CABIN JOHN, Md. (AP) - Scientists say a bridge expansion project across the Potomac River will threaten a patch of land in Maryland that has been dubbed “the most thoroughly studied island in North America.”
The Washington Post reported Friday that the 12-acres of rock and woods called Plummers Island have been home to the Washington Biologists’ Field Club for more than a century.
The group has spent decades studying the land, which offers a unique window into how nature responds to human development and climate change.
But the group says the island’s research value is in danger because of a plan for a wider American Legion Bridge to relieve traffic congestion on the Capital Beltway. The project could require piers on the island’s western edge and trees to be cut down
Caryn Brookman, who oversees Maryland’s environmental analysis of the project, said the state has worked to reduce the part of Plummers Island that would be affected, from 1.92 acres to 0.65 acres. She said the change also would spare the island’s wetlands.
But biologists say any impact on the island would cause irreparable harm.
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