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(Apostle Islands National Lakeshore News Release) BAYFIELD, Wis. — Apostle Islands National Lakeshore has awarded a...
Plovers Welcome: Volunteers prepare nesting locations
The seemingly endless sand beaches of Long Island may look, to us, like the perfect place for a summer picnic or barefoot stroll. But to piping plovers, those same beaches are something much more important.
Long Island is the most important habitat in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and, until 2019, the only successful nesting spots in the park for this federal, tribal, and state endangered species. Along with the Michigan Island sandspit, its beaches were designated as “critical habitat” for the species in 2001 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and until 2019, Long Island was the park’s only successful nesting location. To the piping plover, those Long Island beaches are home.
Piping Plovers – NPS photo
With bags in hand, volunteers prepare for beach clean-up
Recently, volunteers with Friends of the Apostle Islands joined a collaborative effort by the National Park Service and the Bad River Band to be sure those beaches are ready for the return of the piping plover this summer. “Plovers are picky about where they nest,” Gerry Miller, one of the Friends volunteers said after the briefing by the Bad River and NPS biologists. “They don’t like driftwood but do like relative clean sand free of debris or obstructions. They also like sections of smaller rocks that can disguise their eggs to look like just another pebble on the beach.”
After instructions from the biologists, teams were sent off to likely nesting spots to spruce them up for the returning birds, clear them of debris, remove any garbage or obstructions. “Our job,” says Tessa Levins, another of the volunteers, “was to put out the ‘Plovers Welcome’ sign.”
Long Island beach and light – Gerry Miller photo
NPS rangers onboard – Gerry Miller photo
Volunteers walk the beach – Gerry Miller photo
Faced with predators, rising lake levels, storms, and a host of other dangers, piping plovers need all the “welcome signs” they can get. From 2006 to 2020, as few as 3 to 5 successful nests have been recorded on Long Island with just 5-15 successfully fledged chicks. While successful nests have also been recorded on Outer Island, Stockton, and Michigan Islands, these stretches of sand on Long Island remain the best hope for nesting piping plovers in the park.
Piping Plover banding – NPS photo
Now, after the efforts of the crew from Bad River Natural Resources staff, Friends of the Apostle Islands, and the ongoing work of the National Park Service, we hope the Long Island beaches will seem just a little more like “home” to this year’s nesting plovers.
For information on how you can volunteer with Friends of the Apostle Islands, contact Jill Rennicke at 715-449-6900, or email jill@friendsoftheapostleislands.
(All non-NPS photos and video by Friends volunteer Gerry Miller)
Group photo of volunteers – Gerry Miller photo
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