Recovered Midwestern bird soars off endangered species list

The smallest members of the tern family, weighing less than 2 ounces (56 TRAVERSE CITY, MICH. >> The grams), they feed mostly on interior least tern, a hardy small fish and build nests Midwestern bird that suron the ground. While most vived a craze for its plumleast terns are considered age and dam-building that seabirds, some species live destroyed much of its habby rivers, lakes and wetitat, has soared off the enlands. dangered species list. Their most important

Federal officials said nesting areas are along Tuesday that 35 years of more than 2,800 miles legal protection and habi(4,500 kilometers) of river tat restoration efforts had channels in the Great brought the tern back from Plains and the Lower Misthe brink of extinction. sissippi Valley. They mi

“Dozens of states, fedgrate to the Caribbean and eral agencies, tribes, busiSouth America for the winter.nessesandconservation groups have worked tireheir numbers plumlessly over the course of meted in the late 19th and three decades to successearly 20th centuries when fully recover these birds,” their feathers became a U. S. Fish and Wildlife Serpopular feature of womvice Aurelia Skipwith said. en’s hats.

Then came a wave of dam and levee construction and other engineering measures to control Middle America’s great rivers — particularly the Missouri and the Mississippi. Those structures wiped out much of the bird’s shoreline habitat.

When listed as endangered in 1985 as a distinct population segment, fewer than 2,000 interior least terns remained, along with a few dozen nesting sites.

The Army Corps of Engineers played a key role in the bird’s recovery, changing r iver management strateg ies and placing dredged material to create new nesting and dwelling spots for terns and other imperiled shorebirds such as the piping plover.