The station has been a member of the Organization of Biological Field Stations since 1988. Visitors may take a one and a half hour ferry from Black's Harbour, New Brunswick, to the village of North Head, Grand Manan Island. There are six ferry departures daily from late June until September, and three departures daily during the rest of the year. Numerous other islands in the Grand Manan Archipelago are accessible by boat. Summer weather conditions at Kent Island have been recorded nearly continuously since 1937.
Fog occurs during about one-third of summer days.
Because of the cool, moist climate of the Bay of Fundy, the flora and fauna of the Bowdoin Scientific Station are characterized by many boreal species that would normally be restricted to more northern latitudes or higher altitudes. The northern third of Kent Island is covered by a forest of white and red spruce, balsam fir, and heart-leaf birch, with mountain ash colonizing disturbed areas. The understory is dominated by spinulose wood-fern and whorled aster. The southern two-thirds of the island are mostly treeless, with old fields, a small freshwater stream, a marsh, and shrub habitats. There are large colonies of herring gulls, Leach's storm-petrels, and black guillemots.