Plummers Island
{{Short description|Potomac River island in Montgomery County, Maryland, USA}}
Plummers Island is a 12-acre Potomac River island in Montgomery County, Maryland, about nine miles upriver from Washington, D.C.{{cite news|author=Megan Gambino|publisher=Natural History Museum|title=Field Trip to Plummers Island|work=Around the Mall|url=http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2009/05/field-trip-to-plummers-island/|date=May 6, 2009}} The [https://wbfc.science Washington Biologists' Field Club] has called the island "the most thoroughly studied island in North America".{{cite web|publisher=DC Audubon Society| title=100 Years of Club Plummers Island|url=http://dcaudubon.blogspot.com/2006/07/100-years-of-club-plummers-island.html|date=July 31, 2006}} The island is visible from the American Legion Memorial Bridge of the Capital Beltway, just downriver (east) of the bridge.
File:Plummers Island Maryland.JPG
Scientific study of Plummers Island began in 1899, when botanist Charles Louis Pollard{{cite web|work=Washington Biologists' Field Club|title=Charles Louis Pollard| url=http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/resshow/perry/bios/PollardCharlesLouis.htm|date=January 3, 2012}} formed the Washington Biologists' Field Club and began the search for a field camp near the club's Washington, D.C. home.{{cite news|author=Karl V. Krombein|year=1963|publisher=Biological Society of Washington|title=Natural history of Plummers Island, Maryland| work=Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington|volume=76|pages=255–280}} The club leased the island in 1901, and bought it seven years later; the island is now owned by the U.S. National Park Service, located within Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.{{cite web |title=Lichens and Air Quality |url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/lichens-and-air-quality.htm |date=2017-12-27 |publisher=U.S. National Park Service}}
A 2008 issue of the Bulletin of the Biological Society of Washington was dedicated to articles about the flora and fauna of the island.{{cite news|title=Bulletin of the Biological Society of Washington|volume=15|year=2008|page=iv-226|url=http://www.bioone.org/toc/bswa/15/1|accessdate=2 Jan 2012}} The study of the island's three main plant communities, riparian, terrace, and upland forest,{{cite web|author=Elizabeth F. Wells|title=Present Plant Communities on Plummers Island|url=http://botany.si.edu/dcflora/dcplummers/PlummersIslandPlantCommunities.htm|date=23 February 2004|work=Flora of the Washington-Baltimore Area|publisher=Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History}} documented 3,012 insect species in 253 families, in 18 orders: Collembola, Odonata, Dermaptera, Blattodea, Phasmatodea, Orthoptera, Psocoptera, Thysanoptera, Hemiptera, Neuroptera, Megaloptera, Coleoptera, Mecoptera, Trichoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera, Siphonaptera, and Hymenoptera.{{cite news|author=John W. Brown and Stephen M. Bahr II|year=2008|title=The Insect (Insecta) Fauna of Plummers Island, Maryland: Brief Collecting History and Status of the Inventory|work=Bulletin of the Biological Society of Washington|volume=15|pages=54–64|url=http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2988/0097-0298%282008%2915%5B54%3ATIIFOP%5D2.0.CO%3B2?journalCode=bswa|accessdate=2 Jan 2012}} Another of the studies reported 19 species of freshwater mollusks (7 bivalves, 12 gastropods) in the island's immediate area, bringing the total known for the Middle Potomac River to 42 species.Timothy A. Pearce & Ryan Evans. 2008. Freshwater Mollusca of Plummers Island, Maryland. Bulletin of the Biological Society of Washington 15: 20-30. A periodically updated checklist which includes all the vascular plants of the flora, including ferns, fern allies, gymnosperms, and flowering plants, that have ever been reported growing in the wild on the island and its adjacent mainland, totals 885 plant species, of which 704 are native, and 181 naturalized.Stanwyn G. Shetler, Sylvia Stone Orli, Elizabeth F. Wells and Marcie Beyersdorfer. 2006. Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Plummers Island, Montgomery County, Maryland. Bulletin of the Biological Society of Washington 14: 1-57.
