Watch Now: New Video Highlights Collaboration, Success of the Barnegat Light Restoration Project

by Todd Pover, Senior Wildlife Biologist

Over the past two years we have frequently reported on the progress of a habitat restoration project along the inlet at Barnegat Light to benefit piping plovers and other beach nesting birds.

The goal of the project was to enhance the nesting habitat by clearing out the vegetation and re-grading the sand, because this once important breeding site had become overgrown and was no longer suitable for piping plovers to nest. Plans also called for building a shallow pond to create productive foraging habitat for chicks that could also be protected from human disturbance.

The initial construction was completed over the past two winters and has already shown promise with a slight uptick and recruitment of new birds to the nesting site. Furthermore, this year, the piping plovers chicks that hatched at the site exclusively used the new ponds, and as a result, the fledge rate, the number of chicks reaching flight stage and the main measure of success for this endangered species, was much higher than average.

The project is a collaborative effort, led by Todd Pover, CWF’s Senior Wildlife Biologist and Dr. Brooke Maslo, Rutgers University Assistant Professor, in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and N.J. Division of Fish and Wildlife.

We are excited to share the video above, produced by the Division, which provides an overview of the project and wonderful footage of the restoration site.