Paddle for Plum Island

Help raise awareness and funds to support the campaign to preserve Plum Island with a paddle from Orient Beach State Park to Long Beach Bar Lighthouse and back!

Register today and start fundraising! Then join Save the Sound and Long Island Paddlers with your kayak or stand up paddleboard for a 10:00 a.m. registration and 11:00 a.m. launch from the park’s kayak access point. Enjoy a paddle up through the park’s northern bays and creeks, stop for a group rest and swim, and return to the kayak launch where the after-party will begin at 3:30 p.m.

More than 75 kayakers are expected to hit the water on August 18 for a feat of endurance and activism in support of the campaign to preserve Plum Island. The first Paddle for Plum Island kayaking event will bring together the Long Island Paddlers kayaking group and 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 gather at the Orient Beach State Park kayak access point at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 18. Following brief speeches, a number of kayakers will participate in a visual display of activism before paddling up through the park’s northern bays and creeks. Participants will return to the kayak launch around 3:30 p.m. for an after-party on the beach, featuring light refreshments. Interested participants can register at www.tinyurl.com/paddle4plum.

Funds raised from the event will support Save the Sound’s efforts to lead a visioning process for the future use of Plum Island, once the Plum Island Animal Disease Center moves to Kansas by 2023. 

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. Over 100 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. Connecticut Fund for the Environment/Save the Sound brought an action in federal court in 2016 claiming that the government’s decision to sell the island violates numerous federal environmental laws; a judge ruled earlier this year that the suit could go forward.