Theodore Roosevelt designated portions of the Culebra Archipelago a federal wildlife reserve in 1909 — the first such designation in the Caribbean. The U.S. Navy used Culebra and Vieques for gunnery and bombing practice for decades after that. When the Navy left Culebra in 1975, it left two rusting M4 Sherman tank hulks on Flamenco Beach — too heavy to bother moving. Locals and visitors have covered them in graffiti ever since. On Vieques, when Congress transferred those lands in 2001 and 2003, the result was approximately 17,771 acres of refuge — the largest in the Caribbean — protecting mangrove wetlands, subtropical dry forest, and eight federally listed animal species. Some areas remain closed due to unexploded ordnance. What the military built for practice, Puerto Rico now tends as sanctuary.
