Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, established in 1916, displays the results of 70 million years of volcanism, migration, and evolution -- processes that thrust a bare land from the sea and clothed it with complex and unique ecosystems and a distinct human culture. The park encompasses diverse environments that range from sea level to the summit of the earth's most massive volcano, Mauna Loa at 13,677 feet. Kilauea, the world's most active volcano, offers scientists insights on the birth of the Hawaiian Islands and visitors views of dramatic volcanic landscapes.

Over half of the park is designated wilderness and provides unusual hiking and camping opportunities. In recognition of its outstanding natural values, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park has been honored as an International Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site.

Who could have known that the fountains of fire that first lit up the night sky on January 3, 1983 would continue to burn with such intensity seventeen years later? The eruption of Kilauea Volcano in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park continues today as the longest-lived rift activity in Hawai'ian volcano history. For island dwellers, a seventeen-year retrospective on the volcano as both creator and destroyer elicits a mixed emotional response.

Unstoppable in its march seaward, lava leaves few reminders of what was. The park has bid a fond aloha to its Waha`ula Visitor Center, as well as tens of thousands of archeological features, including temple sites, petroglyph fields, and village complexes. Kamoamoa Campground and stretches of Chain of Craters Road lie entombed beneath 80 feet of basalt. Every minute, another 130,000 gallons of molten rock gush from earthcracks on the volcano's flank, enough to pour a lava veneer over Washington, D.C.'s 63 square miles in just five days.

Hawai'i County civil defense administrators estimate the economic loss due to ongoing lava inundation tops $100 million. Unpredictable in their meandering, rivers of lava have consumed 181 homes, a Congregational Church, a community center, and a grid of power and phone lines. Lava has torched more than 16,000 acres of lowland and rain forest, home to rare hawks and honeycreepers, happyface spiders and hoary bats. Today, a visitor anticipating a dip at Kaimu blacksand beach must instead find satisfaction in a postcard view--lava has transformed the palm-fringed crescent bay into a pahoehoe plain.

Every day, the volcano spews more than 2,500 tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, enough noxious gas to fill 100 Goodyear blimps. USGS scientists at the Hawai'ian Volcano Observatory figure Kilauea's emissions are twice as bad as EPA's worst stationary point source polluter. Respirators with canisters designed to filter out hydrogen chloride, sulfur dioxide, and airborne glass particles are standard park ranger issue.

But wherever lava meets the sea, the island grows. In a creative process spanning 80 million years, this land born of the sea and forged by fire inspired Mark Twain to proclaim the Hawai'ian archipelago, "the loveliest fleet of islands that lies anchored in any ocean." Since 1983, more than 550 acres of new land have been added to the "Big Island". Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park grows without political fanfare and without congressional authorization.