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Approximately 15% of breeding pairs occur on the free - flowing <br />stretch of the Missouri River and the north end of Lake Oahe. <br />This encompasses habitat from below the Garrison Dam south to the <br />mouth of the Cannonball River in McLean, Burleigh, Oliver, <br />Morton, Emmons, Sioux, and Mercer counties. Recently, birds were <br />found nesting on the Yellowstone River in McKenzie County (R. <br />Kreil, North Dakota Game and Fish). The remaining 85% breed in <br />alkali wetlands on the Missouri Coteau, principally in Kidder, <br />McLean, Sheridan, Ward, Mountrail, McHenry, and Pierce-Counties. <br />Most breeding activity in South Dakota occurs on sandbars <br />along the Missouri River from the Fort Randall Dam to <br />Springfield, and from Yankton to Ponca, Nebraska. Breeding also <br />occurs on silty flats, sandy beaches and gravel parking lots of <br />Lake Oahe from Whitlocks Crossing south. Other isolated nesting <br />locations include sandbars and causeways directly below Oahe Dam, <br />and occasionally on saline wetlands in northeast South Dakota. <br />Breeding season sightings (no documented nesting) have been <br />reported for Campbell, Fall River, Harding, Hyde, and Walworth <br />counties (G. Vandel, South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks). <br />Currently, birds breeding in Nebraska are found on sandbars <br />and sand and gravel spoil piles on three major rivers. In the <br />northeastern corner of the state, nesting occurs along <br />approximately 64 km of the upper Missouri River and along 153 km <br />of the lower Niobrara River. Further south, Piping Plovers are <br />found along approximately 386 km of mid- and lower Platte River <br />habitat from near Plattsmouth west to Lexington. Breeding occurs <br />13 <br />