A remote ring of islets about 1,000 miles south of Hawaii has spent more than a century passing between coconut farmers, the US Navy and, eventually, conservationists. Palmyra Atoll was bought in 1922 by a Honolulu couple who wanted nothing more than to harvest copra. What followed was a court battle with the federal government, decades of quiet stewardship and a final sale that turned the atoll into a scientific reserve.
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