The only thing stronger than the stink you might smell on Pilot Island is the fight many residents have for restoring it to its former glory. Stakeholders like the Washington Island Sportsman’s Club participated in a listening session with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, which currently is charged for caring for the 3.5-acre island. Over the years, birds like cormorants have nested on the island, turning it into a barren wasteland where a historic lighthouse sits empty and covered in excrement. Rip Koken and others would like to see the agency do what it can to remove the cormorants from the island and restore the guano-covered landscape so it can be open to the public again and look as it did years ago. Koken says the United States Fish and Wildlife Service will not even do an environmental analysis of Pilot Island to confirm the impact cormorants have on the island itself and the water around it.

Thousands of cormorants and other birds call the island home during the summer months, eating approximately one million pounds of fish during that time. Koken promises that he and others will continue to fight the agency on this issue until they get the changes they want. You are encouraged to sign this petition to voice your concern for Pilot Island and request that changes take place.