A nesting pair of bald eagles on Petty’s Island, New Jersey have become the first beneficiaries of the positive side of the financial crisis. A vote by the board of the Natural Lands Trust, a state body created by the Legislature to preserve land and protect nature, was unanimously in favor of accepting the land as a gift from Citgo instead of a sale to a developer.
Under an agreement with New Jersey officials, Citgo will donate a conservation easement for the 392-acre island to the state. The easement will allow the land to be preserved and made accessible to the public for recreational activities including hiking, picnicking, fishing, birding, kayaking and canoeing.
Environmental groups had been fighting a proposal by city officials and Cherokee Investment Partners of Raleigh, N.C. to build a golf course, hotel and conference center and a residential development with 300 homes on the island, which is said to offer spectacular views of Philadelphia and Camden. Officials had hoped the project would be part of a $1 billion makeover of the waterfront, which could have been an economic boost to the largely blue-collar town. But the proposal evaporated along with the credit needed to develop it.
Citgo also agreed to remediate the island, which houses a former refinery and petroleum-storage facilities, to standards set by the Department of Environmental Protection and to donate $2 million to the state to maintain Petty’s Island as a nature preserve and an additional $1 million to establish a cultural and educational center on the island. This is the culmination of several years legal wrangles and pressure by environmental groups. The full story. is available here.
Petty’s Island has a long and interesting history, including William Penn as a previous owner. Blackbeard the pirate is reputed to have docked there, and the island was a hotbed for gambling and dueling in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, acquiring a reputation for lawlessness and danger; adding to this danger was the large number of shipwrecks which occurred around the island, some of which are still visible at low tide.
