The final results are in and it was a banner year for piping plovers in New Jersey. Statewide, our piping plovers produced an average of 1.39 fledglings per pair – one of the highest rates recorded since monitoring began several decades ago. Those results couldn’t have come at a better time. Fledgling rates had been poor the past several years and at just 108 pairs the breeding population is still extremely low. Because piping plover chicks often return to the same general area where they were born when they are ready to breed, the hope is that this year’s success will help grow the state’s population in the next several years. To find out more about the results of the 2010 piping plover breeding season click here (pdf). And if you want to find out more about how the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey helps protect piping plovers in our state or how you can help, click here.
American Oystercatcher Working Group annual meeting. Photo by Tracy Borneman.
Working closely with wildlife is the “sexy” part of my job. It is what makes me look forward to work on those days when I find myself less than inspired. It is also what the public most wants to hear about. But it is not necessarily the most important part of my job.
A great deal of my conservation efforts happen in meetings, offices, and behind a computer screen. A good case in point is the American Oystercatcher Working Group meeting I attended in Wellfleet, Massachusetts last week. This annual meeting brings together other managers, biologists, researchers, and policy experts from the Atlantic coast states that are specifically focused on oystercatchers. It is a chance for all us to share ideas, compare “notes” so to speak, build partnerships, and in general leverage the collective knowledge of the group.
This particular meeting is small by most standards, typically just 25-35 attendees, and much more informal than others I attend. It is also one of the most effective. Simply put, we get stuff done! Sure, we have spirited discussions and debate, but at the end of the day there is usually a cooperative spirit.
Projects move forward to benefit oystercatchers in individual states from Massachusetts to Florida, but through the prism of what is best for the range wide conservation of the species. This is how it should be. My job is to help monitor, manage, and protect oystercatchers in New Jersey, but since we only host a portion of the overall breeding population and they only spend a small part of each year in our state, we are just one piece of the puzzle.
You cannot effectively recover or conserve a species without partners. So we will keep telling you sexy, up-close-and-personal stories about wildlife, but once in awhile we will also remind you about the behind the scenes work we do to keep wildlife from disappearing from our state (and beyond).
