The original landscape of this site was typical of the Cape May peninsula - hollies and red cedars interspersed with beach plums and native grasses. When the Army constructed these cylindrical towers, the original landscape was disturbed. The Army planned to plant "medium growth" trees to partially disguise the tower and make it a less prominent target. There is no evidence that the Army ever planted the oaks and holly trees that they proposed. Soon thereafter, the construction of the Northwest Magnesite plant started changing the local environment. The magnesite plant was located north and west of the tower, just across Sunset Boulevard and towards Sunset Beach. It extracted magnesium salts from seawater to create firebricks to line steel mill furnaces and ships' boilers. The smoke from the magnesite plant spewed large quantities of very alkaline pollution, killing all of the acid-loving vegetation. Since the closing of the plant in 1983, red cedars, poison ivy, primroses, grasses, sedges and beach-plums have begun to re-colonize the site as the rain has washed away the alkaline surface.
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