Piping Plover - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Table WM5. Summary of predator control programs that may benefit piping plovers on
winter and migration grounds.
State Entities with Predator Control Programs
North Carolina State Parks, Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras National
Seashores.
South Carolina As needed throughout the state-targets raccoons and coyotes.
Georgia No programs known.
Florida Merritt Island NWR, Cape Canaveral AFS, Indian River
County, Eglin AFB, Gulf Islands NS, northwest Florida state
parks (up until 2008), St. Vincent NWR, Tyndall AFB.
Alabama Late 1990’s Gulf State Park and Orange Beach for beach mice,
none current.
Mississippi None known.
Louisiana None known.
Texas Aransas NWR (hog control for habitat protection). Audubon
(mammalian predator control on colonial waterbird islands that
have occasional piping plover use).
WM 2.2.2.4 Factor D. Inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms:
Non-ESA regulatory protections for wintering and migrating piping plovers are inherent
in the Coastal Barrier Resources Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The 2003 Great
Lakes recovery plan (page 39, table 5) provides listing status and statutes for each state
within the wintering range. At the time the plan was finalized, all but South Carolina had
some form of State protection; since then, South Carolina, through its Non-Game and
Endangered Species Codes 50–15–30, 50–15–40, 50–15–50, and 50–15–70, has provided
some protective measures for piping plovers. Most state laws focus on direct protection
of the birds but not their habitat.
Protections for piping plovers migrating and wintering outside the U.S. include the 2005
designation of 1.5 million acres of the Laguna Madre de Tamaulipas region in Mexico as
a Federal Natural Protected Area. Any land-use alterations to piping plover habitats
within this area are now subject to review under a federal permitting process that
encourages avoidance and minimization of impacts; however, it does not preclude
alterations. This is similar to the ESA in allowing some adverse effects to designated
critical habitat. Regulatory protections for piping plovers in the Caribbean and Cuba are
currently unknown.
In the continental U.S., piping plover wintering and migration habitats are under various
types of ownership (private, municipal, state, and federal). Available regulatory
mechanisms include local land use ordinances and state and federal regulations.
However, implementation of these mechanisms is often constrained by practical
limitations such as lack of staff and funding. Enforcement limitations and/or legal
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