Overview
Four miles of unspoiled barrier beach stretch along this wilderness area on Chappaquiddick Island, offering one of the last great areas of solitude on bustling Martha's Vineyard. This 516-acre wildlife refuge mixes open barrier beach, low sand dunes, tidal flats and salt marsh with fresh and brackish ponds and red cedar uplands. The refuge protects the shellfish-rich waters of Cape Pogue Bay, which provides up to 50 percent of the state's scallop harvest.
Features
This is a landscape of seasonal change. In the summer, ospreys and their young feed along the shoreline, while in the spring and fall flocks of migrating waterfowl visit. Look for oyster catchers, snowy egrets, black-crowned night herons and the least tern. The unspoiled stretches of barrier beach and salt marsh provide a good habitat for nesting terns and shorebirds. Harriers and short-eared owls patrol the uplands.