Workers repair habitat for ploverBy Mark Prado
IJ reporter
Friday, March 04, 2005 - Heavy equipment and hand tools help restore native plant species
Over the past few days, a powerful yellow excavator ripped out large patches of European beach grass near Abbott's Lagoon to make way for the delicate western snowy plover.
Non-native plants, such as the beach grass and ice plant, have taken over much of the area, smothering the dunes in which the federally threatened plovers thrive. In recent years, the non-natives have been removed in other areas near the lagoon and native plants, such as beach layia and Tidestrom's Lupine, have come back in strong numbers.
"The plovers do well in an open dune system, with sporadic native grasses," said Don Neubacher, the superintendent of the Point Reyes National Seashore, where the work is occurring.
"Plovers like the native plants because they create spaces for nesting and rearing young," he said. "But the beach grass is so thick, it's like a mat."
Work in the area over the past three years has seen non-natives removed from 30 acres of habitat at a cost of $330,000.
Part of the funding comes from the Cape Mohican oil spill fund, an $8 million settlement awarded to the state after the tanker Cape Mohican spilled thousands of gallons of oil into San Francisco Bay and surrounding waters in 1996.
The effort this week will obliterate another 2.5 acres of beach grass before the plover breeding season begins in a couple of weeks. In addition to the excavator, a bulldozer and shovels are being used as well. The non-native plant arrived with European settlement of the area, Neubacher said.
"We have seen a steep increase in the native plants," said Bill Shook, the seashore's chief of resource management. "They have come back strong, and that's without planting them. It's a natural process."
Since 1993, the plover has been listed as threatened, meaning under the Endangered Species Act no one may harm or injure the birds in any way. The plovers once were abundant on sandy beaches, but biologists estimate that no more than 2,600 snowy plovers breed along the Pacific Coast and only 1,200 in California.
Since the early 1970s, more than two-thirds of their habitat has been lost to coastal development, the spread of exotic weeds and human interference, including recreational activities. Today, only 28 major nesting areas remain.
The small snowy plovers are recognizable by their diminutive size, pale brown upper areas, dark patches on either side of their upper chest and dark legs. They weigh two ounces maximum and are about six inches long.
Their nesting season stretches from March through late September.
The plovers can often be seen scurrying up and down a beach, foraging for invertebrates in wet sand and in kelp tossed onto the beach in dry areas.
Some protections for the species are in place in Marin. Hikers at Limantour Beach, Abbott's Lagoon Beach and Kehoe Beach are advised to be careful from May to October, because the eggs of the snowy plover are easily destroyed. Dogs are prohibited from parts of Kehoe and Limantour beaches to protect the bird.
The current work will add more plover habitat.
"It's a great project and we can see the results," Neubacher said.
Contact Mark Prado via e-mail at mprado@marinij.com
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