The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (DFW) have released a 26-year statewide Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) that is intended to recalibrate the balance between the protection of the threatened Atlantic piping plover and the recreational options of Massachusetts beachgoers.
The HCP allows local stakeholders to develop site-specific management plans that will allow oversand vehicles to travel closer to plover nests and flightless fledglings, which will open up beach access during the nesting season, early May through late July.
According to Massachusetts state law, there can be no vehicle activity within 100 yards of the closest piping plover nest or chick. Plovers don’t nest close to one another, so a few nests can shut down a lot of beach to vehicle traffic, particularly on Martha’s Vineyard.
The HCP requirements will be tied to an annual census, so if the plover population increases, restrictions can be eased, and if the population decreases, restrictions will be tightened. If the population drops to less than 500 pairs, “no take” restrictions — meaning no disturbance of any kind allowed — will be reinstated. If there are greater than 655 pairs, then up to 7 percent of breeding pairs can be “impacted.”
Earlier this season on Chappaquiddick, plover nests on the Poucha Pond side of Leland Beach shut down the ocean side of the beach as well cutting off all vehicle access to Wasque Point. Under the new plan, the beach side of the narrow tract would have been able to remain open, with HCP protocols in place.
Escort service
The Trustees of the Reservations (TTOR) Martha’s Vineyard superintendent Chris Kennedy told The Times that a management plan for Chappy has gone back and forth between the FWS and DFW for several months. The DFW requested 12 changes from the last draft, all of which have been addressed, so he hopes a “certificate of inclusion” will be issued soon. Once it is issued, there will be a three-week public comment period.
“Is it going to provide relief on Chappaquiddick this year? Probably not,” Mr. Kennedy said. “It took a long time to get approval at the federal level, otherwise Norton Point would have been open this year.”
Norton Point, a ribbon of barrier beach that connects Katama to Chappy, has been closed to through vehicle traffic for much of this summer to protect nesting plovers and terns. Beachgoers had been restricted to a short portion of beach, which closed once its capacity was reached. This week, the portion of open beach was expanded on the Katama side after plover chicks began to fly.
Under new HCP guidelines, oversand vehicles owners will have to take a brief online test to insure they can identify piping plover nests and chicks. If the driver is alone, he or she will be escorted by a TTOR spotter, who will walk 30 to 40 feet ahead of the vehicle, looking for the diminutive bird. If a driver has passengers, one of them can serve as the spotter. TTOR monitors will also be responsible for smoothing out tire ruts, which can trap chicks or stop them from reaching the beach wrack where they feed.
Vehicles will be allowed to travel only in restricted areas, during a six-hour window. Nesting sites will have to be monitored hourly. This year, TTOR personnel have been checking the nests three to four times a day.
The HCP states the respective towns will be responsible for the cost of implementing the guidelines, which is not an option on TTOR land.
“One of the consequences is that we will have to hire additional shorebird staff,” Mr. Kennedy said. “This is going to be a very expensive program, because we’re going to have to hire two additional monitors, someone watching the chicks and someone escorting vehicles. I’m not sure if we’re going to absorb all the costs for that, or if we’ll have a surcharge on the vehicle permits at the beginning of the year. Obviously we can’t draw on tax revenue, so it’s going to have to be paid by the users one way or the other.”
The monitors will be working much longer than the six-hour window. They will have to go out at daybreak and take a chick count. If one is missing, they will have to determine if it has left the protective exclosure or has been eaten by a predator. If a monitor loses sight of one of the chicks during the six-hour window, the area will be shut down until the chick is located.
“It’s not going to be a panacea for some people’s angst, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction,” he said. “With the new regulations, Norton Point would be open.”
Conservation success story
Plover protection policies have ruffled the feathers of fishermen and four-wheeling beachgoers since 1986, when the Atlantic piping plover was listed under the Endangered Species Act. But the measures have had a dramatic impact.
Across the Northeast, the current Atlantic piping plover population is estimated at 1,870 nesting pairs, more than double the total in 1986, according to the FWS. The biggest increase has been in New England, where the numbers have gone from 184 nesting pairs in 1986 to 918 in 2015.
In Massachusetts, the Atlantic piping plover population has gone from 139 known pairs in 1986 to an estimated 689 pairs last year. Most pairs in Massachusetts nest on the Cape, about 10 percent on Martha’s Vineyard, and 5 percent on Nantucket.
“We had many years where we had no productivity,” Mr. Kennedy said. “We’ve learned what it takes to protect these birds and to protect their young, which includes staying off the beach. Last year at Norton Point we had four pairs of plovers; this year we have eight pairs. Last year we had no terns on Norton Point. This year we had hundreds.”