about in dust storms. By 1918, the rabbits had eaten so much that the remaining vegetation was only enough to sustain 100 rabbits. Twenty-six plant species had been eradicated, and the Laysan millerbird had gone extinct. In 1923, the Tanager Expedition arrived, and the rabbits were exterminated at long last. The bird population had been reduced to about a tenth of its former size. Three endemic taxa had become extinct, as had numerous other plant species. Two other endemic species, the Laysan duck and the Laysan finch, survive to this day, but are endangered. Recent history Like most of the Northwestern Hawaiian islands, Laysan is currently uninhabited. It is protected by the Hawaiian Natural Life Act of 1961 and cared for by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who have had success in eliminating pests, restoring the island to almost pre-desert state, and restoring the numbers of imperiled species. Garbage from passing ships often washes ashore on Laysan. This poses a danger to birds because they can swallow plastic waste, which remains undigested and crowds the stomach, leaving no room for actual food. Curiously, most of the plastic found is Japanese in origin. Additionally, in the 1990s, biologists found that a container of poisonous carbofuran had floated to shore and burst open above the high tide line, creating a "dead zone" which killed anything alive that went near it. Sandbur eradication In 1991, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service started an effort to eradicate alien sandbur, a grass that crowds out the native bunchgrass, which is habitat for the birds. Sandbur was first introduced in the 1960s by US Armed Forces personnel. Costing almost one million dollars, the project ended in 2000 when the sandbur was completely removed. With this threat gone, the USFWS hopes to restore Laysan to how it was before it was discovered. To replace the native Pritchardia palms that became extinct, the FWS wants to bring in Pritchardia remota from Nihoa, a similar species to Laysan's lost fan palm. Next may be Nihoa millerbirds, to replace the extinct Laysan millerbirds that were closely related. These transfers would accomplish a two-fold goal: to restore Laysan to an ecology similar to its pre-industrial one, and to protect those two species from extinction by maintaining a second population on Laysan. That way, if diseases, fires, or hurricanes obliterate the Nihoa population, the population can be revived by transplanting