Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Plovers and Pigweed

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
Plovers and Pigweed
Peggy Burkman, Biologist, National Park Service
Presented by Kelly Kearns, WI DNR
What's in a Name?
Charadriidae (plovers)
Charadrius melodus
Charadrius – root word is charade
Melodus - reference to their sound
Female
Male
Piping Plover Populations
Status
• Globally –
• threatened (Atlantic Coast and Great Plains
populations, and
• endangered (Great Lakes population 1986)
• Wisconsin - Federally and State endangered (1979)
• Long Island added to the park in 1986
• Critical habitat designated at Apostle Islands in 2001
Recovery Plan
Recovery Objective - “restore and maintain a viable population (95% or greater chance of
persisting 100 years) to the Great Lakes region and remove the Great Lakes population
from the list of Threatened and Endangered Species by 2020”.
Recovery Criteria – “the population has increased to at least 150 pairs (300 individuals), for
at least 5 consecutive years, with at least 100 breeding pairs (200 individuals)
in Michigan and 50 breeding pairs (100 individuals) distributed among sites
in other Great Lakes states”.
Long Island
1959 – birds on Long Island
1974 - regular nesting on Long Island
1978-1983 – WI nesting limited to Long Island
1984-1998 – no successful nesting
1998-2011- successful nesting in WI limited to the Apostle Islands
2012 – Chicks hatched in Door County
Protecting Piping Plovers
Ongoing challenge:
•Loss of habitat from development
•Pets, dirt bikes, ATV’s
•Predation by crows, ring-billed gulls, and
mammals
Cooperation and Management
•Cooperative efforts between NPS, USFWS, DNR, TNC, and
the Bad River Tribe
•Educate the public using a variety of methods
•Monitor to detect birds and nests
•Construct nest exclosures
•Creating buffer zones
ouse of signs
•Enforcing laws
oATV’s are not allowed
oDogs must be on a leash
What Is it?????
Cycloloma atriplicifolium – aka winged pigweed, tumble ringwing, plains tumbleweed,
and tumble-weed
Surveys
• Over 3,000 plants in 2011
• Many directly in piping plover critical habitat
Additional Plants just found on
Chequamegon Point
Decision Time
• Species originally from west of Mississippi
River (southwestern tribes)
• Considered adventive in the east
• An annual but each shrub has about 27,000
seeds
• Prefers dry, open, or disturbed areas
• Observed in the U.P. of Michigan to take over
• Directly competing with an endangered
species in designated critical habitat
Action Chosen
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Critical habitat
Endangered species
Efficacy of actions
Hand pulling
Compliance
• Section 7 Consultation
Funding
DNR
GLRI
NPS
Northwoods
Cooperative Weed
Management Area
• Bad River Tribe
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Action
Future
• Long Island
• Michigan Island
• Others?????