GET PLUM ISLAND!

An environmental history of resistance negotiation and conservation on the Massachusetts coast An hour north of Boston Parker River National Wildlife Refuge occupies the southern three quarters of Plum Island a barrier island off the Massachusetts coast Parker River is a nationally renowned birding destination and the second most visited wildlife refuge in the Northeast drawing over 300 000 visitors annually Today environmentally minded Massachusetts barely remembers the decade long fight that reduced the refuge to half its original size Get Plum Island tells the forgotten story of how six small towns in Essex County Newbury West Newbury Rowley Ipswich Groveland and Georgetown fought the establishment of the refuge in the 1940s Through political organizing across local state and federal levels the opposition nearly abolished the refuge and ultimately succeeded in making it smaller The conflict was deeply shaped by class geography and competing visions of land use On one side were elite conservationists sportsmen ornithologists and preservation advocates from Boston Cambridge and Newton who envisioned a federally protected habitat On the other side of the conflict a group of mostly middle and working class men farmers and local hunters