U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuges P.O. Box 279 (Water Street) Milbridge, ME 04658 207/546 2124 Maine Coastal P.O. Box 495 (16 Rockport Park Centre Drive) Rockport, ME 04856 207/236 6970 Islands Hearing-impaired visitors may call the Maine Relay Center: National Wildlife 1 800/457 1220 (voice) or 1 800/437 1220 (TDD) Refuges U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service 1 800/344 WILD http://www.fws.gov September 2007 Conserving the The Maine Coastal Islands National Strung along the Maine Nature of the Wildlife Refuges span over 200 miles Coast of Maine coastline and contain 49 offshore islands and four coastal coast like a strand of parcels, totaling more than 8,000 acres. The refuge complex includes pearls, the islands of five national wildlife refuges –– Petit Manan, Cross Island, Franklin Maine Coastal Islands Island, Seal Island, and Pond Island. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages the refuge complex as National Wildlife This blue goose, part of the National Wildlife Refuge designed by J.N. System. Refuges protect precious “Ding” Darling, has become a The Service’s primary focus at Maine symbol of the Coastal Islands is colonial seabird habitat for nesting National Wildlife restoration and management. Refuge Refuge System. islands provide nesting habitat for seabirds, wading birds, common, Arctic, and endangered roseate terns, Atlantic puffins, and bald eagles. The razorbills, black guillemots, Leach’s storm-petrels, laughing gulls, and refuge’s mainland units common eiders. Over the last 25 years, the Service has worked to reverse the decline in these birds’ complement the offshore populations. As a result, many species have returned to islands where they gems by supporting nested historically. migratory songbirds, In addition to seabirds, wading birds and bald eagles nest on refuge islands. The mainland divisions shorebirds, and provide habitat for songbirds, shorebirds, and waterfowl, as well as waterfowl. opportunities for bird watching and hiking. Bald eagle cover and facing photo: Bill Silliker, Jr.© photo: Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Seabird Struggles Seabirds have always relied on 1940. Maine’s offshore islands as havens for raising their young. Small, The recovery was short-lived, unforested, rocky islands provide a however. During the mid-1900s, the setting free of mammalian predators spread of open landfills along the such as foxes, coyotes, and raccoons. coast and an increase in fishery waste Flying distance from the mainland provided easy pickings for herring discourages avian predators such as and great black-backed gulls. These great horned owls. The cold waters birds nest earlier than terns, claiming surrounding the islands hold an prime habitat and relegating terns abundant supply of fish for adults and to inferior nest sites. Some gulls James C. Leupold young alike. also prey on tern eggs and chicks. Black guillemots The artificial food sources led to an Native Americans have used the explosion in gull populations. By coast’s natural resources for more 1977, the tern population in the Gulf than 4,000 years. The Red Paint of Maine had declined to roughly people camped on offshore islands 5,000 nesting pairs. in the summer and fished the deep ocean waters. Although they hunted seabirds and their eggs, they used sustainable methods, limiting harvest to certain islands and hunting any one colony once every three years. Europeans began settling the islands in the 1600s, farming and raising sheep and hogs. The livestock disturbed nesting seabirds and Burton Glendenning trampled their habitat. The people Common terns hunted the birds and collected their Between 1972 and 1980, the refuges Seabird eggs. In the late 1800s, the fashion in the Maine Coastal Islands National Restoration industry posed an additional threat Wildlife Refuge were established for to the birds’ existence. Women’s hats the protection of migratory birds, were decorated with feathers. Egrets, principally colonial nesting seabirds. herons, and terns were especially The Service has focused on restoring popular and, therefore, most harmed terns because their populations were by the trend. At the start of the 20th particularly low. The roseate tern, a Century, most seabirds in the Gulf of federally endangered species, prefers Maine were on the brink of extinction. large colonies of common or Arctic terns in which to nest. Therefore, Concern for the future of all birds saving this species requires assisting led to passage of the Migratory Bird the other two. Treaty Act in 1918. The Act protects migratory birds, their nests, and their To restore terns to an island, it must eggs. At about the same time, trains first be made suitable for the birds and automobiles replaced boats as