If, as Mark Twain said, Hawai'i is the loveliest fleet of islands that lies anchored in any ocean, then the state's offshore islets are the junior members of the group, floating alongside their larger neighbors in picturesque formation. But don't dismiss the hundreds of islets, rocks and sea stacks as mere extensions of the main islands. Scientists say their relative isolation has made them the last refuge for sea birds once found in vast numbers on the main islands, and home to rare plants and insects.

Yet their isolation stretches only as far as the nearshore waters, a proximity that makes them vulnerable to rats, ants, weeds and other things that plague the main islands. Enter the Offshore Islet Restoration Committee, formed a year and a half ago to improve the environment of the smallest of Hawai'i's islands. The group is working to survey dozens of offshore islets in hopes of coming up with a plan to conduct environmental restoration. The organization includes members representing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife, the Nature Conservancy, Bishop Museum, the University of Hawai'i and the National Park Service. Committee chairman Chris Swenson, Pacific Islands Coastal Program coordinator with the Fish and Wildlife Service, said he had no problem recruiting members for the project.

"Everybody loves the offshore islets," he said. "These are mini-microcosms of what Hawai'i once looked like. And everyone seems to love the seabirds. "The islets range in size from a couple hundred acres to only several dozen square feet. Most of them are on the windward sides of the islands. Islets are remnants of larger volcanoes or were formed by eruptions in their own right. Many support some kind of biological community. It is estimated that 50 or 60 islets have sea bird colonies, while 36 are part of the Hawai'i State Seabird Sanctuary, a refuge established by the state in 1981.