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AT ISSUE: OUR ENVIRONMENT
by Representative Spencer Black
The old saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"
holds true for protecting endangered species. In recent years, a
number of species that had been eliminated in Wisconsin have been successfully
reintroduced. Once again, the trumpeter swan, the wild turkey, the fisher,
the timber wolf, the peregrine falcon and the elk populate the lands of
our state. While it is good to "cure extinction" by returning species to
our region, it makes far more sense to prevent their elimination in the
first place.
One small creature facing a troubled future in the Great Lakes region is the piping plover.
The piping plover is a bird about 7 inches long with sand-colored plumage on their backs and crown and white underneath. The small bird has a distinctive "piping" melodic call. They prefer to live on sandy beaches and shorelines.
There are three populations in the United States and Canadian Northern Great Plains. The population of piping plovers living in the Great Lakes region is the most endangered, with only 32 breeding pairs. The birds primarily nest in Michigan, but piping plovers have been seen migrating in our state and one pair of piping plovers nested for the last two years on the Apostle Islands. For reasons not yet known, the pair did not return to the Apostle Islands this spring.
There are many hazards that the piping plover faces. Since they hatch their young in beach areas, people can accidentally crush the eggs in the birds' nests because the chicks are so small and their markings blend into the natural surroundings. Even the mere presence of people can cause the birds to desert their nests. While the piping plover does have natural enemies including raccoons, skunks and foxes, human activity and beach development pose the greatest threat.
In an effort to help the species increase its population, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to set aside 189 miles of Great Lakes shoreline as 'critical habitat' for the bird. The 'critical habitat' designation is a provision of the Endangered Species Act that is used to protect specific geographic areas essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species. It is possible that some federally owned beaches in the Great Lakes region could be temporarily closed during the spring breeding season to protect the land-nesting bird.
While the seasonally closed shoreline would mostly be in Michigan, some areas in Wisconsin along Lakes Superior and Michigan would be affected. The critical habitat proposal includes a little over 20 miles of shoreline in Wisconsin: about 11 miles along Long Island/Chequamegon Point and four miles of Michigan Island shoreline in Ashland County and three miles on the Bad River Chippewa reservation as well as two and a half miles on Wisconsin Point in Douglas County and four small sections along Green Bay and Lake Michigan.
Hopefully with "an ounce of prevention," we can someday take the piping
plover off the endangered species list.