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I. INTRODUCTION <br />The Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus Ord) has been a <br />species of concern throughout North America since the early <br />1900's. At the turn of the century, as now, Piping Plovers bred <br />along prairie rivers and on alkali wetlands of the Northern Great <br />Plains, on sandy beaches along Great Lakes shorelines, and on <br />vast Atlantic coast beaches. Recently, numbers of birds and <br />breeding sites have declined (Haig and Oring 1985, U.S. Fish and <br />Wildlife Service 1985). Furthermore, a gap has formed in the <br />species' distribution due to decreasing breeding activity one the <br />Great Lakes (Haig and Oring 1985). <br />Only recently have specific measures been initiated to <br />examine factors limiting the species. In December 1982, the U.S. <br />Fish and Wildlife Service took action by identifying the Piping <br />Plover as a candidate species for addition to the list of <br />threatened and endangered wildlife (47 Federal Register 58454). <br />In January 1986, the Piping Plover was listed as threatened and <br />endangered under the provisions of the Endangered Species Act of <br />1973 (50 Federal Register 50726 -34). Piping Plovers on the Great <br />Lakes were listed as endangered, while the remaining Atlantic and <br />Northern Great Plains birds were listed as threatened. Piping <br />Plovers on migration and in wintering areas were classified as <br />threatened. <br />In 1986, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service appointed the <br />Atlantic Coast and Great Lakes /Northern Great Plains recovery <br />teams to develop recovery plans for the conservation and survival <br />