Prior to World War II, Boughton Island was home to several families.
[2] Because Boughton Island has been uninhabited for more than 60 years, wildlife has thrived here without development or human interference.
It houses more than 49 species of birds, including osprey, great blue heron, common tern, bald eagles, merlins, gulls, swallows, loons, mergansers, scoters, and piping plovers.
Boughton Island provides diverse habitats including white sand beaches, a spruce forest, a saltwater marsh, and several freshwater ponds.
With the threat of development looming, in 2007, the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) purchased just over half of the island.