The Piping Plover is listed as an endangered species by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). These small shorebirds arrive in their breeding grounds in April or May, nesting along sandbars, coastlines, and lake shores. About one-quarter of Canada's Piping Plovers are found in Atlantic Canada; most others are in the Prairies. Regardless of their location, their numbers have been declining.

The biggest single reason for that drop is the loss of habitat and most of that loss is caused by human disturbances around nesting sites. Those disturbances range from building activities to the recreational use of beaches. Piping Plovers also are vulnerable to attacks by pets such as dogs and cats, crows, seagulls, and raccoons which are drawn to the area by litter left by picnickers or other beach users.

These small, gull-like birds breed in Canada along the Atlantic coast and on islands off Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Quebec. Three tern species – Common, Roseate, and Arctic – inhabit this region and all in need of habitat protection to some degree. There are only about 160 of the endangered Roseate Terns remaining in Canada. Hunters and egg collectors devastated tern species a century ago. Recovery plans are in place, but the depleted colonies are still threatened by human usage of their nesting areas, the effects of pollution, and attacks by crows, gulls, hawks, and owls.

This is an annual plant with white and pink flowers. It is found in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Quebec. It grows in salty sand or mud, usually in dry stretches of salt marshes, on coastal dunes, and on the edge of shorelines. It is classed as a Species of Special Concern because its populations are low and it faces increasing pressures from expanding human activity.

The Atlantic Beach Guardian Program is funded in large part through the Government of Canada’s Habitat Stewardship Program for Species at Risk. The goal of the Habitat Stewardship Program is to contribute to the recovery and protection of habitat for species at risk, and for other species of special concern. The program encourages Canadians to care for the environment by monitoring and conserving wildlife species and habitats, as well as protecting and improving the quality of soil, water, air and other natural resources. Conservation, particularly protecting the areas where species at risk live, is essential to their recovery and to prevent other species from becoming at risk.

Canadians are involved in projects funded through the Habitat Stewardship Program across the country. Many beaches in Atlantic Canada are included in the Beach Guardian Program, which monitors beaches to protect wildlife and minimize damage to wildlife and habitat. Individual concerned citizens, community groups, educational institutions and non-governmental organizations work together with government to conserve species and habitats.

The Beach Guardian Program covers seashores and sand dunes, lake sides and marshes – any areas near water where wildlife habitat is sensitive. These areas are coming under increasing pressure from contact by humans. Houses and cottages are built on beaches. People are riding all-terrain vehicles on beaches and along watercourses. New businesses – tourism, aquaculture, commercial seaweed harvesting, among others – are bringing more people to sensitive areas. It is important for Canadians to realize that something as innocent as a waterside trek or a picnic can damage sensitive habitats and threaten species at risk.

The Piping Plover population on Prince Edward Island declined by 40% between the International Piping Plover censuses in 1991 and 1996. Disturbances of nesting areas by recreational beach users account for most of that decline. Experts recommend closing or restricting visitor access to areas near nesting sites and using volunteer beach guardians to help prevent habitat destruction.

The number of Common Terns on Prince Edward Island has dropped precipitously. The Canadian Wildlife Service and the Fish and Wildlife Division of the Prince Edward Island government report tern numbers dropped from more than 1,000 pairs in 1975 to just over 100 pairs in 2000.

The Island Nature Trust has operated a Beach Guardian Program for the past decade. It covers beaches across the Island except P.E.I. National Park, where Parks Canada staff conduct their own species-at-risk protection programs in co-operation with The Island Nature Trust. The number of Piping Plovers on the Island has increased by 32% since 1996 and the rate of surviving newborns able to fly has been greater than the number lost for three of the past four years.

Tern colonies frequently are found in the same areas as plover nests, so the Island Nature Trust is extending its Guardian program to include tern colonies. Educational signs and fences erected in nesting areas provide some protection; and volunteers monitor the sites.

The project also aims to identify any previously unknown sites where the St. Lawrence Aster may be found growing.

This Habitat Stewardship Program funding will allow the Beach Guardian Program to expand and recruit and train more volunteers as guardians, to monitor populations and record and report species, numbers, sites, and locations. It will also track the numbers of plover adults and pairs, nesting dates, hatching dates, hatched chicks, and the number of chicks that are successfully raised to be able to fly.

At least 65 beaches will be surveyed. Volunteers will be asked to note any Common Terns observed. Project areas also will be surveyed for the St. Lawrence Aster. If previously-unknown populations are found, they will be counted or estimated and their location will be mapped.

More than 90% of Prince Edward Island – including beach and fragile sand dune areas – is owned privately. Local landowners are recruited as beach guardians and to erect signs and enclosures to protect species at risk. Success of the protection program depends on their participation. The program also promotes improved land management and promoting conservation.

Public education programs encourage beach users not to disturb or harm Piping Plovers, Common Terns, or St. Lawrence Asters and not to damage the areas where they are found.

Particular emphasis is placed on Canavoy/Lakeside/St. Peter's Run, the most important Piping Plover nesting area outside the National Park. This area is facing increasing use by beachgoers. One Beach Guardian is dedicated to this site.

The Program Coordinator may erect enclosures around nests that have been lost to predation, to keep predators out. This method was used successfully last year.

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) provides independent scientific and expert advice to governments on the status of wildlife species in Canada. COSEWIC is composed of professional scientists from universities, museums, provinces and territories, national conservation organizations and federal agencies as well as experts with Aboriginal traditional knowledge and community knowledge who meet the established credentials. The Committee has placed 353 wild species in its risk categories. Those categories are:

• Extinct - Species no longer exists. (examples: Great Auk, Passenger Pigeon)
  
  
• Extirpated - Species no longer exists in the wild in Canada, but occurs elsewhere. (examples: Black-Footed Ferret, Pygmy Short-horned Lizard)
  
  
• Endangered - Species facing imminent extinction or extirpation. (examples: St. Lawrence Beluga Whale, Swift Fox, Burrowing Owl, Leatherback Turtle)
  
  
• Threatened - Species likely to become endangered if limiting factors are not reversed. (examples: Wood Bison, Peregrine Falcon, American Chestnut Tree)
  
  
• Special Concern - Species are of special concern because of characteristics that make them particularly sensitive to human activities or natural events. (examples: Grizzly Bear, Atlantic Cod, Monarch Butterfly)

Paul Chamberland
Environment Canada
Canadian Wildlife Service, Atlantic Region
Tel: (506) 364-5049