Why aren’t there more or better trails?

The entire park has steep terrain, unstable volcanic soils, in a heavy tropical rainfall climate. It is very hard to build and maintain trails in this environment. Though the park is new and has a very small staff, preliminary trail work has begun. Always check with the park for current trail information.

If I get lost or injured while visiting this park will I likely be rescued?

Currently, the park lacks a search and rescue capability. Because the park is relative new it has a very small staff and they lack rescue expertise. Also, note that the nearest U.S. Coast Guard vessel is in Honolulu, thousands of miles away. Therefore, don’t push your limits: there may be no one to help you.

Instead of having a lease involving many villages' lands, why didn’t the U.S. government acquire the necessary park lands outright (as has been done in all other U.S. national parks)?

American Samoa retains many longstanding cultural traits relatively unchanged over time. Among them, Samoans retain their ways of communal ownership of land, an oral tradition of boundaries rather than written or surveyed, and a fierce protection of land and the status land provides a family. The deeds of cession that the U.S. signed when making American Samoa a U.S. territory in 1900 and the American Samoan constitution provides the Samoan people a guarantee of this cultural tradition. Thus, it was simply impossible for the U.S. to acquire and own the lands for a national park there. Instead the law that established the park stipulated,

“The Secretary (of the Interior) shall establish the park only when the Governor of American Samoa has entered into a lease . . . for a period of 50 years (of) the lands and waters . . . for purposes of the park. . . all lease payments made by the United States under the lease . . . may be disbursed only by the Governor, in amounts determined by the High Court of American Samoa, to those villages and families located within the boundaries of the park. The High Court of American Samoa shall have exclusive jurisdiction to determine the amount to be disbursed under this section to any person.”

Why won’t the National Park Service help me get payments I feel I should for my lands that are within the park?

As explained in the question above--the park does not have authority or jurisdiction to resolve such land payment issues. That responsibility and authority lies solely with the High Court of American Samoa.

Why does the U.S. have a national park in such a distant place as Samoa?

The U.S. "System" of National Parks has the outstanding places representing our Nation’s finest natural, scenic, cultural and scientific heritage. This national park, in the U.S. Territory of American Samoa, adds the Nation’s finest examples paleotropical rainforest, superb Pacific island scenery, and outstanding coral reef ecosystems to our country’s National Park System. If you can’t yet visit the park in person—browse this website and its many illustrations. Though remote, this is a first rate National Park.

Are there special health risks, or tropical diseases, of concern when visiting this park?

American Samoa has few health risks for normally healthy people. But bring necessary medications with you, for supplies may not be available locally. Medical care is limited, and there is none in the Manu’a Islands. If you come down with serious medical needs you should get to Honolulu, Australia, or New Zealand.

Drinking unfiltered and unpurified stream waters, or swimming in freshwater streams with open sores or cuts, may expose you to typical tropical maladies--diarrhea, giardiasis, dysentery, hepatitis and leptospirosus. Tropical diseases unfamiliar to residents of North America such as malaria, dengue fever, cholera are very uncommon in American Samoa, but you can obtain current relevant information from the Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website http://www.cdc.gov/travel/reference.htm Check their current CDC health status, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/   Usually there are no problem situations listed for American Samoa.