Friends of Plum and Pilot Islands

Pilot Island

I got my third newsletter out for the Friends of Plum and Pilot Islands (FOPPI) this week. This is becoming quite the interesting volunteer activity for me . . . mix a passion for history, restoration and preservation with that of lighthouses and wala -- a full obsession.

This all started with a quick trip over to Rock Island two summers ago with my friends, Karen and Sue. While on the ferry Karen pointed out Pilot Island and noted that the cormorants were deforesting the island, leaving the lighthouse to the elements. You know how you learn something new and then within a few days you learn another thing new that's related to the first thing but you never would have linked the two together? Well, that's exactly how this happened . . . after returning from the wonderful girl weekend (albeit bitten in every inch of my being by horseflies), I stumbled on an article about a successful experiment where the Chicago suburb of Barrington used recycled Christmas trees and discarded utility poles to entice the cormorants to roost on these instead of the trees. It worked and soon the foliage returned. I shared this with Karen and she did some research to try and find the right person to forward my article to. So, at the same time as I was being the self-proclaimed cormorant researcher the Friends of Plum and Pilot Island was being formed with the direction of Tim Sweet who worked to restore the historic lighthouse on Rock Island. So of course we quickly sent in our dues and became one of the FOPPI followers. We quickly learned that the cormorant problem isn't as easy as was written in the Barrington story . . . the Fish and Wildlife Department respect these awesome animals and encourage us to do the same. No problem, we can still work our magic on Plum Island (along with a bunch of money). So, in a weak moment I volunteered to edit the newsletter until Tim found someone else. I get the feeling he's not really looking . . . not that I mind though; this has turned out to be a wonderful activity.

I 'edit' (aka publish) four newsletters a year and have set up various feature sections such as Island Inspirations where I write about people who have lived or worked on the islands; Light Lessons - learn something about the lights or lighthouses in general; Nature Notebook - what else is on and around the island; Beacons - things to take notice of; and a book review of lighthouse-related books. Pretty cool, hey?

In future editions I plan to write up some material on the Fresnel lens that's in the Plum Island light, shipwrecks around Pilot, and more on the history of the light. I'm on the hunt for material and have been feverishly reading back editions of 'Lighthouse Digest' and books that I've found (cheap) on Ebay. Of course, additional inspiration from my friends is greatly appreciated!