MONITORING PROGRAM PROTOCOLS AND IDEAS FOR INTERIOR PIPING PLOVER MONITORING THAT MAY APPLY TO ILT

ERDC TN-DOER-E17

September 2004

situation is not likely to change soon. The Piping Plover recovery team was disbanded in the

mid-1990's and the current recovery plan also needs updating. The USFWS would like to link

efforts for recovery of both species, but funds are not available. In some areas, ranges of the two

species overlap and coordinated monitoring is possible; in other areas, such as the lower Missis-

sippi ILT populations, or Alkalai Lake populations of Piping Plovers, ranges do not overlap and

species-specific monitoring is necessary.

MONITORING PROGRAM PROTOCOLS AND IDEAS FOR INTERIOR PIPING

PLOVER MONITORING THAT MAY APPLY TO ILT

A Standardized Protocol for Monitoring Interior Least Terns on the Missouri

River: Field Protocols, Data Management, and Computerized Data Storage (Greg

Pavelka, USACE): The Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, has established an ILT monitor-

ing program along the Missouri River, from Gavin's Point near the Nebraska state line, north to

Fort Peck Lake in Montana. Monitoring efforts were initiated in response to the USFWS Bio-

logical Opinion for the Missouri River in USFWS Regions 3 and 4. The monitoring effort begins

with intensive training on all issues pertinent to ILT life history, data collection protocols, and

boater safety (e.g., float plan, boat safety check). The focus of survey efforts changes depending

on the nesting stage. From early May to mid-June, efforts focus on nest searches. Surveyors

focus on nests and chicks from mid-June through mid-July, and on chicks and fledglings from

mid-July through mid-August.

Surveyors use hand-held computers (personal digital assistants) and Geographic Positioning

Systems (GPS) units and enter data in the field. Data collected include:

Location, date and time.

Nest ID.

Habitat type.

Nest status.

Nest fate.

Nest elevation.

Management activities.

Chick numbers and age.

Fledgling numbers.

When these data are entered, they are checked for accuracy, then uploaded onto an Internet site

(U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Threatened and Endangered Species Data Management System

[TESDMS]). Access to the TESDMS site is restricted.

Reports generated from TESDMS provide information on productivity, census and fledgling

ratio reports, field journal accounts, nests at-risk due to rising water levels, the nesting season

timeline, and a nest fate report. Furthermore, these reports can produce expectation lists, time

and date of the last survey efforts, plus provide detailed historic maps on the distribution of ILT

nesting colonies along the Missouri River. The TESDMS site is capable of receiving and storing

vast amounts of data. The potential exists to expand survey efforts throughout the entire range of

the ILT, and to have surveyors upload standardized data onto PDAs and GPS units that would be

uploaded directly to the TESDMS site. The TESDMS site could become a centralized warehouse

of data on range-wide ILT populations. Further development depends on customizing the