NPS CLOSES CAPE POINT 8PM-7AM

[vasurfisher]

*** NEWS RELEASE ***

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
OUTER BANKS GROUP
Cape Hatteras National Seashore
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site
Wright Brothers National Memorial

For Immediate Release: For Information
Contact: Mary H. Doll
July 12, 2005 (252) 473-2111 ext.
154


Cape Point Temporarily Closed to Nighttime Use for
Plover Chick Protection

Cape Point, a popular recreational area at Cape Hatteras National
Seashore, will be temporarily closed to all nighttime use from 8 p.m. to 7
a.m. daily, starting Tuesday July 12, 2005. Piping plover chicks, which
hatched from a nest on the South Beach last week, have moved to Cape Point
foraging for food. The current foraging site is close to the Cape Point
visitor and off-road vehicle use area.
During daylight hours, National Park Service biologists are able to
monitor the movement of the chicks to ensure adequate protection. Chick
movement can not be monitored at night. As plovers will forage at night as
well as during the day, the mobile chicks are at potential risk from
off-road vehicle and visitor use at this location during nighttime hours.
The temporary nighttime closure will be in effect until the chicks
locate to another foraging area. All vehicle and pedestrian use will be
prohibited during closure hours. The temporary closure area will start .5
miles south of Ramp 44.
"We are working to provide as much visitor access as we can and
protect the plovers at the same time," stated Mark Hardgrove, Acting
Superintendent Outer Banks Group.
The piping plover is listed as a threatened species under the
Endangered Species Act (ESA). The ESA prohibits harassing, harming,
pursuing, hunting, shooting, wounding, killing, trapping, capturing, or
collecting federally protected species. Penalties for violation of the ESA
for threatened species include a fine of up to $25,000, imprisonment for
not more than six months, or both.
Plover chicks are typically mobile within 24 hours of hatch. Once
mobile, the chicks will leave the nest and move extensively along the
beach, intertidal zone, and mudflats to feed with their parents. Plover
chicks have been documented to move hundreds of yards from the nest site
during their first week of life.
Once the chicks fledge, the National Park Service will reevaluate the
need for closure. Piping plover chicks fledge at 25 to 35 days of age.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore statistics document that piping
plover chick fledging has declined from a high of twelve chicks fledged out
of 20 hatched in 1998. Last year, no chicks fledged, out of four eggs
hatched. Numbers of breeding pairs of piping plover and nests have also
declined.


ABOUT PIPING PLOVERS
Piping plovers are small, sand-colored shorebirds that nest on sandy,
coastal beaches from South Carolina to Newfoundland. Since 1986, the
Atlantic Coast population has been protected as a threatened species under
provisions of the ESA.
Piping plover lay their eggs in nests situated above the high tide
line on coastal beaches, sand flats at the end of sandspits and barrier
islands, gently sloping foredunes, blowout areas behind primary dunes, and
washover areas cut into or between dunes. Nest sites are shallow scraped
depressions in the sand.
Feeding activities of chicks may be particularly important to their
survival. Piping plover chicks typically triple their weight during the
first two weeks post-hatching. Feeding activities of both adults and
chicks occur during all hours of the day and night and at all stages of the
tidal cycle.
Plover foods consist of invertebrates such as marine worms, fly
larvae, beetles, crustaceans, or mollusks. Feeding areas include
intertidal portions of ocean beaches, washover areas, mudflats, sandflats,
wrack lines and shorelines of coastal ponds, lagoons, or salt marshes.
Typical behavior of piping plover chicks increases their
vulnerability to vehicles. Chicks frequently move between the upper berm
or foredune and feeding habitats in the wrack line, intertidal zone, and
mud flats. These movements place chicks in the paths of off- road vehicles
driving along the berm or through the intertidal zone.
Plover chicks will stand in, walk, and run along tire ruts, and
sometimes have difficulty crossing deep ruts or climbing out of them.
Chicks, using defensive behavior, will sometime stand motionless or crouch
in tire tracks as vehicles approach. The small chicks may not be able to
move quickly enough to get out of the way.
Predatory threats to piping plover include red fox, feral cats, dogs,
gulls, raccoons, and crows. These predator species will feed on both
plover eggs and chicks.

####

National Park Service
Outer Banks Group
1401 National Park Road
Manteo, NC 27954

[derf]

WELL THAT SUCKS !!!!!!!
give the freakin bird huggers an inch .........
i guess the hand writing is on the wall ; once they start , there is no stopping them .
wonder what they will shut down next ??
derf

[John M]

and people wonder why we dont trust and have such animosity with the park service?????