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Conservationists urge Rock Island to reconsider truck stop, dispensary near Milam Bottoms eagle roost
Summary
Wildlife biologists and conservation groups told the Rock Island City Council that a proposed cannabis dispensary and adjacent 24‑hour truck stop near I‑280 and Highway 92 could disturb the region’s largest documented wintering bald eagle night roost at Milam Bottoms.
A wildlife biologist and local conservation groups told the Rock Island City Council during public comment that a proposed cannabis dispensary, strip‑mall and a 24‑hour truck stop beside Interstate 280 and U.S. 92 could imperil a major winter night roost for bald eagles at Milam Bottoms.
Kelly McKay, a wildlife biologist who said she has studied bald eagles in the Midwest and Northeast for 46 years, told the council that long‑term surveys documented “6 to 800 eagles a night” in some years at Milam Bottoms and described the site as the largest night roost documented on the Mississippi River and in the Lower 48 states. She said night roosts require large, contiguous patches of floodplain forest and low night‑time disturbance to allow the…
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