihau articles based on the abundant amount of content available for expansion.
- Collaboration
Members of WikiProject Birds are currently improving articles on endemic birds of Hawaii. User:Pvmoutside, User:Rabo3 and User:Jimfbleak have been working on articles such as Puaiohi (Myadestes palmeri), a bird endemic to the island of Kauai. Other active articles include Kāmaʻo, Kauaʻi Nukupuʻu, Maui Nukupuʻu, and Olomaʻo. If you have an interest in Hawaiian birds, please help out or contact WikiProject Birds for more information.
- Islets of Ni'ihau
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Lehua, an extinct volcano of Niʻihau, and the largest offshore islet in Hawaii. Home to thousands of breeding pairs of seabirds, many are threatened by invasive species such as the Polynesian Rat. The European Rabbit population was recently brought under control, and native plants are making a comeback.
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Kaʻula, an important place for the Ancient Niihauans. E. L. Caum found more than a dozen species of plants living here. The island is mostly inhabited by several species of birds, particularly the Common Noddy ( Anous stolidus)
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- Quote
Ke hoi nei ko Niihau keiki i ka maluhia ka ulu hala o Halawela
- "When Niihau's children return, there will be peace in the hala grove of Halawela."[2]
- Recent changes
- Ala Moana Center, a shopping center in Honolulu, has been improving steadily since Gerald Farinas began cleanup in May
- Big wave surfers Dave Kalama, Laird Hamilton, and Mark Foo, and Jaws (beach), a big wave surfing reef break on the island of Maui, are under expansion from JamesBHunt
- The genealogy of the Davis and Young family, the Davis and Young family tree, is under development by Kavebear
- Hokulea, the famous Polynesian voyaging canoe, is undergoing a rewrite by Newportm and is getting close to B-Class
- Kenneth R. Conklin, an opponent of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, is being watched for POV edits by Arjuna808
- Laie Hawaii Temple, an LDS Church temple in Lā'ie, was nominated as a good article by Viriditas
- Articles needing attention
Following up from July's newsletter, MPerel has begun importing WolterBot's cleanup listing report, beginning with the population of Category:Unreferenced Hawaii articles. Although incomplete, there are currently 148 articles tagged needing references and/or inline citations. 464 out of 2348 articles (19.8 percent) within the scope of the project are currently flagged for cleanup.
- Dispute resolution update
As of July 14th, WolterBot has updated the status of 21 ongoing disputes. Please pick at least one and visit the talk page. Articles appear listed from oldest to most recently tagged; bolding indicates an assessment of top importance and should receive priority:
- Accuracy_disputes: 2
- Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Governor of Hawaii
- Articles with disputed statements: 2
- Blount Report, Republic of Hawaii
- NPOV disputes: 17
- Blount Report, Committee of Safety (Hawaii), Halawa, Hawaii, Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, History of Hawaii, Kingdom of Hawaii, Liliuokalani, McKinley Tariff, Native Hawaiians, Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Republic of Hawaii, Richard Kim (karate), Rod Lurie, Eric Shinseki, Kajukenbo, American Chinese cuisine, Hawaii Superferry
- References
- ^ Fornander 1880, p. 165. Cook estimated 500, but his officer James King raised it to 10,000.
- ^ Tava & Keale 1989, p. 16
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