Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge

Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
Map of the United States
Location	Knox County, Maine, United States
Nearest city	Vinalhaven, Maine
Coordinates	43°53′17″N 68°44′24″W / 43.888°N 68.74°W / 43.888; -68.74Coordinates: 43°53′17″N 68°44′24″W / 43.888°N 68.74°W / 43.888; -68.74
Area	65 acres (26 ha)
Governing body	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
http://www.fws.gov/northeast/mainecoastal/seal_is/

Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge is a 1-mile long (1.6 km) island off the coast of Maine near Matinicus Island. It is home to colonies of many types of seabirds, including Atlantic puffins, great cormorants, Arctic terns, common terns, and guillemots. 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 acres (26 ha).^[1] It is part of the Town of Vinalhaven.

External links

U.S.Army Corps of Engineers documentation related to unexploded ordnance (and background on island)

References

↑ USFWS Lands Report, 30 September 2007

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Protected areas of Maine

Federal

National Parks and Historic Sites	Acadia National Park Saint Croix Island International Historic Site

National Wildlife Refuges	Aroostook Carlton Pond Waterfowl Production Area Cross Island Franklin Island Moosehorn Petit Manan Pond Island Rachel Carson Seal Island Sunkhaze Meadows

National Forests	White Mountain

National Trails	Appalachian Trail

National Estuarine Research Reserves	Wells

State

State Parks	Allagash Wilderness Waterway Aroostook Baxter Birch Point Bradbury Mountain Camden Hills Cobscook Bay Crescent Beach Damariscotta Lake Ferry Beach Fort Point Grafton Notch Holbrook Island Sanctuary Lake St. George Lamoine Lilly Bay Moose Point Mount Blue Peacock Beach Peaks-Kenny Penobscot River Corridor Popham Beach Quoddy Head Range Ponds Rangeley Lake Reid Roque Bluffs Shackford Head Sebago Lake Swans Falls Campground Swan Lake Two Lights Vaughan Woods Warren Island Wolfe's Neck Woods

State Historic Sites	Bible Point Colburn House Colonial Pemaquid Eagle Island Fort Baldwin Fort Edgecomb Fort Halifax Fort Kent Fort Knox Fort McClary Fort O'Brien Major Reuben Colburn House John Paul Jones Katahdin Iron Works Mayall Mills Whaleback Shell Midden

State Forests	Durham State Forest

Maine Department of Conservation (web)

Islands of Maine

Cumberland	Bailey Bustins Chebeague Cliff Cousins Cow Cushing Dingley Eagle Frye Great Diamond Hog Hope House Jewell Mackworth Little Diamond Littlejohn Long Orr's Peaks Ragged Sebascodegan

Hancock	Bar Island Cranberry Isles Baker Bear Great Cranberry Little Cranberry Sutton Deer Isle Eagle Great Duck Great Spruce Head Little Deer Long Mount Desert Nautilus Spectacle Swan's Verona

Knox	Allen Criehaven Curtis Eastern Egg Rock Franklin Isle au Haut Lane's Matinicus Metinic North Haven Seal Two Bush Vinalhaven Whitehead

Lincoln	Burnt the Cuckolds Damariscove Hog Louds Manana Monhegan Squirrel Westport Witch

Piscataquis	Gero Sugar

Sagadahoc	Arrowsic Harbor Malaga Pond

Waldo	Islesboro Sears Warren

Washington	Birch Islands Cross Great Wass Machias Seal Moose North Rock Saint Croix

York	Badger's Boon Seavey's Isles of Shoals Appledore Smuttynose

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