Atlantic Beach Guardian Program

Species at Risk: The Nova Scotia Piping Plover Guardian Program
(NSPPGP) was started in 1992 to recruit and train volunteers to decrease the
disturbance by humans on beaches where Piping Plovers nest. In addition, the
NSPPGP provides educational information to a wide audience and offers landowner
stewardship options to raise awareness of Piping Plover issues in Nova Scotia.

The project will conduct population surveys, including the International Piping
Plover Census. Nova Scotia once was home to the largest portion of Piping
Plovers in eastern Canada but their numbers have declined so much that fewer
than 20% of the eastern Canada population now live and breed in Nova Scotia.
The NSPPGP focus is on protecting nesting areas and gathering information on
all potential Piping Plover coastal areas in the province, with an increased
effort in the Shelburne/Queens, Bridgewater, and Pictou/Antigonish areas.

Increasing awareness of damage to coastal habitats is expected to benefit other
wildlife species as well as the Piping Plover.

More than 100 people serve as volunteers to protect 25 - 30 nesting area
beaches. The Guardian program holds workshops and trains local volunteers about
the risks faced by the Piping Plover, how to contact and educate recreational
beach users, and how to monitor nesting and fledgling areas. It also erects
signs at nesting areas, and, if necessary, builds fences or other enclosures to
protect high-risk plovers from threatening activities. Volunteers help keep
beaches clean so they will not attract predators of the Piping Plover. An
education program about the dangers faced by the Piping Plover will be
developed and presented to schools and the general public, including
landowners. Stewardship agreements will be established with landowners adjacent
to Piping Plover nesting areas. The volunteers record and report the numbers of
Plovers returning to Nova Scotia, the areas and the dates they are seen, their
courting, nesting, hatching and fledging behaviour, and any destruction of
habitat or predation by other species. Reports are also submitted to the Nova
Scotia Bird Society, the Canadian Wildlife Service, the Nova Scotia Department
of Natural Resources, the Recovery Team member for Nova Scotia and to other
Atlantic Guardian programs to help determine the "big picture" in terms of the
plover's migration, nesting and fledgling behaviour. The program coordinates
its efforts with other conservation groups and stewardship programs in the
province.

Educational activities include talking to people at beaches, handing out
brochures to interested beachgoers, and conducting workshops for school groups
and community groups (such as the All-Terrain Vehicle association).

Partners in the project include the Nova Scotia Nature Trust, the Nova Scotia
Department of Natural Resources, volunteers, community groups, the Nova Scotia
Life Guard Association, Clean Nova Scotia, Halifax Field Naturalists, and
Environment Canada’s Canadian Wildlife Service.

The Nova Scotia Piping Plover Guardian Program is coordinated by the Nova
Scotia Bird Society, a not-for-profit group.

Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC)
The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) provides
independent scientific and expert advice to governments on the status of
wildlife species in Canada. COSEWIC is composed of professional scientists from
universities, museums, provinces and territories, national conservation
organizations and federal agencies as well as experts with Aboriginal
traditional knowledge and community knowledge who meet the established
credentials. The Committee has placed 353 wild species in its risk category.