again. This requires discouragement preferred forms of transportation. of herring and great black-backed People relocated to the mainland, gulls. In some cases, human presence easing pressure on seabird habitat. on the island during the start of the Common and Arctic tern populations gull nesting season is enough. Small rebounded, reaching a high of almost populations of gulls can be controlled 16,000 pairs along the Maine coast in Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuges CANADA U. S. Schoppee Island Calais North Brothers Island (E) MAINE Halifax Island 95 Little Libby Island 0 50 Kms Nash Island Bangor Inner Sand Island Machias 1 Scotch Island 0 50 Miles Petit Manan NWR Cutler Mink Island Headquarters South Twinnie Island Double Headshot Islands Cross Island Old Man Island Little Spoon Island Ellsworth Little Marshall Island Belfast NEW HAMPSHIRE NEW Bar Harbor Machias Seal Island 95 Abbott Island MAINE 1 Petit Manan Mainland Divisions Bois Bubert Island e NWR Office Petit Manan Island Sally Island p i k r n Tu Rockland Egg Rock e John’s Island i n a Ship Island Jordan’s Delight M Little Marshall Island Brunswick Barge Islands Roberts Islands Bar Island Seal Island Trumpet Island Matinicus Rock Two Bush Island Hart Two Bush Island Portland Island Metinic Island Franklin Island N Crane Island 95 A Outer White Island E 1 Pond Island Little Thrumcap Island C Inner White Island O Lower Mark Island Ram Island Outer Heron Island Upper Flag Island I C T Portsmouth N Duck Island L A Smuttynose Island T Malaga Island A Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge: Mainland Divisions Fickett Pt. NARRAGUAGUS RIVER Road Ripley Milbridge Neck NARRAGUAGUS B A Y Foster Road Island Wyman Smithville 1 Lookout Road Mtn 1 Wyman Steuben Road East Steuben Hill Sawyer’s Marsh Division Dyer Rd. Island Pigeon Pigeon J O Y B A Y Pond Chicken Mill Road Road Trafton Point Bay Island Gouldsboro Dyer Road Gouldsboro Hill Pinkham Bay Rogers Flint Bay Island W E S T B A Y Pigeon Hill Cove Division Dyer Harbor Pigeon Douglas Williams Road Island Dyer Neck Point Eagle Carrying Place Cove Harbor Pond Pigeon Hill Island Hill Morgador Morgador G O U L D S B O R O B A Y Parker Head North Petit Gulch Rocky Manan Road Rd. Shores Rd. Point Division Point Bois Yeaton Road Road Cove Over Bubert Forbes Cove Island Pond Petit Manan D Y E R B A Y Dyer Neck Neck Dyer 186 Stanley Cove Petit Stanley Manan Point Point Little Bois MAINE Dyer Bubert Island 195 Point P I G E O N H I L L B A Y Prospect Corea Heath Harbor Division Big Pond 186 Cranberry Mainland Divisions Point Green Other Refuge Lands Island Lighthouse Petit P R O S P E C T H A R B O R Manan Island Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge: Road Petit Manan Hill Point Pigeon Hill Cove Pigeon and Bois Bubert Island Birch Point CarryingPigeon Place Cove Hill Birch Point Trail 4 Miles Bois Bubert Island Hollingsworth H I L L B A Y D Y E R B A Y Trail 1.5 Miles Petit Manan Point North P I G E O N Big Parking Area Pond Refuge Land 0 4000 8000 Feet ATLANTIC OCEAN through egg and nest destruction and A “Bed and In addition to seabirds, refuge islands noise-makers. If a gull colony has Breakfast” for the provide habitat for raptors, wading grown too large, these techniques Birds birds, shorebirds, and songbirds. may be ineffective. Lethal means, Some of the forested islands, including limited shooting and the use including Outer Heron, Sally, Bois of an avicide, may be necessary. Bubert, and Mink, have active bald eagle nests. Outer White Island If terns have recently abandoned supports a black-crowned night heron an island, they may return rapidly rookery. Migrating peregrine falcons once the gulls are gone. However, in stop on Seal Island to hunt and rest. many cases, it has been decades since Warblers such as the bay-breasted terns nested on an island. To entice and blackpoll, and shorebirds, them back, the Service uses sound including ruddy turnstones and systems playing recordings of a tern semipalmated plovers, rely on the colony and tern decoys scattered in islands as stepping stones on their suitable nesting habitat. This method long trips north and south. has been highly effective on several islands within the Gulf of Maine. Tern decoys Tern restoration began in 1984 on Seal and Petit Manan islands, which now support large colonies of common and Arctic terns. Roseates have returned to Petit Manan. More Bill Silliker, Jr.© Bill Silliker, recent restorations have occurred on Roseate tern Pond, Metinic, and Eastern Brothers islands. The goal is to establish tern colonies on numerous refuge islands. This will ensure that a singular catastrophic event such as disease, an oil spill, or a hurricane, will not wipe out a species. Other colonial nesting seabirds have benefited from tern restoration efforts.