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Date: April 23, 2010
Contact: George E. Price, Jr., Superintendent, 508-771-2144

Superintendent George Price announced that Cape Cod National Seashore will not implement a selective predator management program in 2010, and will focus efforts this year on a comprehensive review of the park’s shorebird management plan. This review will include a broad look at protections and predator management. According to Superintendent Price, “With the very real threat of a court challenge, we need to make sure that all our planning and management documents are ready for legal review – we do not want a misplaced comma to divert us from the ultimate goal of successful recovery of a threatened species.” The seashore will continue to work closely with wildlife biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is the federal agency charged with implementation of the Piping Plover Recovery Plan. Predators, including the American crow, continue to be a major factor in the lack of successful nesting productivity. Seashore biologists estimate that more than 1/3 of the plover eggs are eaten by crows each nesting season. The public will have the opportunity to comment on the proposed plan as part of an environmental compliance process, in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), as it is developed. 

In the meantime, shorebird management activities will continue as in previous years with the use of exclosures to protect nesting plovers from predators. In addition, the seashore will implement a flexible shorebird management approach this summer on several high visitation beaches. Additional information on the flexible management program and selective predator management options are posted on the seashore’s website at www.nps.gov/caco. 

For more information contact Shelley Hall, Chief of Natural Resource Management, at 508-957 0737.                                                               ###