Letters

We appreciate the op-ed by Karl Grossman [“Is Plum Island Safe?” Suffolk Closeup, Opinion, April 18] yet wish to point out that much work has been done in recent years to make Plum Island a safe and compelling destination for the public.

Plum Island has been off-limits since 1897, when the federal government began buying the island to build the Army’s Fort Terry, followed by the Department of Agriculture’s opening of the Plum Island Animal Disease Center in 1954.

This relative isolation has contributed to a profound lack of understanding about the island, allowing claims to circulate, including the one repeated by Mr. Grossman: that the Army Chemical Corps experimented with Cold War biological warfare in the former torpedo storehouse. But, according to the definitive history of the island (“A World Unto Itself: The Remarkable History of Plum Island”), the Chemical Corps did little beyond remodeling the storehouse. The authors write that “the Army’s research effort there ended almost before it began,” likely at the end of 1953.

Whatever happened inside the storehouse for a brief time over 70 years ago, we remain focused on the present need for federal action to preserve Plum Island and the many truths about it, including its fascinating role in American history, stunning pastoral beauty, and important connection to the Montaukett Indian Nation.

We in the Preserve Plum Island Coalition know Plum Island. We have visited it, walked its trails and shores, and reviewed numerous documents. We have spoken to employees and the many ecologists, birders, rare plant experts, and military historians who have spent time on the island.

Our concern is with the island’s future. For example, there is an urgent need for management planning, including removal of invasive species from sensitive areas.

Yes, work remains to be done. Historic buildings from Fort Terry may need to be fenced in the interests of public safety, and after the Animal Disease Center moves to its new facility in Kansas, the Department of Homeland Security will be responsible for cleaning the lab buildings where research to protect the nation’s food supply has taken place. The coalition’s vision does not include public visitation inside those buildings.

Outdoors, where New York’s Natural Heritage Program has documented 24 different natural communities, a few former waste repositories remain to be monitored and closed, about 8 acres out of 823, a fraction of the island where at least 229 bird species breed, feed or rest.

To preserve Plum Island’s ecological, historical and cultural riches, we strongly endorse the pending bipartisan bill in Congress that would designate the island a national monument. We encourage members of the public to reject alarmist stories and support protection of this key part of the New York/Southern New England seascape.

John Turner

Preserve Plum Island Coalition