The future of one of the area’s richest natural resources hangs in the balance, as the sale of Plum Island still looms large, according to one environmental expert who spoke to the East Marion Community Association today.
The East Marion Community Association held a session, “Preserving Plum Island for Future Generations” this morning at the East Marion Firehouse.
Chris Cryder, special projects coordinator for Save the Sound, kicked off the event by giving a virtual tour of Plum Island, which included images of the island’s natural beauty taken by photographer Robert Lorenz.
Plum Island, where the nation’s Animal Disease Center is sited, is home to endangered species and unique habitats, with abundant and rare natural resources.
Cryder gave an informational talk about the geographical history of Plum Island, which, he said, is part of an archipelago of islands that sport some of the largest fish concentrations in the entire mid-Atlantic region.
Plum Island, which encompasses 850 acres, is currently owned by the federal government and operated by the Department of Homeland Security, Cryder said; currently, 80 percent of the island has been allowed to return to its natural state, becoming a “de facto wildlife refuge,” he said.
Cryder said some would eventually like to see the Plum Island Lighthouse brought back into service.
He gave an overview of the rich natural resources on the island, including osprey — 10 pairs currently live on the island, but back in the mid 1800s, there were 250 pairs. At the time, Plum Island was the largest osprey breeding area on the whole eastern seaboard. The island is rich with piping plover, terns and swallows, whales, gray seals, dolphins, sea turtles and the second highest concentration of rare plants in all of New York State, second only to Fishers Island. Eelgrass habitats are also a feature of the island, as well as stretches of pristine beach.
This March, a team of scientists embarked upon a full year, four-season flora and fauna inventory of the entire island, Cryder said, as well as a study of the wetlands and marine creatures. Bats are also being studied, with the hope that the bats on Plum Island have not been subjected to white nose syndrome, which has killed millions of bats nationwide.
The island is also home to 218 species of birds, one quarter of all the species in the United States, Cryder said.
The Animal Disease Center currently employes 400, but, Cryder said, the facility is scheduled to be closed, with operations transferred to the new National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility slated for Manhattan, Kansas, which is slated to be completed by the early 2020s.
Plum Island, Great Gull, and Little Gull all have systems that work together and co-exist, Cryder said; Little Gull, however, was sold in 2012 for more than $380,000 and is now in private ownership.
The same threat hangs heavy over Plum Island: In 2013, Donald Trump expressed interest in purchasing the island and creating two golf courses. “In an interview recently he boasted that he’s never lost money on waterfront property,” Cryder said.
But environmentalists have been advocating for years to save Plum Island. “It’s a unique island, culturally, historically and environmentally,” Cryder said.
Giving a brief overview of Plum Island’s recent history, Cryder said the government first began to consider selling the island in 2009, with an eye toward financing the new Kansas facility. Former Congressman Tim Bishop fought for years to save Plum Island and keep jobs onsite.
Currently, Cryder said the Department of Homeland Security has said anything but the “unfettered sale of the entire island is impossible.”
Environmentalists have a different interpretation, and believe just the Animal Disease Center could be sold, leaving the 80 percent of the island that’s filled with wildlife as a refuge.
Another option would be to let another arm of the government, such as Fish and Wildlife Services or the National Parks System, manage the island’s conservation zone.
Cryder questioned who is still actively pushing the sale of the island, now that the funds are no longer earmarked for the Kansas facility, which is fully financed.
“Somebody, we don’ know who, is still driving this this 800-lb .gorilla somewhere, pushing this sale forward, despite the lack of logic,” he said.
To keep developers at bay, in 2013, the Southold Town board adopted the first-ever zoning for Plum Island, which includes a 125-acre Plum Island research district, making up 20 percent of the island, as well as a 350-acre Plum Island conservation district, that would be preserved.
Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell has said he’d like to see a research facility created that could keep jobs on Plum Island for local residents.
Cryder commended the Southold town board for taking a proactive stance and zoning Plum Island, effectively lowering its value.
Some believe the zoning is “an airtight safety net,” Cryder said. “But we have seen Trump, and others, over time, get what they want. They have deep pockets to sue small towns.”
Cryder said he agreed with Russell that the research zone could see adaptive reuse, in order to keep jobs, and possibly transformed into an underwater exploration facility, with a consortium of academic institutions onboard to study climate change. Russell, he said, has suggested a research facility for renewable energy.
Members of the public asked Cryder if he’d heard rumors of a prison to be build on Plum Island.
“Eastern Alcatraz,” he joked, but said he’d not heard of a prison, only a national training center for first responders.
Cryder said he does not believe the federal government has done a detailed environmental impact analysis of the harm that could evolve from the sale of Plum Island; alternatives must be studied to determine the least damaging impact to resources; a conservation alternative analysis must also be completed and potential contamination issues studied.
To that end, the Save the Sound coalition filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the Department of Homeland Security in January.
Looking ahead, Cryder said options include federal conservation, the environmental impact statement complaint, “to get the feds to the table”, and actions by federal representatives, such as a bill by Rep. Lee Zeldin, that urges the government not to sell Plum Island.
The bill asks for language to “decouple the sale of Plum Island” from the construction of the Kansas facility, he said.
State senators have also jointly filed a similar bill, asking for the decoupling, and requesting a full environmental and conservation analysis.
The state also has “tools in its toolbox” it can use, including a coastal zone management plan; he said moving the island into private ownership would be inconsistent with that plan.
Other members of the public said the need for jobs on Plum Island remains critical.
Cryder said the public, in the fall, should reach out to state and federal representatives; he collected email addresses so that he could keep residents informed.
“This island is already yours,” he said. “We own it already. It’s ironic that it’s exactly the kind of island we’d be asking our government to purchase, if we didn’t already own it, to be part of the stewardship system in the area. We believe the value of keeping it in the public realm outweighs any development benefits.”
