beneficial management practices for saskatchewan species at risk: piping plover endangered

Beneficial Management Practices for Saskatchewan

Species at Risk:

Piping Plover Endangered

• Pale, sand-colored back

& head

• White breast & rump

• Orange legs & bill with black tip on bill

• Single black band on breast and forehead

• Clear-toned “pipe” call

Randy McCulloch

• Nest in sparsely vegetated, moist, gravelly or sandy shorelines along saline or prairie lakes

• Eat freshwater invertebrates along the shoreline

• Located in the central and southern portions of the province

• Status: Endangered

• Declined due habitat loss, changes in water levels, human use of beaches and predation

• 1,420 birds in Saskatchewan

Beneficial Management Practices

Grazing

• Keep livestock away from plover nesting sites during breeding season

• Graze shorelines only in late summer or fall or possibly early spring

Altering Waterbodies

• Avoid draining wetlands

• Avoid constructing dams or dugouts that divert water away from natural waterbodies

• Avoid constructing dams or diversions that result in flooding during plover breeding season

Water Level Management

• Provide off-site watering for livestock

• Stagger timing of withdrawal if using more than one waterbody

• Drawdown water 2-3cm/week in spring and summer

• Reflood dry waterbody or hardpan shorelines 2-3 cm/week