Plum Island:

Letter from LIAC to Tim Bishop

 

Honorable Tim Bishop

Congressman, 1st District-NY

3680 Route 112, Suite C

Coram, NY    11727

Dear Congressman Bishop:

I am writing on behalf of the Long Island Audubon Council (LIAC), a consortium of the Long Island chapters of the National Audubon Society, comprised of approximately 6,700 members. This includes about 2,100 members of the Huntington-Oyster Bay, Great South Bay, Four Harbors, North Fork, and Eastern Long Island Audubon Societies who are also your congressional constituents. The purpose of the letter is to express LIAC‘s opposition to the federal goverment’s decision to sell Plum Island to the private sector and to inform you of our strong support for achieving a permanent conservation outcome for the island.  To achieve this the Council respectfully urges you to introduce legislation to provide permanent protection to the island’s significant ecological resources and environmental features, most appropriately achieved, in our judgment, by designating all or a significant portion of the island as a National Wildlife Refuge.      

Following is some information about the island that supports LIAC’s position and why   we believe this course of action is the appropriate one: 

Environmental/Ecological Value

Despite the more than half a century of active use by staff at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, the 840-acre Plum Island still contains significant natural resources and possesses remarkable scenic and environmental value. The island is extensively vegetated by several dozen woody and herbaceous plants and this vegetation provides habitat that supports a wide variety of bird and insect species. The large freshwater wetland situated in the southeastern section of the island offers suitable habitat for dozens of wetland dependent plant and animal species.  According to historical data this wetland once comprised one of the larger Atlantic White Cedar swamps (now a rather rare type of wetland community in the state) in coastal New York and there may be opportunites for community restoration.  A maritime dune community found on the island is a New York State Natural Heritage program ranked community (G4, S3 status).

Furthermore, based on detailed census work by Audubon staff over the past three years, nearly 90 bird species have been documented as breeding or foraging on Plum Island and adjacent coastal waters.  These include a variety of birds-of-prey, shorebirds, wading birds, waterfowl, and songbird species. Of special interest is the presence of piping plovers, a federally threatened species, which utilize the shoreline habitat for breeding purposes. It shares this shoreline with several dozen Roseate Terns, a federally endangered species, and several hundred common terns, a NYS threatened species, which use the shoreline of the island as developmental habitat. 

As has been documented at other coastal islands and sites situated in southern New England, Plum Island undoubtedly provides critical stopover habitat for many fall migrant songbirds, many of which have not been fully documented in the census work discussed above due to the fact that no detailed census work took place in late summer and all of autumn.   Coastal islands can be vital for migrating landbirds such as warblers, vireos, and thrushes, and many others that take advantage of the habitat to rest and feed (thereby refueling) before they continue their migration over water.   

Moreover, the island and the waters surrounding it are important habitat for numerous seal and seabird species. Aerial seal censuses conducted by the Riverhead Foundation have found that the immediate offshore rocks and the waters surrounding the island are used extensively by several dozen to more than one hundred harbor and grey seals during the winter months.   Various species of loons, grebes and numerous sea duck species occur here too. 

Cultural Resources

Moreover, the island possesses significant cultural resources that merit protection such as the Block Island lighthouse and numerous military embankments and buildings from the Spanish-American War.

Consistency with other Refuges

Over the past three decades the federal government has established numerous National Wildlife Refuges in the eastern Peconic/southern New England region.     These include, for example, Nomans National Wildlife Refuge approximately three miles south of Martha’s Vineyard; Block Island National Wildlife Refuge in the northern end of the island; Sachuest Point, John H. Chafee, Trustoms Pond, and Ninigret National Wildlife Refuges in coastal Rhode Island, the 10 units of the Stuart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge stretching along the Connecticut coastline;  and the Elizabeth Morton National Wildlife Refuge in Southampton, NY. Many of these refuges are very similar to Plum Island in terms of their species and community composition and were once properties held by the federal government to fulfill other governmental purposes. In our judgment the natural resources and environmental values of Plum Island are everybit the equal of these other places which were affirmitively protected by an Act of Congress.  Indeed, it is noteworthy that many of the Refuges were declared surplus by the federal government, but rather than being sold to the private sector, were transferred instead to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to preseve the valuable natural resources contained therein.

Role of Federal Government in Open Space Protection on Long Island

The preservation of open space and establishment of public parkland has been the  signature conservation achievement by various Long Island governments. Seven Suffolk towns have collectively spent nearly $400 million dollars to preserve open space while Suffolk County has committed at least that much, together preserving tens of thousands of acres.  New York State has committed over $100 million over the past two decades in acquiring key open space parcels. Despite this remarkable, indeed unpredented, commitment by New York State and local governments on LI the federal government’s role in land protection has been, unfortunately, inconsequential. Preserving Plum Island by designating all or a significant fraction as a National Wildlife Refuge would be a meaningful demonstration of the federal government’s commitment to protecting key open spaces in the New York metropolitan area.   

Economic Benefits

As studies by the US Fish and Wildlife Service have shown, refuges can be very popular sites for public visitation, thereby helping to underpin local economies, both by permitting certain extractive activities as well as promoting ecotourism.  We believe that a “Plum Island National Wildlife Refuge” in which the public gains access to explore the island, orient themselves at a visitor center, visit the lighthouse and other cultural features, and enjoy the unparalleled scenic views and wildife viewing opportunites while hiking on the island’s numerous trails would help achieve this desirable economic goal.

I appreciate the opportunity to share LIAC’s perspective on this important matter and your consideration of it. A few LIAC representatives and I would appreciate the opportunity to meet with you at a mutually convenient time to discuss this proposal in greater detail.   I will be calling your office soon to schedule an appointment.

Sincerely,

John L. Turner

Huntington-Oyster Bay Audubon Society

(on behalf of the LIAC)    

cc: Honorable Charles Schumer, U.S. Senator

      Honorable Kristin Gillibrand, U.S. Senator

      Honorable Ken LaValle, NY State Senator

      Honorable Mark Alessi, NY State Assemblyman 

      Honorable Scott Russell, Supervisor, Town of Southold

      Nancy Kelley, The Nature Conservancy

      Heather Lanza, Southold Town

      Al Caccase, NY Audubon   

      Bob DeLuca, Group for the East End

      Carolyn Spillman

      LIAC Audubon Chapter Presidents