In May of last year, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service revised the Critical Habitat designation for the pacific coast population of the Western Snowy Plover, which breeds in the US in coastal California, Washington, and Oregon. The revision increases critical habitat from 12,150 acres to 24,527 acres of coastal beach-dune ecosystem habitat along the US Pacific Coast essential to the survival and recovery of the snowy plover. The USFWS states that critical habitat, as defined by the Endangered Species Act, “identifies geographic areas containing features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species, and which may require special management considerations or protection. Designation of critical habitat does not affect land ownership, establish a refuge or preserve and has no impact on private landowners taking actions on their land that do not require federal funding or permits." (photo by Mike Baird)

At some beaches, critical habitat areas potentially support breeding plovers, but currently do not. These areas could be the key to recovery of this species. Despite extensive and expensive efforts across this populations’ range, the population is remaining fairly stable, but is not increasing and reaching the recovery goal of 3,000 birds over 10 years. The US population currently fluctuates under an estimated 2,500 birds. Plovers are restricted to a much smaller portion of their historic beach habitat, with many areas lost to development, beach raking, disturbance, invasive species, predators, etc. If we are going to recover this species, Audubon and the agencies responsible for managing and protecting these birds (CA Department of Parks and Recreation, CA Department of Fish and Wildlife, USFWS and others) need to look at the critical habitat areas and determine where it might be appropriate to restore habitat, alter management, and develop plans to encourage plovers to colonize currently uninhabited beaches. This approach could reduce the “pressure” off some landowners by spreading the birds out to reach recovery targets in each region in the recovery plan.

Population estimate based on annual breeding season window survey, 2006-2012.

Waddell Beach (part of the Ano Nuevo Important Bird Area) at Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County is one such example. Snowy Plovers have not been documented as nesting here since 2004, according to the USFWS, but historically supported 11 breeding and 50 wintering birds. However, the 25 acres of the beach have been named as Critical Habitat. The decision was made by USFWS that the beach still contains suitable habitat and is located between other active nesting areas and can serve as a dispersal site for juveniles as well as wintering habitat, and could help the overall recovery of the species within this region. The USFWS suggests special management considerations to address nonnative vegetation and human disturbance, including enforcement of existing human-use regulations.

State Parks recently released an Environmental Impact Report for a General Plan for Big Basin Redwoods State Park, in which they have agreed to “Manage the Waddell Creek Beach critical habitat to support breeding western snowy plovers.” We do not, however, support California State Park’s intention to increase parking facilities at the beach, which would likely lead to increased disturbance to plovers attempting to nest there. We do support an approach to designate and restore a portion of the beach specifically for wintering and breeding plovers, while maintaining public access on other portions of the beach, in a controlled and restricted manner. Morro Bay State Park is a great example of a beach where the Department has co-managed human recreation with nesting plover management.