It is a small flat island located near the center of the chain and includes Seymour Airport (GPS), originally established by the United States Air Force to help monitor and protect western access to the Panama Canal.

Baltra is not part of the Galápagos National Park but some effort has been made to protect the local environment, including modernization of the airport and the reintroduction of the island's land iguanas.

The results of the Chilean survey were sent to the UK Hydrographic Office, where the name Baltra Island was incorporated into the British Admiralty’s publication “South America Pilot” in 1911.[2].

Baltra is very arid and vegetation consists of salt bushes, prickly pear cactus and palo santo trees.

The American Captain G. Allan Hancock moved a population of the iguanas to North Seymour Island in the early 1930s ahead of the construction of the US air base on Baltra.

The most recent modernization began in 2011 and was completed in 2013, after which ECOGAL,[4] a subsidiary of the Argentinian Corporación América,[5] will enjoy a 15-year concession to the location.