GLIN==> Piping plover shorebird recovery gets boost with grant

ST. LOUIS RIVER ALLIANCE
NEWS RELEASE


 


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


7/12/11

Contact: Julene Boe, Executive Director, (218) 733-9520,
slrcac at stlouisriver.org

 

Piping Plover Shorebird Recovery Gets Boost with Grant

 

DULUTH, Minn. -- The St. Louis River Alliance has received a grant of
$250,000 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Coastal Program for a
five-year project to restore piping plover nesting habitat to Wisconsin
Point and the St. Louis River Estuary.

 

Piping plovers are one of the most endangered shorebirds in the world, and
have not been known to nest locally in over 25 years.  Fewer than 70
breeding pairs exist in the Great Lakes, mostly in Michigan. The project
supports the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's goals of restoring the
population of plovers in the Great Lakes to 150 breeding pairs, and
maintaining a viable plover population within a critical area of the region
so that the species can be removed from the Threatened and Endangered
Species List. The project will also help restore habitat and wildlife
populations to the estuary as part of the process to have it delisted as a
Great Lakes Area of Concern.

 

"With the plover population in the Great Lakes on the upswing, the time is
right to attract piping plovers for nesting in the estuary and on Wisconsin
Point," said Julene Boe, executive director of the St. Louis River Alliance.
"This area has good potential for re-colonization because plovers from
Michigan are emigrating west as available habitat fills. Plovers already
come here during their migration. We hope to give them a reason to stay and
nest."

 

Beginning this fall, project work will involve developing nesting habitat on
two sites: the Wisconsin Point Wildlife Area on the St. Louis River bay side
of Wisconsin Point, and Shafer Beach on the Lake Superior side of Wisconsin
Point.  Early next spring a public outreach and education campaign will
begin and project staff will respond to any plover nesting that occurs. The
public will have opportunities to be involved as trained volunteers to
assist in spotting and monitoring piping plover activities.

 

A committee of natural resource managers from several government agencies
including the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the City of
Superior, Douglas County and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will guide
the project. The work will be conducted in concert with plover habitat
restoration efforts by the Douglas County Land and Water Conservation
Department.

 

"The USFWS Coastal Program is excited to work with the Alliance and other
local partners involved with this project," said Ted Koehler, biologist with
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office in Ashland, Wisc. "This
effort will provide important habitat for piping plover and other migratory
birds that use these sites."

 

"This is a wonderful opportunity to restore piping plovers to an area where
they last nested over 25 years ago and to create new habitat for them," said
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Avian Ecologist Sumner Matteson.
"I'm excited about the partnerships involved and look forward to seeing this
shorebird return to the Duluth-Superior area." 

 

The St. Louis River Alliance is a local nonprofit organization that partners
with local, state, tribal and federal agencies as well as other nonprofits
to clean up, restore and protect the St. Louis River, an Area of Concern on
the Great Lakes. The Alliance also promotes and sponsors programs and
activities that foster public awareness of river issues and highlight the
river as a vital economic asset to the region and world.

 

For information on the St. Louis River Alliance, visit
<http://www.StLouisRiver.org> www.StLouisRiver.org, or call (218) 733-9520. 

 

###

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.great-lakes.net/lists/glin-announce/attachments/20110712/73950469/attachment.html