Aug. 6, 2008
Vol. 38, No. 354

For more information, contact Pat Cooper, Cape Henlopen State Park Administrator, at 302-645-8983; Matthew Bailey, Wildlife Biologist, Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, 302-739-9912; or Joanna Wilson, Public Affairs, at 302-739-9902.

Cape Henlopen State Park Announces Gordons Pond Beach Reopening   

Although piping plovers have been seen regularly foraging on the shores of Gordons Pond at Cape Henlopen State Park, plover watchers have not seen any sign of plover breeding activity there for the past three weeks. As a result, the ocean beach at Gordons Pond has been reopened to the public.

Nearly a half mile of beach at Gordon’s Pond had been closed since late May to protect nesting piping plovers and other threatened and endangered beachnesters and migratory shorebirds. However, though the beach is now open, the dunes and overwash areas at Gordons Pond will remain closed to protect sensitive habitat areas.

“Thousands of migrating shorebirds stop at the pond to feed in August and September, and flocks of ducks and geese converge on the pond in winter, so these areas need to remain protected,” explained DNREC Wildlife Biologist Matthew Bailey. Piping plovers also will begin their fall migration in the next few weeks, he added.

Also, seabeach amaranth, a plant listed as threatened on the federal endangered species list, grows on the dune slopes and in the overwashes at Gordons. This small, ground-hugging plant grows best on the open sand and is vulnerable to being destroyed by foot and vehicular traffic on the beach.

“One amaranth has already been found at Gordons Pond and, since they don’t typically emerge until late summer, it is expected that more will be found as the season progresses,” Bailey noted.

On the Point, a quarter mile stretch of ocean beach and dunes and a half mile along the bay shoreline have been closed since March 1. The ocean side will reopen for Labor Day Weekend, while the bayside will remain closed until Wednesday, Oct. 1 for use as a rest stop by thousands of shorebirds migrating south for the winter, some as far as the southern tip of South America.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s divisions of Parks and Recreation, Fish and Wildlife, and Soil and Water Conservation have been working together since 1990 to implement a management plan to halt the decline of beachnester and migratory shorebird populations. The Point has been closed annually since 1993.

For more information, please contact the Cape Henlopen State Park office at 302-645-8983.