Middle Sister Island is a 9.5 acres (3.8 ha) island in Lake Erie

Lake Erie

Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...

. Along with the Canadian East Sister Island

East Sister Island

East Sister Island is a 15 hectare island in Ontario, located within Lake Erie, maintained as a Provincial Nature Reserve. This large, wooded, Lake Erie island is uninhabited except for thousands of birds. The nearby West Sister Island is in Ohio in the United States.-Flora and fauna:The island...

 and the U.S.-owned West Sister Island

West Sister Island

West Sister Island is an island of the U.S. state of Ohio located in Lake Erie. The island is in the Western Basin of Lake Erie and is jointly owned by the United States Coast Guard and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and managed and designated as a wilderness area. The only such area in Ohio...

, it is part of the Pelee Island archipelago in the western basin of Lake Erie, and is considered to be the "most natural and undisturbed" of these islands.

War of 1812

The island was a staging area for William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison was the ninth President of the United States , an American military officer and politician, and the first president to die in office. He was 68 years, 23 days old when elected, the oldest president elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980, and last President to be born before the...

's U.S. troops, just prior to the invasion of Canada and the Battle of the Thames

Battle of the Thames

The Battle of the Thames, also known as the Battle of Moraviantown, was a decisive American victory in the War of 1812. It took place on October 5, 1813, near present-day Chatham, Ontario in Upper Canada...

.

Flora and fauna

Guano

Guano

Guano is the excrement of seabirds, cave dwelling bats, and seals. Guano manure is an effective fertilizer due to its high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and also its lack of odor. It was an important source of nitrates for gunpowder...

 from the Lake Erie population of double-crested cormorant

Double-crested Cormorant

The Double-crested Cormorant is a member of the cormorant family of seabirds. It occurs along inland waterways as well as in coastal areas, and is widely distributed across North America, from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska down to Florida and Mexico...

s is interfering with tree growth in the Carolinian forest

Carolinian forest

The Carolinian forest is a life zone in eastern North America characterized primarily by a predominance of deciduous, or broad-leaf trees. The term "Carolinian forest" is used primarily in Canada...

 on this island and the nearby East Sister Island and Middle Island.