Nomans Land Island National Wildlife Refuge occupies a small Atlantic island southwest of Martha’s Vineyard, where wetlands, ponds, shrubland, and cliffs now support abundant wildlife. Once known in early colonial history, later privately owned, and used as a game preserve, the island was transformed by U.S. Navy bombing practice from 1943 to 1996. After ordnance clearance and transfer to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, it became a protected refuge chiefly for migratory birds and remains closed because of habitat sensitivity and unexploded munitions. Its habitats now serve terns, seals, turtles, New England cottontails, and one of Massachusetts’s only nesting sites for Leach’s storm-petrels.

Aquinnah, Massachusetts · USA