BARRIER BAY ISLANDS: Proposed Actions

Actions: (Objective 1)

Maintain integrity of beach habitat on barrier islands.
Background and Progress: The direct loss of barrier island habitats to urban development has nearly ended within the planning unit over the past 20 years as undeveloped areas have been acquired by government agencies and nonprofit organizations. However, due to their dynamic nature barrier islands are not independent from surrounding areas. Barrier islands depend on the long shore flow of sediment from distant locations to remain stable. Disruption in the free flow of sediment by the use of jetties and other engineering structures may result in the erosion of islands and the loss of open beach habitats. Several actions that are relevant to the protection of nesting habitat and related government programs are outlined in the revised Piping Plover recovery plan.

Minimize productivity losses due to human disturbance.
Background and Progress: In general, Piping Plovers and other beach-nesting birds are sensitive to humans such that recreational use of beaches is incompatible with nesting. After World War II human visitation of barrier island habitats has dramatically increased due to increases in the human population within coastal areas, increases in leisurely time for recreation, increased access to automobiles for travel to coastal areas, etc. This increase was one of the issues indicated as a rationale for federal listing. Within the planning unit, human disturbance is a larger problem within northern areas where barrier beaches are closer to population centers and more accessible. Within these areas, closure of beaches during the breeding season and the use of wardens to educate the public have proven to be successful techniques to minimize human impacts. These techniques have not typically been used south of Assateague island.

Minimize productivity losses due to predator populations.
Background and Progress: As the human population has increased within the planning unit, predator populations have increased to artificially high levels. The increased availability of refuse used as alternate food sources, the decline in the fur industry, changes in landscape pattern, etc have all lead to increases in both the status and distribution of mammalian predators. Mammalian predators may be extremely detrimental to ground-nesting birds on barrier islands. Increasing evidence also suggests that the expansion of the Herring and Great Black-backed Gull populations within the region may be displacing beach-nesting birds from preferred breeding areas. Predator removal programs have been used in a few locations throughout the planning unit with mixed results. If successful, these programs could benefit all beach nesting species. These programs may be economically unfeasible and may only be sustainable on small islands. Predator exclosures have also been used throughout the region and have increased hatching success for targeted pairs.

Actions: (Objective 2)

Maintain predator-free nesting habitat for Gull-billed Terns.
Background and Progress: As indicated above, predator populations are believed to have increased within the planning unit. Over the past 10 years, an increasing portion of the Gull-billed Tern population has moved from the barrier islands to other substrates such as shell and sand bars. Similar movements have been observed for other beach-nesting colonial species. Movement from the islands to bars has occurred with no apparent reduction in open beach habitat suggesting that birds may be moving to escape predator populations. Many of the alternative nesting substrates such as natural bars are highly susceptible to wash over during high tides. Without predator-free barrier islands, many of these species have very few natural alternatives. One solution is to augment natural bars such that they are less susceptible to tides or to create emergent islands for nesting that are removed from predator populations. The management of spoil islands and the creation of new islands for colonial waterbirds have been successful in other regions. A network of islands within carefully chosen locations may be the most viable approach to restore populations of beach-nesting colonial birds in the short term.