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02/01/2017 07:00 AMFishing for bluefish and striped bass, swimming, duck hunting; taking off from the harbor on foot to explore the three-mile by one-mile island’s varied landscape—these were the activities of Bob Czepiel’s family weekends on Plum Island for the eight years, from 1946-1952, when it was open to the public. What Bob is now fighting for—along with the non-profit Connecticut Fund for the Environment (CFE)/Save the Sound—is for everyone to have that right once again and to keep Plum Island undeveloped forever so all can enjoy its beauty and serenity.
It was in June 1945 at Seth Perrson’s Boatyard, then in Old Saybrook near the original river drawbridge, that his dad Peter Czepiel began building the 36-foot motorboat Arpet
in which they cruised Long Island Sound and traveled to Plum Island.
“Seth designed her and along with dad and other helpers, including me, eight years old, built this modern, twin screw motor boat over a very cold winter,” says Bob.
It was launched on July 1, 1946.
“Between 1946 and 1952, Dad and I and the family would go out by boat to Plum Island on Friday night and spend our weekends there. It was a safe, deep harbor—and it was free,” says Bob. “I tramped every inch of that island.”
Those weekend sojourns from Deep River provided a perfect haven, away from the pressures of everyday life.
Bob’s mother Margaret had emigrated to the U.S. from Poland in 1913, speaking not one word of English. Her job in Bob’s youth was as a maid in the household of a well-to-do family in Chester. It gave her the chance to see what success looked like: Each of the family’s children went on to college. She learned—and impressed upon her son—that the path to success was through college.
“The day I was born, she said I was going to college,” says Bob.
So after graduating from Valley Regional High School—where he was class president—he went to college at Wesleyan University and then to University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business for an MBA.
“I worked on Wall Street for 22 years, then at Cigna, and then had my own business with myself and my trader. We had a $250 million fund we managed for our investors,” says Bob.
Decades in the big city made him long for the peace and tranquility of his youth along and on the Connecticut River, so in January 1996, he returned, buying a home in Old Saybrook where, from its windows, he could see the Connecticut River. Though he’s been retired for quite a while, he’s been busy.
“I’m a project guy,” says Bob.
After retiring from the business world, Bob, never one to sit still, he needed a project, so he went back to Wesleyan to learn a new skill, to study photography. His first project was a film he spent two years researching, writing, and filming. Narrated by Morley Safer, it was titled 17 Miles, Old Saybrook, the Birthplace of the Lower Connecticut Valley; proceeds for the sale of the film benefited the Old Saybrook Historical Society. His next project was documenting The Kate and its history as the town moved to restore it.
“That was a 40-minute film and took me three years of work. I did many interviews and sought out primary sources to collect the information,” says Bob.
With that project done, he was eager for a new challenge. Enter the citizen’s campaign to protect The Preserve from development. He became active with The Preserve’s citizen groups, sitting on both the Finance and Public Relations committees, and even contributed his own funds to support the effort. Now, with the thousand acres forever protected, he still volunteers there, but also has moved to a new campaign and project, protecting Plum Island.
Last year, he hired a boat that CFE used for a fundraising trip, bringing supporters around the island by boat to view its features. Landings on the island are still restricted since the federal Animal Disease Research Lab there remains active. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security staff enforces those restrictions.
In October 2015, Bob took a cameraman, soundman, and an environmental wildlife specialist on a boat tour around the island. With the footage they took, they made a movie that described the island’s resources and assets. On Jan. 11, 2017, Bob and Anne Czepiel were the hosts for a talk and public screening of the movie about the Plum Island at the Saybrook Point Inn.
For Bob, it’s all about building public and political support to keep Plum Island in public hands when the animal research laboratory moves to Kansas in several years.
Even as he works on the Plum Island campaign, he hasn’t forgotten The Preserve. One of his personal missions, along with other volunteers, has been to cut down and remove the more than 1,300 vertical percolation pipes installed decades ago by developers hoping to build on the land. Armed with his portable saw—a Sawzall—and his new four-wheel drive Ranger truck, he believes he’s cut down and removed more than 500 pipes so far.
“I’m up hiking in The Preserve two or three times a week. When I walk alone with nature, it’s enlightening and refreshing,” says Bob. “I like to walk some of the smaller unmarked paths—and I continue to find perc pipes. I cut down seven more just last week.”
Others have found it a popular hiking spot, too.
“On Sunday, there were six cars parked at the Ingham Hill Road [entrance] and I met 10 people on the trails,” says Bob. “I walked three miles in The Preserve that day.”
Each week Bob prints out six color Preserve trail maps from his computer to re-stock The Preserve’s map kiosk.
“When you put it all together, connecting Great Cedars East, Town Park, and The Preserve land, it’s 1,500 acres, and it’s all interconnected,” says Bob.
“People don’t realize how lucky we are to live her,” he adds.