Community Corner
Asharoken Strives for Balance Between Fireworks and Plovers
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, the board and audience members were educated about the habitat and survival of Plovers.
It's piping plover season once again.
Plovers are a group of wading or long-legged birds that nest in and around our area, predominantly on the beaches of Asharoken and at Sand City.
And, as the plans for its annual Independence Day fireworks display, it is working to strike a balance between keeping the birds safe and staging the pyrotechnics.
To that end, Mayor Patricia Irving invited representatives form the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to the most recent meeting of the Village Board of Trustees to present information on the birds.
Steve P. Sinkevich, a senior fish and wildlife biologist with the FWS, said the piping plover was placed on the list of dndangered and threatened wildlife in 1986. Intensive protection has helped the population more than double in the last 20 years, but the most recent surveys place the Atlantic population at fewer than 2,000 pairs.
Predators, development and weather can disrupt or destroy the plover’s nesting, which are really just shallow depressions in the sand. The plovers are also vulnerable to human interference because their coloring makes them blend in with the sand.
The fireworks, according to Sinkevich, are another one of the factors that can interfere with the survival of plovers.
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In recent years, Asharoken has begun renting a barge from which the fireworks show is staged in order to minimize the impact on the birds.
"Since the fireworks interfere with the piping plover nesting, we try to minimize the fireworks impact on the plovers and make sure the plovers don't prohibit the fireworks show," said Asharoken Village Mayor Patricia Irving.
Irving also urged residents to allow state and federal environmental agency employees to fence off areas where the birds are nesting.
“In order to help restore the plover population, Asharoken takes a very pro-active participation in protecting the plovers and their nesting areas. Although the entire beach is private property, we encourage the property owners to allow the DEC and US Fish & Wildlife to regularly check our beaches and fence-off any nesting sites," said Mayor Irving.
They begin nesting in April and can complete their cycle to becoming full birds by July 1 if they aren’t disturbed. If their nests are destroyed, they can successfully re-nest but those birds won’t be born until August.
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Following Sinkevich's presentation, Frederick "Chip" Hamilton, Wildlife Biologist for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, spoke more about piping plover's nesting areas on Asharoken Beach and thanked Asharoken residents for cooperating.
"We just want to thank everyone who lives in the area for cooperating with us on inspecting the beach, and helping us preserve them while they next," said Hamilton.
