Paddlers for Plum Island to Return to Orient
Pictured Above: At last year’s Paddle for Plum Island
Local citizens will paddle in Orient on Saturday, August 17 as a display of activism in support of the campaign to preserve Plum Island.
Building on the success of the first Paddle for Plum Island, this second annual event will once again bring together Plum Island conservation enthusiasts to raise awareness and funds to support Save the Sound’s work to preserve Plum Island from commercial sale and development.
Participants will meet at Orient Beach State Park at 9:30 a.m. with their paddleboards or kayaks to explore the park’s amazing northern bays and creeks. They will stop for a group rest and swim, and then return to an afterparty on the beach with light refreshments and raffle prizes.
The paddlers will come away with vast knowledge on the importance of preserving one of the last remaining wild places that define the Long Island Sound way of life. Those interested in participating can register now at Crowdrise.
Funds raised from the event will support Save the Sound’s efforts to lead an envisioning process to determine the best future use of Plum Island. Save the Sound coordinates the Preserve Plum Island Coalition (PPIC), made up of 105 organizations.
Plum Island is an 840-acre, federally-owned island in the eastern end of Long Island Sound, and home to threatened and endangered birds like the piping plover and roseate tern, as well as other rare species.
More than 105 Connecticut, New York, and Rhode Island organizations work together as the Preserve Plum Island Coalition, partnering with grassroots activists and champions in Congress to halt sale of the island. There are currently five bills waiting in Congress that would halt or repeal the sale of the island.