__NOTOC__
American Legion Bridge expansion
In September 2017, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced plans to widen Interstate Highways I-270 and I-495 (Capital Beltway) with toll-funded express lanes; planned, built, and operated through a public-private partnership (P3). This plan would also require widening the American Legion Bridge.{{cite news |last1=McCartney |first1=Robert |last2=Siddiqui |first2=Faiz |last3=Wiggins |first3=Ovetta |title=Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan proposes widening the Beltway and I-270 to include 4 toll lanes |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/maryland-gov-hogan-announces-9b-traffic-relief-plan-for-beltway-other-major-highways/2017/09/21/c15c14a0-9ec8-11e7-9083-fbfddf6804c2_story.html |date=2017-09-21 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}
On July 10, 2020, the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) released its more than 18,000-page Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on the project, which addresses the construction project's impacts on people and the environment. If implemented, the highway expansion would fragment Plummers Island, which is located immediately downstream of the bridge. It would destroy or require relocation of the channel that separates the island from the mainland, clear-cut trees, and level a significant portion of the island. The native beech forest on the mainland side would also have to be cut down; wetlands between the mainland and the island would be destroyed, which can lead to a heavy infestation with invasive plants.{{Cite web |url=https://dontwiden270.org/news/2020/11/15/mdot-releases-19000-page-draft-environmental-impact-statement-deis-local-governments-grassroots-organizations-and-individuals-tell-mdot-the-deis-is-flawed-and-the-project-has-to-stop |title=Local governments, grassroots organizations, and individuals tell MDOT the DEIS is flawed and the project has to stop |date=2020-11-15 |publisher=DontWiden270.org |accessdate=2021-04-02}}{{Cite web |url=https://wbfc.science/plummers-island-threatened/ |title=Plummers Island Threatened by proposed Expansion of American Legion Bridge |publisher=Washington Biologists' Field Club |location=Washington, D.C. |accessdate=2021-04-02}}
In August 2022 the Federal Highway Administration approved the proposed project.{{cite news |last=Duncan |first=Ian |title=Controversial Hogan plan for Beltway, I-270 toll lanes gets green light |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/08/25/beltway-i270-toll-lanes-hogan/ |date=2022-08-26 |newspaper=The Washington Post}} In October 2022 environmental and historic preservation groups filed suit against the state, citing deficiencies in the environmental review process and the projected impacts on Plummers Island.{{cite news |last=Uliano |first=Dick |title=Environmental, historic preservation groups file suit to block Capital Beltway project |url=https://wtop.com/local/2022/10/environmental-historic-preservation-groups-file-suit-to-block-capital-beltway-project/ |date=2022-10-11 |publisher=WTOP Radio News}}
References
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External links
- Map: {{Coord|38|58|10|N|77|10|35|W|format=dms|display=inline,title|type:isle_region:US-MD_scale:25000}}
- Washington Biologists' Field Club, http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/resshow/perry/bios/WBFCHome.htm, accessed 3 Jan 2012.
- {{cite web
|url ={{GNIS 3|586613}}
|title =Plummers Island
|work =Geographic Names Information System
|publisher =United States Geological Survey
|accessdate =2012-12-31}}
=Watershed Profile - Potomac River, Montgomery County, Maryland=
- [http://archive.chesapeakebay.net/wspv31/(puh4pm45qslzcozj0vnsqo45)/WspAbout.aspx?basno=371&topic=5 Chesapeake Bay Program ]{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
- [http://mddnr.chesapeakebay.net/wsprofiles/surf/prof/wsprof.cfm?watershed=02140202 Maryland DNR's Surf Your Watershed]: Potomac River Montgomery County
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Category:Chesapeake Bay watershed
Category:Landforms of Montgomery County, Maryland
Category:Islands of the Potomac River