In the 1920s the piping plover population in Michigan was estimated to be more than 200 nesting pairs. Because of loss of habitat, this number has declined drastically. The birds nest and feed on wide sandy beaches and are easily disturbed. The proliferation of residential home site development, all-terrain vehicles, dogs, and predators (including crows, gulls, and raccoons) have disturbed the quiet beach areas of the Great Lakes. Similar losses of habitat have occurred in Atlantic Coast nesting and wintering areas on beaches in Florida, resulting in a drop in plover nests and population. In 1986 the Great Lakes and Atlantic Coast piping plover populations were added to the Michigan and federal lists of endangered species. Since 1986 the breeding pairs in Michigan have increased from 12 to 24 pairs.
Beginning in 1986, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore began management to protect the piping plover nests. Each spring, all the suitable nesting beaches in the park are searched for breeding piping plovers. The beaches at Dimmick’s Point on North Manitou Island have been closed to public use each year from 1 May to 15 August since the piping plover was listed as endangered.
When pairs in breeding behavior are located, they are closely watched to determine if they nest and to locate the nest. Since 1989, as soon as a clutch is complete with four eggs, a fence has been erected around the nest to exclude predators. The nest is then monitored until hatching and the chicks are monitored until fledging.
In 1997 and 1998 the park had two nesting piping plover pairs at Platte Point, the most popular swimming beach in the park. The park closed a portion of this beach to protect the plovers, which affected public use of the beach. To mitigate this user impact, resource management staff and volunteers were stationed at the point to protect the birds from disturbance and to explain the delicate habitat conditions to visitors. The staff set up spotting scopes and invited approaching visitors to view the birds from a safe distance outside the closed area. At the same time, the visitors heard a discussion about the fragile nature of the piping plover, the importance of protecting its habitat, and other endangered species. In the first year that part of this beach was closed, park staff heard complaints from people unwilling to share the beach with an endangered species. But because staff and volunteers talked with so many beach users in 1997 and received good newspaper and television coverage, the public was more accepting in the second year. Three chicks from each of these two nests fledged on this very busy beach.
max_holden@nps.gov
Park Ranger, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan
Back to Chapter 5: Resource Restoration
Endemic tule elk to range freely at Point Reyes National Seashore
by Thomas Kucera
Great expectations for the black-footed ferret at Badlands
by Glenn E. Plumb, Ph.D., and Bruce Bessken
Hatches Harbor: Progress on restoring a salt marsh
by Norm Farris
Partners restore wetland in the Santa Monica Mountains NRA
by John Tiszler, Jim Benedict, Lisa Edgington, and Alan Hsu
Relief funds expedite watershed restoration program
by Darci Short