The island of Desecheo is located 14 miles (23 km) west of Puerto Rico and is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the north and the Caribbean Sea on the south.

From 1940 to 1952 the island was used as a practice target for aerial bombardment by the US War Department and from 1952 to 1960 Desecheo was used as a survival training area for the U.S. Air Force.

But, due to the destruction of native vegetation and predation on eggs and chicks by invasive rats and Rhesus macaques, seabirds nesting was reduced significantly on Desecheo and many plants and animals were threatened.

In response to this threat, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Island Conservation, and other key partners, including the US Department of Agriculture, Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (PR-DNER), Bell Laboratories, and Tomcat, eradicated the invasive vertebrates providing significant benefits for seabirds, the island’s endemic lizards, three endemic arachnids, the federally Threatened Higo Chumbo cactus and native plants.

In February 2018, USFWS, Island Conservation and Effective Environmental Restoration Inc (EER) with support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the National Geographic Society initiated a seabird social attraction project to encourage Bridled Terns, Brown Noddies, and Audubon’s Shearwaters to nest on the island.