NEWBURYPORT (CBS) – Each winter, storms take a toll on Plum Island’s vulnerable sand dunes. U.S. After more than a decade of uncertainty, the mandated sale of Plum Island may be off the table as part of a federal spending bill that could be approved this week. (Reporter file photo) Just days before Christmas, the U.S. Senate passed an omnibus spending bill that included a great gift to everyone who wants to preserve the natural beauty around us. Federal lawmakers on Monday passed a $1.4 trillion general appropriations bill that includes a provision to halt the public auction of Plum Island, the pristine 840-acre island that is … Plum Island News & Information is provided by Heidi Whittier, Realtor at the Bean Group, LLC in Newburyport Plum Island has been hailed as an environmental treasure, home to more than 500 plant and animal species, (Courtesy Robert Lorenz via Preserve Plum Island Coalition.) News 12 Staff. A seal on a rock at Plum Island. Plum Island News & Information, Plum Island, MA. The latest exercise was the seventh, and final drill, on Plum Island under a DARPA program called Rapid Attack Detection, Isolation and Characterization Systems (RADICS). The number of electric utility employees and government contractors allowed on the island this year was kept under 30. Filed Under: Jacob Wycoff, Newburyport News, Plum Island News. Plum Island Impassable, Residents Evacuated Due To FloodingThe causeway providing access to Plum Island flooded during Thursday's storm, cutting off access to the barrier island. Plum Island is an island in the Town of Southold in Suffolk County It is located in Gardiners Bay, east of Orient Point The island is about 3 miles long and 1-mile wide at its widest point The original lighthouse on Plum Island in Long Island Sound is a familiar site to boaters traveling through Plum Gut. Updated on: Dec 29, 2020, 6:01pm EST. The island is home to the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, established by the United States Department of Agriculture in 1954 to conduct critically needed research into animal diseases. Plum Island, the animal disease center that sits off the East End of Long Island, is off the auction block. 544 likes. Dec 29, 2020, 6:01pm EST.