Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, and the most populous village is Dededo. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States, reckoned from the geographic center of the U.S.. In Oceania, Guam is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands and the largest island in Micronesia.
Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the North western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Polynesia to the east, and Melanesia to the south—as well as with the wider community of Austronesian peoples.
The Chamorro people are the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands, politically divided between the United States territory of Guam and the encompassing Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Micronesia. Today, significant Chamorro populations also exist in several U.S. states, including Hawaii, California, Washington, Texas, Tennessee, Oregon, and Nevada, all of which together are designated as Pacific Islander Americans according to the U.S. Census. According to the 2000 Census, about 64,590 people of Chamorro ancestry live in Guam and another 19,000 live in the Northern Marianas. Another 93,000 live outside the Marianas in Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States.
The Micronesians or Micronesian peoples are various closely related ethnic groups native to Micronesia, a region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They are a part of the Austronesian ethnolinguistic group, which has an Urheimat in Taiwan.
The Mariana fruit bat, also known as the Mariana flying fox, and the fanihi in Chamorro, is a megabat found only in the Mariana Islands and Ulithi. Habitat loss has driven it to endangered status, and it is listed as threatened by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Poachers and food hunters, other animals, and natural causes have led to the decline.
The Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge is a 950-acre (384.5 ha) National Wildlife Refuge in ten units across the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in the Atlantic Flyway, the refuge spans 70 miles (110 km) of Connecticut coastline and provides important resting, feeding, and nesting habitat for many species of wading birds, shorebirds, songbirds and terns, including the endangered roseate tern. Adjacent waters serve as wintering habitat for brant, scoters, American black duck, and other waterfowl. Overall, the refuge encompasses over 900 acres (364.2 ha) of barrier beach, intertidal wetland and fragile island habitats.
The Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge is a 1,856 acres (751 ha) wetlands and lowlands sanctuary in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Oregon. Established in 1992 and opened to the public in 2006, it is managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Located in southeastern Washington County, 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Portland, the refuge is bordered by Sherwood, Tualatin and Tigard. A newer area, extending into northern Yamhill County, is located further west near the city of Gaston surrounding the former Wapato Lake.
Caribbean Islands National Wildlife Complex is an administrative unit of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service which oversees National Wildlife Refuges in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Navassa Island of the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands. The NWR complex also manages the reintroduction of the critically endangered Puerto Rican parrot into the wild.
The Guam kingfisher is a species of kingfisher from the United States Territory of Guam. It is restricted to a captive breeding program following its extinction in the wild due primarily to predation by the introduced brown tree snake.
The Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife refuge encompassing 965 acres (3.91 km2) located in the California coastal community of Seal Beach. Although it is located in Orange County it is included as part of the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge Complex. It was established in 1972.
The Mariana crow is a species of the crow family from the tropical Western Pacific. It is a glossy black bird about 15 inches (38 cm) long and known only from the islands of Guam and Rota.
Serianthes nelsonii is a large tree endemic to Guam and Rota of the Mariana Islands. Only one mature tree exists on Guam, while 121 mature trees have been identified on Rota since 1984.
Ritidian Point is the northernmost point of the island of Guam. It is owned by the US Fish and Wildlife Service which administers the area as part of the Guam National Wildlife Refuge.
The Nomans Land Island Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge located on Nomans Land, a 640-acre (2.6 km2) island off the coast of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. It is part of the town of Chilmark, in Dukes County. The Island is 1.6 miles (2.6 km) long east to west, and about 1 mile (1.6 km) north to south. Nomans Land Island was used for aerial gunnery by the U.S. Navy from 1942 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 Island was transferred to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to become Nomans Land Island National Wildlife Refuge. It was established ". .. for use as an inviolate sanctuary, or for any other management purpose, for migratory birds" under the Migratory Bird Conservation Act.
Robert E. Beck Jr. was a zoologist and conservationist, who worked to save Guam's indigenous native birds from 1982 to 2003. Beck championed the fight to save Guam's native birds, such as the Mariana crow, rufous fantail, Guam flycatcher, Guam kingfisher and the Guam rail, known locally as ko'ko' in Chamorro, which are under the extreme threat of extinction due to the non-native brown tree snake and habitat loss. The rufous fantail and the Guam flycatcher listed above are now extinct in the wild in their native Guam. However, the captive and wild populations of the Mariana crow, Guam rail and the Micronesian kingfisher have increased, due in large part to conservation efforts by Beck.
The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the United States Territory of Guam.
The Marianas Trench Marine National Monument is a United States National Monument created by President George W. Bush by the presidential proclamation no. 8335 on January 6, 2009. The monument includes no dry land area, but protects 95,216 square miles (246,610 km2) of submerged lands and waters in various places in the Mariana Archipelago. The United States could create this monument under international law because the maritime exclusive economic zones of the adjacent Northern Mariana Islands and Guam fall within its jurisdiction.
Dededo is the most populated village in the United States territory of Guam. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Dededo's population was just under 45,000 in 2020. The village is located on the coral plateau of Northern Guam. The greater Dededo-Machanao-Apotgan Urban Cluster had a population of 139,825 as of the 2010 census, making up 87.7% of Guam's population and 29.8% of its area.
The Marianas tropical dry forests is a tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests ecoregion on the Marianas Islands in the western Pacific Ocean.
