Piping Plover Nesting Habitat Management Program

This case study illustrates that even modest restoration projects can provide benefits to the environment and local economy. FWS provided $130,000 ($2011) over 2007–2011 to The Nature Conservancy of Rhode Island (TNC, RI) to implement a nesting habitat management program for the federally threatened piping plover, a shorebird that nests along sandy beaches on the Atlantic coast. The source of the funds was the NRDAR settlement for the North Cape Oil Spill. In 1996, the oil spill adversely impacted piping plover nesting habitat, resulting in fewer chicks produced during the following nesting season. To compensate for these impacts, natural resource trustees (FWS, RI, and NOAA) sought to increase the number of chicks produced in RI [...]