Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area: Coastal Waterbird Management Recommendations

Parsons, Katherine; Jedrey, Ellen

Management recommendations from MassAudubon to ensure optimum protection for coastal waterbirds using Park habitats and thereby provide for their long-term persistence in the Park. The Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area provides habitat for significant numbers of breeding, wintering and migrating coastal waterbirds. For example, more than 50% of all the Black-crowned Night-Herons and Snowy Egrets nesting in the state occur on a few islands in Boston Harbor. Similarly, important populations of other long-legged wading birds and nesting seabirds use habitats within the Park. Finally, the harbor supports regionally important nesting populations of Common Eider and American Oystercatcher. With the establishment of the Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area, the opportunity exists to facilitate coordinated, landscape-scale management of the natural resources of the harbor. With decades of experience managing and protecting coastal waterbirds throughout the state, Mass Audubon’s Coastal Waterbird Program is pleased to participate in management planning as the Park develops its Resource Stewardship Strategy. We recommend that islands that are accessible to the boating public due to the availability of landing areas, and that are both supporting species in significant decline and a high diversity of avifauna, be protected as bird sanctuaries with human access to the islands strongly restricted through signage and patrolling (i.e. no public access Apr-Aug). In addition, islands supporting species listed under the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act should be managed to eliminate or reduce disturbance. Finally, islands that are relatively inaccessible to the public (e.g. outer harbor islands), and providing habitat to declining species should be managed to restrict human disturbance primarily through signage.Prioritized protection categories are as follows: 1) Keystone islands supporting high diversity of species in decline (Calf Island, Middle Brewster Island, Outer Brewster Island, Sarah Island, Sheep Island) should be closed to visitors Apr-Aug; closures should be enforced through signage and patrolling; 2) Islands that support nesting tern species protected under the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act (Snake Island, Rainsford Island, Lovells Island) should be managed to prevent harm, harassment, etc of any egg, chick, or adult of a listed species. Landowners are responsible under the law to ensure that state guidelines are adhered to (e.g. symbolic fencing and signage of important nesting areas by April 1; see Appendix A); 3) Outer harbor islands supporting significant numbers of cormorants and gulls (all species of which are very significantly declining) should be closed to the public Apr-Aug; closures should be enforced through signage principally. Most of these islands, which include Green Island, Little Calf Island, Shag Rocks, do not have convenient landing areas and may require fewer Park resources to implement management; 4) Finally, we recommend that other islands in the harbor that are accessible through public transportation and that are providing habitat to small numbers of coastal birds be managed to reduce human disturbance (e.g. educational signage, “closed area” signage, fencing) from park visitors to these islands.

Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area: Coastal Waterbird Management Recommendations

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