a Brookhaven National Laboratory footnote

I recently wrote about a visit to Brooklyn National Laboratory with Dan Wilson. BNL consists of 5000 acres in the middle of the Pine Barrens and at the sources of the Peconic River. Although much of it is disturbed, there is also a lot of excellent habitat including extensive woodlands and wetlands. Some of the woodlands will be cut for a solar energy project and my blog on the subject provoked the following response from Mel Cowgill who is a Brookhavener, a runner and a birder as well.

"Not sure where Dan took you but it sounds as if the tour included what we runners call the river road (the winding path beside the Peconic) and the Biology Fields. The latter is a particularly good birding area, made up of four quadrants separated by a dirt road from north to south and a line of trees from east to west. Unfortunately this is one of the areas slated for the solar arrays. Other areas are located to the south and west – if you want to see it in map layout, go to the official environmental assessment document (http://www.bnl.gov/community/docs/pdf/FINAL%20FINAL%20EA%20-%20BP%20Solar%20Project.pdf) and look for Figure 3 (on page 14). The Biology Fields are located in the “north” area. The “south” area is mostly mixed (deciduous/coniferous) woods where they have already been clearing out some of the underbrush. Then, further west is a ‘”brownfield” area – no trees here and I noticed on my run this lunchtime that heavy equipment is already working in this area. So, the good news is that the wetlands are by and large left untouched.

By the way, you mention the irony of destroying the environment to save the environment. There’s one additional irony – the project is being constructed by BP Solar. One only hopes they’ll have enough money left to complete the project after they’ve cut down all those trees!"

Mel also mentions the presence of butterflies including Monarch, Red-spotted Purple and Tiger Swallowtail. This list could undoubtedly be enlarged; on the visit with Dan Wilson, we saw Spicebush Swallowtail and, I am almost certain, Black Swallowtail.

Eric Salzman