Piping Plovers on St. Andrews Beach - ATV's...danger
Jennifer Harding
For the past few years there have been Piping Plovers on St. Andrews
Beach. Dave and I have watched them, there's a pair, and I do believe
Peter Thomas confirmed a nesting pair last year. This year they are
back again on the beach. Unfortunatly this beach is not a designated
Piping Plover beach, therefore no signs are there to let others know
of the endangered birds. Dave and I went to the beach to check on the
plovers a few days ago, and I was pretty upset to see four quad ATV's
exactly where the plovers have been located. People carelessly driving
all over the beach, unaware of the Piping Plovers. The same has
happened at Searston Beach, and that beach has warning signs clearly
telling ATV's to stay off the beach due to the Piping Plover. Yet
there are ATV tracks all over the beach and the dunes. I feel quite
strongly and angered about this, and I feel something needs to be
done.
St. Andrews beach should really be a desginated Piping Plover beach,
as we all know how endangered these birds are. People just do not know
about these birds and are not educated on how important it is to
protect them. I do not know how one would go about doing this, but
someone really should look into making this beach a safe haven for the
Piping Plovers. Seeing those quads ripping along the beach exactly
where the plovers were just really angered me. Sorry about the rant,
but I believe in order to protect them the beach should be protected
and signs should be erected to allow people to understand why the
beach is important. And people need to be aware of what is happening.
Just my two cents. I'm sure others feel this way as well.
Jen Harding
izzy
Jen,
I appreciate your comments, and absolutely share your concerns. I
wanted to take the time to pass along some information to you
regarding disturbance of PIPL during breeding and chick-rearing. I've
been heavily involved in the PIPL monitoring program over the past 7
years and Peter Thomas and I co-chair the Provincial Recovery Working
Group.
To start, MacDougall's beach is a well lknown PIPL beach and has been
monitered regularly over the years (i.e it is a 'designated' plover
beach). Once a breeding pair/nest has been determined, signs are
erected to indicate the presence of the birds at the site. No birds
were seen at this site during this year's 'index counts' (a
standardized window of time during which all known or suspected PIPL
beaches in the Province are surveyed), and so the sign was not
erected. For legal reasons, the signs used for beaches where
confirmed nesting is taking place cannot be erected if no pair is
present. However, cearly your observation suggests that a pair was
seen here later in the year. Your observations are now known to the
rest of the monitoring crew and the site will be checked in the near
future. I am really hoping that the birds are still there and will
renest (if indeed they had a nest--it is possible they may have lost a
nesxt on a nearby beach and were prospecting for a new site given that
they weren't present during the index counts)--we have several pairs
currently renesting in other areas. It is highly unfortunate that the
level of ATV use poses such a threat. For this reason, for the first
time ever and after many painstaking hours of documenting and
evaluating the effect of motorized recreational vehicles on the
breeding status and survival of plovers, we have worked to institute
a regulation which prohibits ATV use on beaches where ATV use has been
documented to pose a signficant threat to nesting birds, and for sites
which contain signficiant numbers of nests. For this, the pilot year,
6 beaches are included in the regulation (and these sites account for
almost 85% of known nests over the past 5 years). While there have
abeen a few glitches, to a large degree the regulations are being
respected and alternate ATV trails are being used. This does not mean
that ATV use is allowed to occur irresponsibly at other sites, and it
is illegal to harass or disturb and endangered species. Conservation
officers, biologists and Plover Guardians have been spending a lot of
time on beaches speaking with folks regarding adapting behaviours to
minimize distrubance to the nesting birds and their young. Wrt to
ATVs and dirt bikes, we indicate that these need to be driven slowly
and below the high tide mark and preferably not used on a beach at
all. There have been several prior convictions for people who have
been caught harrasing the birds with ATVs under the Provincial
Endangered Species Act, and take irresponsible use of ATVs and illegal
use on restricted beaches very seriously. Numerous conservation
officers patrol the Plover beaches (including MacDougalls) to enforce
the regulations and promote stewardship and responsible use.
Unfortunately they cannot be everywhere at once and as you have seen
it only takes a handful of incidents to affect the birds. In the
meantime, we will check the site, erect a sign if the pair is still
present and consider extending the motorized recreational vehicle
prohibitions to other sites in the future. Please keep sharing yoru
observations and opinions and notify us right away if you observe
illegal activity on a beach, or pairs on a site that is not
'posted' (with a sign) so that we can follow-up quickly. This year, we
are monitoring 20 sites separated by hundreds of kilomters and are
grateful for any additional observations that you may have outside of
our scheduled visits to these sites.
Regards,
Isabelle Schmelzer
vincee
Hey...I just got to reading about the Piping Plover and I share in all
concerns. I saw a Spotted Sandpiper nest with eggs distroyed last year
because of people. However, last September there were about eight of
these birds at Freshwater Bay, and I have seen them in Bonavista Bay,
Red Cliff inparticular, and at various beaches where there is a lot of
human activity. I have also seen them at the west end of Qui da Vida
Lake, maybe the same birds from Freshwater Bay. I was reading in Roger
Burrows' book, Birds of Atlantic Canada, that, "As a listed endangered
species it has legistative protection, but these laws are patchily
enforced anywhere but on national park beaches." I say lets bring the
local media into the picture and educate the Newfoundland public about
these birds, and place law enforcement on beaches were signs are
posted. Bird watchers can photograph people who ride their ATVs along
designated and protected beaches. This can reach the media. Do we have
enough wildlife officers highered to looking after our endangered
planet. How about hiring local university students in the summer
months to look out for such sights? You have my vote. vincee
vincee
> Red Cliff inparticular, and at various beaches where there is a lot of
> human activity. I have also seen them at the west end of Qui da Vida
> Lake, maybe the same birds from Freshwater Bay. I was reading in Roger
> Burrows' book, Birds of Atlantic Canada, that, "As a listed endangered
> species it has legistative protection, but these laws are patchily
> enforced anywhere but on national park beaches." I say lets bring the
> local media into the picture and educate the Newfoundland public about
> these birds, and place law enforcement on beaches were signs are
> posted. Bird watchers can photograph people who ride their ATVs along
> designated and protected beaches. This can reach the media. Do we have
> enough wildlife officers highered to looking after our endangered
> planet. How about hiring local university students in the summer
>
> - Show quoted text -