Director of Coastal Bird Conservation, National Auduboon Society
Scott is the Director of the National Audubon Society's Coastal Bird Conservation Program, an effort he launched in 2003 for the Audubon Science Division. The Coastal Bird Conservation Program aims to increase the on-the-ground protection of North America's most endangered plovers, terns, and other threatened coastal birds throughout their breeding and non-breeding ranges in the Western Hemisphere. From 1984 to 2003 Mr. Hecker worked for the Massachusetts Audubon Society where he directed the Coastal Waterbird Program, co-directed the Massachusetts Important Bird Area Program, and assisted with the development of the Programme for Belize. In 1987 he completed a Master of Sciences degree in Resource Management from Antioch University, which focused on the conservation of wetlands in Belize, Central America. In 1998 his work in Massachusetts was recognized with a "Coastal Visionary Award" from the Gulf of Maine Council. His articles, photographs, and artwork have appeared in the publications of Audubon, the National Geographic Society, and the National Park Service. His office and home are located in Duxbury, Massachusetts.
The Piping Plover as an Umbrella Species for the Barrier Beach Ecosystem 28:28 min.
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On January 10, 1986, the piping plover (Charadrius melodus) was listed as endangered and threatened under the provisions of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (USFWS, 1985). This species breeds only on sandy beach-like habitats in North America in three geographic regionsÑalong the Atlantic Coast, the Great Lakes, and the Northern Great Plains. With the advantage of hindsight and twenty years of Piping Plover conservation experience in Massachusetts and elsewhere, I will review various aspects of the post-listing conservation history of the threatened Atlantic Coast population of the Piping Plover and its associated Barrier Beach Ecosystem. The Piping Plover serves as an example of significant conservation success for both the species and its associated habitats. In the case of the Piping Plover, its federal listing status launched the Piping Plover from a previous point of regional biological concern to a higher level of national conservation focus, and hence established a solid foundation for the protection of this species. Many of the habitats associated with the needs of Piping Plovers from the breeding grounds in the northern and central states to its wintering quarters in the southeastern US were affected either directly or indirectly by work focusing on the conservation of Piping Plovers. At the species level, work targeting the Piping Plover has also been particularly successful, contributing to a four-fold increase in breeding plovers in Massachusetts from 1986 to 2003. Additionally, much of the conservation work for this species has provided as an extensive umbrella of protection benefiting many other species throughout the barrier beach ecosystem. Some of these species are also listed as rare, threatened, or endangered by federal and state endangered species laws. When looked at in its totality over the entire range, the Piping Plover's reach as an "umbrella species" goes even further adding protection to barrier beach habitats and associated tidal flats to migratory and wintering sites along thousands of miles of coast in the southeastern US and its territories in the Caribbean. Written Summaries of Presentation |
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