Interior Least Tern
Photo: Least Tern by Greg Lavaty |
The Challenge
The Interior Least Tern was originally listed as endangered in 1985 due to low numbers and concerns about habitat loss in key river systems, primarily the Missouri, Platte, Mississippi, Arkansas, Cimarron, Canadian, and Red. This species has highly specialized habitat requirements – for breeding it requires open beaches and islands where tidal or river action keeps the sites free of vegetation – which often conflict with the growing needs of other river stakeholders (e.g. hydropower, flood control, navigation, habitat requirements of other endangered species such as mussels).
ABC Conservation Framework
Efforts to save this species comes under Safeguarding the Rarest within ABC's Conservation Framework |
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Primary Birds Impacted
Interior Least Tern, Piping Plover.
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Piping Plover by Michael Stubblefield |
Solutions
Long term habitat protection including the creation of nesting sandbars for terns and plovers in the absence of habitat-forming river flows, and the use of river flow management. Ensure that Interior Least Tern habitat requirements become a permanent component of river management.
ABC Results
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ABC and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers brought together biologists from across the tern's entire range, resulting in the formation of the 'Interior Least Tern Working Group,' with the aim of improving monitoring and trend analysis.
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ABC completed the first comprehensive population survey in 2006, which revealed good news: in most of the key river systems where this endangered species is found, its population numbers reached or exceeded Recovery Plan goals under the Endangered Species Act.
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ABC has provided practical recommendations for the creation of sandbar nesting habitat and to reduce loss of habitat due to erosion and natural succession. As a direct result, an Army Corps of Engineers program to create sandbars across all reaches of the Missouri River has helped populations of Interior Least Terns and Great Plains Piping Plovers to rebound.
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In 2009, ABC worked with the Army Corps of Engineers to develop habitat management recommendations for tern populations, particularly on the Arkansas and Red Rivers, that addressed major threats to their reproduction.
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What Next?
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Implement improved river hydrology management for the protection of Interior Least Terns.
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Deliver a fully functioning, individual-based population model for the Interior Least Tern; begin to integrate its use into Corps of Engineer management on the Arkansas and Red Rivers; begin to expand use of the model to other key rivers.
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Take Action
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