Nomans Land
United States · Americas
About
Nomans Land (Wampanoag: Cappoaquit; also mapped "No Man's Land," "No Mans Land," or "No Man's island"), is an uninhabited island 612 acres (248 ha) in size, located in the town of Chilmark, Dukes County, Massachusetts. It is situated about 3 miles (4.8 km) off the southwest corner of the island of Martha's Vineyard. The island is 1.6 miles (2.6 km) long east to west, and about 1 mile (1.6 km) north to south
The island was used by the United States Navy as a practice bombing range from 1943 to 1996. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service has managed an "overlay" refuge on the eastern third of the island under a Joint Management Agreement between the Department of the Interior and Department of the Navy since 1975. Following an extensive surface clearance of ordnance in 1997 and 1998, the Navy transferred the island to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for use as an unstaffed wildlife refuge, which now forms Nomans Land Island National Wildlife Refuge. Due to safety risks from unexploded ordnance and its value as a wildlife habitat, the island is closed to all public use.
The island is surrounded entirely by the Atlantic Ocean. About 30% of the island is wetland, which ranges from emergent marshes to permanently flooded open water. There are four artificial ponds that were impounded many years ago by early settlers, two large freshwater ponds, and a number of smaller ponds. Common wetland plants include Virginia chain fern, cranberry, sphagnum moss, broad-leaved cattail, and common reed.
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.