An adult Piping Plover runs along a beach as waves lap at the shore in the background, Quonochontaug Conservation Area, Westerly, RI. Environmental advocates are taking the federal government to court over new rules to protect the habitat of an endangered species of shorebird known as the piping plover. Ecojustice Canada, representing the Federation of Naturalists of Nova Scotia and the East Coast Environmental Law Association, filed a lawsuit Oct. 31 seeking a judicial review of a habitat protection strategy designed by Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault. The lawsuit claims Ottawa previously submitted a recovery strategy to protect the bark, which it describes as consistent with the federal Species at Risk Act. According to the statement of claim, this strategy identified 212 entire beaches in Atlantic Canada and Quebec as critical habitat for the little sandbird. But an amended strategy released in September changes how critical habitat is identified, the lawsuit claims. “The minister has adopted a ‘delineation’ approach to critical habitat designation that does not clearly describe the location or boundaries of the loover’s critical habitat,” the statement said. “In contrast, the modified recovery strategy maps sites that contain critical habitat using grid squares and identifies critical habitat, not as the entirety of each square, but as any areas within those squares that possess certain vaguely described ‘biophysical characteristics’.” Environment and Climate Change Canada said in an email that they are “working diligently on a response” to a question about the lawsuit and “in the process of consulting with our subject matter experts.” Ecojustice lawyer Sarah MacDonald said the 2012 flower recovery strategy did a “very good job” of identifying critical habitat and it was “very clear” that entire beaches needed to be protected. The strategy identified beaches by name and through global positioning system coordinates, he said. But the modified version, he argued, made changes that weakened its effectiveness. “Instead of saying an entire beach is critical habitat, what they’re doing now is defining what they call grid squares, these one-by-one kilometer squares that cover those beaches,” MacDonald said. “It leaves huge stretches of the beach vulnerable to activities that we know are harmful to the flowers and their habitat, like residential development and pollution and things like that.” The lawsuit characterizes the ministry’s decision as neither justified nor unreasonable.” “The amended Recovery Strategy does not identify critical habitat to the greatest extent possible or with any degree of geographic precision,” the statement of claim states. “Additionally, the description of critical habitat in the amended Recovery Strategy is too vague to support the Secretary’s duties to protect critical habitat or support enforceable statutory protections for that habitat. This undermines SARA’s ability to provide meaningful protection.” “ McDonald said the groups hope the court will strike down parts of the new recovery strategy and revert to the original version. Piping plovers are tiny birds found only in North America with two subspecies – one that breeds in the Canadian prairies and another along the Atlantic coast. They were listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 2003, according to the lawsuit. Between 2006 and 2016, the Canada warbler population declined another 30 percent to 174 breeding pairs. The lawsuit claims that human activities such as housing and urban development, pollution from industrial activities, mining and quarrying pose serious, ongoing threats to the flower’s habitat. Bob Bancroft, president of Nature Nova Scotia, says enthusiasts are drawn to naturally caused disturbances on the beaches where they live. “Legs like to nest in disturbed areas where they have pebbles and gravel and sand,” he said. “An event like (recent post-tropical storm) Fiona happens after the spawning season and next spring, depending on the orientation of that particular beach and how much it has been disturbed, they will choose one of the disturbed areas. “ MacDonald agreed, noting that flower habitats change with holidays and saying that entire beaches should be protected to allow the birds to safely follow their natural nesting instincts. “It makes absolutely no sense (to have certain protected spots),” he said. “And we really hope that this lawsuit will help the government see that.”
