Foulness Island passing of the Ministry of Defence Act 1946 and the subsequent rationalisation of five agencies in 1971, ownership of the island passed from the War Office to the Ministry of Defence. In 2003, a contract to manage the testing of munitions was awarded to the defence contractors QinetiQ, and they also control access to the island. In the 1850s, the South Essex Estuary and Reclamation Company proposed a grand scheme to reclaim around of land on the Essex coast, which would have included most of Foulness Sands and Maplin Sands. The civil engineer Sir John Rennie produced the plans, and
Great Wass Island Island Preserve is in the island. The interior of Great Wass Island supports coastal Maine's largest stand of jack pine, other typical plants are bakeapple ("Rubus chamaemorus"), deer-hair sedge ("Trichophorum cespitosum"), and dragon’s mouth orchid ("Arethusa bulbosa"). The island is part of the Town of Beals, in Washington County. Great Wass Island Great Wass Island (approx. 1700 acres) lies in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the State of Maine, United States. On the mainland is Jonesport in Washington County. The island is 5 mi (8 km) long, 1.5 mi (2.5 km) wide and it is the biggest island