Between June 4-10, Refuge staff surveyed three sites for piping plover activity. These sites have been surveyed at five-year intervals, beginning in 1991, as a part of the International Piping Plover Census. This survey was established to provide a complete census of piping plover populations every five years. The primary function of the census is to gather data for monitoring moderate-to-long-term population trends that will be used to assess success of recovery efforts and recovery objectives. Census data also provide information on the species’ range. and use of local habitat. These sites have been surveyed by Refuge staff during all three official census years (1991, 1996, and 2001), and will continue to be surveyed annually. The sites Rath WPA, Rachel Hoff WPA, and Long Lake NWR. They are especially important areas, based on historical use by piping plovers and wee officially designated as Pliping Plover Critical Habitat by the FWS, Division of Ecological Services in 2002. Piping plover use throughout Long Lake’s WMD has decreased slightly in the last couple of years. This is likely due to the exceptionally low water levels of the nearby Missouri River, which has subsequently provided ideal sandbar habitat and a strong draw for breeding pairs. Below are the 1991, 1996, 2001, 2002, and 2003 survey results for the aforementioned three sites.

On May 28, 2002, a single piping plover nest containing one egg was discovered on the dike. A single adult bird accompanied the nest. A woven wire predator exclosure (obtained from Lostwood NWR) was erected around the nest. Within five minutes of erecting the exclosure, the adult plover returned to its nest. Ultimately, a full clutch of four eggs was laid, but the nest was eventually abandoned. Because a pair of plovers was never seen near the nest (but rather a single adult), it is thought that the nest was abandoned because something happened to the male plover after the female was bred. Female piping plovers will sometimes still lay eggs if their mate is killed, but will oftentimes not complete the incubation process because incubation is typically a gender-shared duty with this species. In 2002, dike vegetation management consisted of mowing all vegetation in the first week of September, then grading the dike’s face and edges the following week.