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Numerous sand pits, created by commercial sand and gravel operations, occur <br />along the central and lower Platte River. Sand pits provide alternative nesting <br />areas (nesting substrates) for least terns and piping plovers.47 The existing least <br />tern and piping plover recovery plans refer to sand pits along the Platte River as <br />"artificial" nesting habitats. Both recovery plans recommend the need to <br />determine the relationship of existing artificial breeding sites to river sites. <br />Sand pits that are managed successfully for tern and plover production can be <br />important for recruiting birds into the population, especially when riverine <br />habitats are not available for nesting. However, terns and plovers do not appear <br />to simply switch to sandpit habitat to compensate for a loss of riverine habitat.48 <br />Management of sand pits for tern and plover production may include such <br />activities as excluding human activity (signs, fencing), public education (literature <br />boxes), removing vegetation mechanically or chemically, predator exclusion or <br />control, and fencing to exclude cattle. It is recommended that both riverine <br />habitats and sand pits be managed for tern and plover production, although sand <br />pits should not be considered as a "substitute" for riverine habitat. <br />A significant number of terns and plovers nest on the Platte River and adjacent <br />sand pits. Any productivity at all in bad years still results in some recruitment to <br />the population. It is also important to recognize that the Platte River, including <br />adjacent sand pit habitats for terns and plovers, can serve as "carry- over" habitats <br />to help maintain the overall least tern and piping plover populations when the <br />"bread basket" habitats, such as the Mississippi River and Missouri Couteau area <br />of North Dakota, can't produce birds for some reason. <br />The Nebraska Public Power District, Central Nebraska Public Power and <br />Irrigation District, and Nebraska Game and Parks Commission monitor least tern <br />and piping plover nesting at various sand pit sites along the Platte River. In <br />addition, several studies have been conducted on tern and plover nesting at sand <br />pit sites along the Platte River. Some investigators have documented certain <br />characteristics of sand pit habitat for nesting terns and plovers.49 Terns and <br />plovers require relatively bare sand and gravel for nesting. Sidle and Kirsch, <br />1993, investigated the influence of sand pit size, area of sand and gravel, and <br />surface area of water on use of sand pits by terns and plovers. They determined <br />that terns and plovers nested at a greater percentage of sand pits on the central <br />Platte River (81 %) than on the lower Platte River (60 %). Terns and plovers <br />seemed to use more sand pit habitat on the central Platte River than on the lower <br />Platte River because river sandbar habitat in the central Platte River is severely <br />47 Sidle, John G. and Eileen M. Kirsch. 1993. Least Tern and Piping Plover Nesting at <br />Sand Pits in Nebraska. Colonial Waterbirds 16(2): 139 -148. <br />48 Kirsch, E. M. Nebraska's Least Terns and Piping Plovers 1987 -1999: frnal report. <br />January 10, 2001. LaCrosse, R7. <br />49 Sidle, John G. and Eileen M. Kirsch. 1993. <br />M161 <br />