Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge
Encyclopedia
Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge is a mile-long island off the coast of Maine
near Matinicus Island
. It is home to colonies of many types of seabirds, including Atlantic Puffin
s, Great Cormorant
s, Arctic Tern
s, Common Tern
s, and guillemot
s. The puffin
colony is part of the National Audubon Society
's reintroduction program off the coast of Maine.
During the Cold War
, the island was used as a gunnery range and bombing test site for the U.S. Navy
. Unexploded ordnance
remains on the island, though some were detonated by a fire in the late 1970s. The blaze wiped out every bird colony on the island, but the island has been since resettled by an even greater diversity of birds. During any given summer season, over 100 species of birds are observed by researchers on the island. The ordnance still presents a danger to refuge staff and interns.
Seal Island NWR has a surface area of 65.00 acre
s (0.263 km² or 26.3 ha
). It is part of the Town of Criehaven
.
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
near Matinicus Island
Matinicus Isle, Maine
Matinicus Isle is a plantation in Knox County, Maine, United States. The population was 51 at the 2000 census, although during the summer that number can triple or quadruple. Remote Matinicus Island is accessible by ferry from Rockland, located away, or by air taxi from Knox County Regional Airport...
. It is home to colonies of many types of seabirds, including Atlantic Puffin
Atlantic Puffin
The Atlantic Puffin is a seabird species in the auk family. It is a pelagic bird that feeds primarily by diving for fish, but also eats other sea creatures, such as squid and crustaceans. Its most obvious characteristic during the breeding season is its brightly coloured bill...
s, Great Cormorant
Great Cormorant
The Great Cormorant , known as the Great Black Cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the Black Cormorant in Australia and the Black Shag further south in New Zealand, is a widespread member of the cormorant family of seabirds...
s, Arctic Tern
Arctic Tern
The Arctic Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a circumpolar breeding distribution covering the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America...
s, Common Tern
Common Tern
The Common Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, breeding in temperate and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia and east and central North America. It is strongly migratory, wintering in coastal tropical and subtropical regions. It is sometimes...
s, and guillemot
Guillemot
Guillemots is the common name for several species of seabird in the auk family . In British use, the term comprises two genera: Uria and Cepphus. In North America the Uria species are called "murres" and only the Cepphus species are called "guillemots"...
s. The puffin
Puffin
Puffins are any of three small species of auk in the bird genus Fratercula with a brightly coloured beak during the breeding season. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crevices among...
colony is part of the National Audubon Society
National Audubon Society
The National Audubon Society is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation. Incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organizations in the world and uses science, education and grassroots advocacy to advance its conservation mission...
's reintroduction program off the coast of Maine.
During the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, the island was used as a gunnery range and bombing test site for the U.S. Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. Unexploded ordnance
Unexploded ordnance
Unexploded ordnance are explosive weapons that did not explode when they were employed and still pose a risk of detonation, potentially many decades after they were used or discarded.While "UXO" is widely and informally used, munitions and explosives of...
remains on the island, though some were detonated by a fire in the late 1970s. The blaze wiped out every bird colony on the island, but the island has been since resettled by an even greater diversity of birds. During any given summer season, over 100 species of birds are observed by researchers on the island. The ordnance still presents a danger to refuge staff and interns.
Seal Island NWR has a surface area of 65.00 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s (0.263 km² or 26.3 ha
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
). It is part of the Town of Criehaven
Criehaven, Maine
Criehaven is an alternative name for Ragged Island, an unorganized territory in Knox County, Maine, United States. Criehaven was formerly a plantation including Ragged Island just south of Matinicus Isle in outer Penobscot Bay, plus Matinicus Rock to its southeast, and Seal Island, the location of...
.