From what i understand, this mid-Pacific island is used as a place to destroy chemical and biological weapons (like nerve gas, mustard gas, etc.). One would expect that it is a pretty dangerous place for life…indeed, you can only land there by special permission. So is the island a completely dead wasteland? Or is there some life on the island?
Judging from google maps, it looks like an aircraft carrier. No seriously, it does. It looks like just bushes and grasses are there, plus anything that lives in the water nearby.
Does Anything Live on Johnson Atoll?"
In a word, YES
For more information go to <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnston_Atoll>
Johnston Island is a Wildlife Refuge and an important nesting site for seabirds, with 12 species breeding on the atoll’s various islands. Hawaiian Monk Seals and Green Turtles also occur. There are some contaminant issues, but the atoll is pretty much as rich in life as any other similarly isolated island.
Hundreds of civilian contractors, army civilians, and soldiers lived there for years. The chemical demilitarization plant was similar to the plants used here in the US for the destruction of chemical weapons. The plant, on completion of the mission, was dismantled and fed into itself (furnace portion) to complete the decontamination process. Fishing was always popular. There is a radiation hot spot. During the A/H-bomb testing program, Johnston Island had a missile launch pad. One missile (w/warhead) only made it a few feet into the air before a malfunction and explosive fire. N-warheads are designed NOT to explode in a fire though the conventional explosives in the warhead do contribute and scatter the nuclear material about locally. Think, “an accidental dirty bomb”. After cleanup of the area (contaminated dirt shipped off for storage at a low level site), some radiation is still present. The area is secured and monitored on a regular basis. The site was considered good duty (food and recreation-wise) for those who didn’t crave a big city night-life for months at a time. And as Colibri stated, all kinds of animals abound.
A good friend (R.I.P.) was in the Navy in WWII. His favorite story about Johnston Island was about doing laundry. He was in flying boat (seaplanes), so he did not have access to a shipboard laundry.
Like other isolated atolls in the Pacific, Johnston Island has little if any fresh water, so they had to do laundry with salt water. Basically, they would wash clothes in salt water, using shavings from bars of salt-water soap. This worked, but it takes forever, as salt-water soap doesn’t lather well.
So, some clever sailor rigged up an automatic washer, consisting of a Jerry can attached to a small windmill. The whole thing was perhaps 6 feet tall overall. The clothes were put into the Jerry can, salt water and soap were added, and the whole thing was tumbled by the windmill for hours on end. I gather it would take a whole day to do one load.
Aside from taking forever, this worked just fine. By the time my friend got to Johnston Island, about half the island (he may have been exaggerating here) was devoted to a forest of windmills, all turning together in the wind. It must have been quite a sight.