Plum Island is poised between its past and its future. Looking back, it contains evidence of its time as a coastal defense in the Spanish-American War, as well as a 19th-century, National Register-certified lighthouse. Looking ahead, it could become a publicly accessible nature preserve and cultural center, providing a haven for native flora and migrating animals. The pivot point is the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, which has given the Island much if its current identity and whose iminent demise has prompted concern for the Island’s fate. 

John Turner, noted naturalist and spokesman for the Preserve Plum Island Coalition, explains the issues involved and the push to keep the Island from being sold off to the highest bidder.  We also discuss his work in the Pine Barrens and his thoughts on Long Island’s natural landscape.

Further Research

• Preserve Plum Island Coalition
  
• Plum Island Animal Disease Center
  
• White Cedar
  
• Coastal Barrens Buckmoth
  
• Long Island Pine Barrens Society
  
• Gardiner’s Island: A Visit with Robert David Lion Gardiner (1976)
  

Bibliography

• Scandal on Plum Island by Marian E. Lindberg
• A World Unto Itself: The Remarkable History of Plum Island, New York
  by Ruth Ann Bramson, Geoffrey K. Fleming and Amy Kasuga Folk
• Exploring the Other Isalnd by John Turner