U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Northeast Region
News Release
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External Affairs Office ~ 300 Westgate Center Drive ~ Hadley, MA 01035-9589 ~ (413) 253-8328
For immediate release, March 20, 1997
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to meet next month with representatives from diverse interests to continue dialogue on its project to restore a diversity of bird species and enhance nesting habitat for endangered species on Cape Cod's Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge, according to Ronald E. Lambertson, the Service's Northeast regional director.
"Strongly expressed public opinion, coupled with the complexity of this issue, the Service's responsibilities for endangered and threatened species, for migratory birds, and for management of the National Wildlife Refuge System -- all require that we work harder to find a constructive solution to the current situation," Lambertson said.
Therefore, the Service will host a forum April 18 and 19 with invited representatives from a variety of organizations, according to Lambertson. The Service has worked with others to develop a list of participants for the forum. A professional, non-government facilitator will lead the meeting.
The primary focus of the forum will be to initiate dialogue on defining a process for developing a long-term program beginning with the 1998 nesting season. Opportunity will be provided for full public review and comment on any long-term program to be considered for implementation in 1998.
In addition, the Service will receive input on alternative actions for the 1997 nesting season. The Service announced in January that the gull toxicant DRC-1339 will not be used in 1997 on Monomoy.
The Service initiated the project in 1996 to restore avian diversity on Monomoy because two gull species -- herring gulls and great black-backed gulls -- dominated the nesting territory and comprised, in 1995, more than 95 percent of the birds on the refuge. After the project last year, numbers of at least six species of nesting birds increased in the project area on the north end of South Monomoy Island. Three species -- roseate tern, black skimmer and laughing gull -- had not nested on the refuge for several years. Biologists also saw substantial increases in numbers of other species.
The Service has sought to reduce the number of herring gulls and great black-backed gulls on a portion of Monomoy refuge because the birds are aggressive and territorial and dominate habitat of smaller, beach-nesting birds. Two species of smaller birds that traditionally nested on Monomoy are so imperiled that they require federal protection under the Endangered Species Act: the endangered roseate tern and the threatened piping plover. Herring and great black-backed gulls did not nest on Monomoy prior to 1961 until they expanded their nesting area south from Maine and Canada in response to human food sources.
In 1996, the Service placed DRC-1339 in gull nests on the north end of South Monomoy Island to reduce the gull population on part of the refuge. While most gulls died on the refuge or the surrounding waters after eating the toxicant, some gulls flew to the mainland, especially to White Pond in Chatham, where they died. DRC-1339 has been used nationwide to control certain problem bird populations since 1974.
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