Piping Plover Fencing
Today I was fortunate enough to help out the National Park Service with setting up fenced off areas that the endangered Piping Plover will be able to nest in.
We met at Platte Point, where the Platte river flows into Lake Michigan. Several rangers and a group of volunteers, including a group of very helpful high school students worked to drive posts along the edge of the birds traditional nesting area and then string twine and flags between the posts to mark the edge of where people are allowed.
We all doned waders and crossed the river to the far dunes. A canoe was loaded with posts and suppies for the work. Two seperate areas were fenced off with a narrow path inbetween the areas so that for the people can access the shore for the few weeks while the birds are laying on their eggs and caring for their young.
When we finished with the first two fenced areas we drove to another nesting location and got to work putting up posts and fences there too. Only this time around the high school students had to leave early and the rest of us learned just what an aid they had been! At the end of the day I was very glad that I'd been able to do something to help out.