Protections for T&E species at John Martin Reservoir

[SeEttaM]

Note: Arrgh, I sent this twice over the weekend but it got rejected for being too large by Google groups. So I will send the photos I note in a separate email.

I saw the post "Piping Plover habitat at John Martin Reservoir may not sustain population"  too late Friday to get hold of any CDOW staff so Saturday afternoon I drove out to John Martin Reservoir.  I spoke with the Park Ranger who was pretty familiar with the Piping Plover and Least Terns.  He said that CDOW intend to continue to put up nesting barriers and signage as they have in the past but that they have found any of the birds starting to nest yet.  He further said that a person has been hired to manage the nesting T&E birds at John Martin Res and added that this person is also assigned to check on the Queens Reservoirs (there is plenty of water in most of the series of lakes where Piping Plover and Least Tern have nested in the past).  

I didn't have time to drive the north shore but did drive over to the southeast shore main road.  I was happy to see that this road was blocked about hundred feet back from the current shoreline (water is very high) and previous 2 track entrances are also well blocked so at least vehicles cannot access the south shore from the eastern end west to the private property.  Below is a photo of that.  I did drive down to entry to private property along the south and saw a vehicle on shore (see 2nd pic)

I will be following up on the issue of maintaining habitat this week.  Nesting T&E species in the Arkansas Valley  are a high prioity to the Arkansas Valley Audubon Society.

SeEtta Moss, Conservation Chairpersonal

Arkansas Valley Audubon Society

Canon City

http://BirdsAndNature.blogspot.com