WSP02145

• File Number: 8460.500
• Description: Platte River Recovery Plan
• Basin: South Platte
• Date: 5/12/1988
• Author: USFWS
• Title: Great Lakes & Northern Great Plains Piping Plover ‎(see also 8460.200)‎
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

Approximately 15% of breeding pairs occur on the free-flowing

stretch' of the Missouri River and the north end of Lake Oahe.

This encompasses habitat from below t~e Garrison Dam south to the
~ ;
-C1C'

mouth of the Cannonball River in McLean" Burleigh, Oliver,

Morton, Emmons, Sioux, and Mercer counties. Recently, birds were

. found nesting on the Yellowstone River in McKenzie County (R.

1

Kreil, North Dakota Game and Fish). The remaining 85% breed in
alkali wetlands on the Missouri Coteau, principally in Kidder,

McLean, Sheridan, Ward, Mountrail, McHenry, and pierce Counties.

Most breeding activity in South Dakota occurs on sandbars

t

along the Missouri River from the Fort Randall Dam to

.t

Springfield, and from Yankton to Ponca, Nebraska. Breeding also

occurs on silty flats, sandy beaches and gravel parking lots of

Lake Oahe from Whitlocks Crossing south. Other isolated nesting

locations include sandbars and causeways directly below Oahe Dam,

and occasionally on saline wetlands in northeast South Dakota.
Breeding season sightings (no documented nesting) have been

reported for Campbell, Fall River, Harding, Hyde, and Walworth

counties (G. Vandel, South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks).

Currently, birds breeding in Nebraska are found on sandbars

and sand and gravel spoil piles on three major rivers. In the

northeastern corner of the state, nesting occurs along

approximately 64 km of the upper Missouri River and along 153 km
of the lower Niobrara River. Further south, Piping Plovers are

found along approximately 386 km of mid- and lower Platte River
habitat from near Plattsmouth west to Lexington. Breeding occurs

13

-