Alternative Energy Draft EA - NASA Visitor Center at Wallops Flight ...

Affected Environment
Monitoring was initiated at all CNWR units (including Assateague, Assawoman, and
Metompkin) in 1996. Since then, there has been an increasing trend in the number of nesting
pairs. However, since 2004, nesting has remained static and decreased at both the hook and
overwash areas on Assateague Island, and has increased slightly at Assawoman and north
Metompkin. The number of chicks fledged per nesting pair has decreased for all four areas.
Piping Plover nesting habitat has been delineated on Wallops Island dune and overwash areas at
the northern and southern reaches of the property. South Wallops Island has experienced
substantial erosion of 3.3 meters (11 feet) per year, resulting in a decrease in abundance of
suitable habitat. Nesting Plovers have not been observed on South Wallops Island since at least
2000. North Wallops Island has simultaneously been accreting, resulting in additional potential
habitat for Plover nesting.
Piping Plovers were observed feeding annually between 1996 and 2008, although exact numbers
were not recorded. In 2009, four piping plover pairs attempted nests on north Wallops Island. Of
these, three were successful and at least seven chicks were fledged. Five nesting attempts were
made on North Wallops Island during 2007 and 2008, but none were successful in producing
fledglings. During 2006, one pair of Plovers nested but the nest was abandoned due to attempted
predation by a fox. Two nesting pairs were also observed in 2005, but one nest was lost to fox
predation and the chicks of the second pair did not survive. In 2004, one nesting pair fledged 3
chicks; one pair is documented as nesting unsuccessfully in 2001 and 1998; in 1996, three pairs
nested and two chicks were fledged in total. There were no nests observed in 2003, 2002, 2000,
1999, or 1997.
Wilson’s Plover
Wilson’s Plover is a migratory shorebird. An estimated 25 percent of U.S. populations winter in
southern Florida. In Virginia, Wilson’s Plover is an uncommon summer resident from April 24
through September 5 on the Eastern Shore. Its habitat includes coastal sandy and shell beaches,
barrier and spoil islands, borders of salt ponds, tidal mudflats, inlets, bays, estuaries, and
sometimes sandbars and muddy banks of rivers near the coast. In Virginia, nest habits have been
documented on the upper portions of sandy beaches on barrier islands, usually within 30 meters
(98.43 feet) of dune vegetation (but not in dense vegetation) and occasionally on overwash flats
behind the dunes. Wilson’s Plover has been documented in Accomack County and Assateague
Island, VA.
Red Knot
The Red Knot is a medium-sized shorebird that undertakes an annual 30,000 kilometers (19,000
miles) hemispheric migration, from breeding grounds in the high Arctic to wintering grounds in
South America.
Smith et al. (2008) indicates that Virginia’s barrier islands play an important role in the life cycle
of the Red Knot (rufa subspecies) because it provides important stop-over habitat during
migration. Spring migration occurs between late April and mid-June (Cohen, et al. 2009; Smith,
et al., 2008); peak counts in mid-May can be several hundred to about 1,000 at WFF (Vaughn,
1993). Cohen et al. (2009) indicates that Red Knot annual census numbers along the Virginia
coastline are variable in spring and were 8,332 in 2007. Smith et al. (2008) reports that the total
numbers of birds for the six Virginia barrier islands (south of Wallops Island between
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