Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge

Island off the coast of Maine, United States

Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
Atlantic puffins and razorbills on Seal Island
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; -68.74
Area	65 acres (26 ha)
Established	1972
Governing body	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Website	Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge

Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge is a 1-mile long (1.6 km) island off the coast of Maine, United States near Matinicus Island that is part of the Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge. During any given summer season, over 100 species of birds are observed by researchers on the island. It is home to colonies of many types of seabirds, including Atlantic puffins, double-crested cormorants, razorbills, Leach's storm petrels, eiders, and black guillemots. Seal Island is the last refuge for the dwindling great cormorant population in the Gulf of Maine, with 35 pairs in 2018. A policy of eliminating predatory gulls preceded the recolonization of the island by a large mixed band of Arctic terns and common terns.

During the Cold War, the island was used as a gunnery range and bombing test site for the United States Navy. Unexploded ordnance remains on the island, though some of it was detonated by a fire in the late 1970s. The ordnance presents no real danger to refuge staff or interns.

Seal Island NWR has a surface area of 65 acres (26 ha). It is part of the Town of Vinalhaven.

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.

External links

Protected areas of Maine

Federal

National Parks and Historic Sites	Acadia National Park Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument Saint Croix Island International Historic Site
National Wildlife Refuges	Aroostook Carlton Pond Waterfowl Production Area Cross Island Franklin Island Maine Coastal Islands Moosehorn Petit Manan Pond Island Rachel Carson Seal Island Sunkhaze Meadows Umbagog
National Forests	White Mountain
National Cemeteries	Acadia National Cemetery Togus National Cemetery
National Trails	Appalachian Trail
National Estuarine Research Reserves	Wells
National wild and scenic rivers	Allagash Wilderness Waterway York River

State

State Parks	Allagash Wilderness Waterway Androscoggin Riverlands 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 Lily Bay Mackworth Island Moose Point Mount Blue Mount Kineo State Park Owls Head Light State Park 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 (Penobscot Narrows Observatory) Fort McClary Fort O'Brien John Paul Jones Katahdin Iron Works Mayall Mills Whaleback Shell Midden
State Forests	Durham

Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry

v t e National Wildlife Refuges of the United States
Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming American Samoa Guam Puerto Rico U.S. Minor Outlying Islands U.S. Virgin Islands

National Wildlife Refuges of the United States

v t e Islands of Maine
Cumberland	Bailey Birch Bustins Cliff Cousins Cow Cushing Dingley Eagle Frye Great Chebeague Great Diamond Hog Hope House Jewell Little Chebeague Little Diamond Littlejohn Long Mackworth Orr's Peaks Ragged Sebascodegan
Hancock	Bar Cranberry Isles Baker Bear Great Cranberry Little Cranberry Sutton Deer Isle Eagle Great Duck Great Spruce Head Little Deer Long Marshall Mount Desert Nautilus Porcupine Islands 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
Penobscot	Ayers
Piscataquis	Gero Sugar
Sagadahoc	Arrowsic Harbor Malaga Pond Swan
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
Disputed between the United States and Canada.

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