News Release
| Release Number: | 99-030 |
| Dated: | 4/5/1999 |
| Contact: | Matt Rabe, 503-808-4510 |
Portland, Ore.--In an effort to recover threatened and endangered juvenile salmon and steelhead, federal and state agencies have agreed to prohibit access to East Sand Island, one mile from Chinook, Wash., near the mouth of the Columbia River. The island is earmarked as the new temporary home for Caspian terns. The island also is home to several other species of colonial nesting seabirds.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will post "no trespassing" signs on East Sand Island, restricting human access on the island throughout the spring and summer nesting season. The signs will be removed in September and the public will be allowed on the island at that time. Brown pelicans, a threatened species, also use East Sand Island and could be disturbed by people. Disturbance of terns or other birds nesting on the island could potentially result in violations of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act or the Endangered Species Act.
The request came from researchers and biologists with the Caspian Tern Working Group, a team of federal and state agencies working together to find a common solution to avian predation of juvenile salmon in the Columbia River estuary. They are concerned that any human activity on the island may keep birds from nesting there and cause them to move to islands further upriver where they could have a greater impact on listed fish.
The Working Group created nesting habitat for the terns on East Sand Island last winter in an effort to reduce the number of juvenile salmonids the birds prey on at Rice Island, their former home, during the nesting season. At East Sand Island, the birds will have a larger variety of fish species from which to choose. The Corps of Engineers, in cooperation with the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is preparing about eight to 16 acres of new nesting habitat on East Sand Island to relocate the birds. Researchers will monitor the birds to determine the success of the project and observers will be stationed on the island.
The former nesting locations on Rice Island, Miller Sands Spit and Pillar Rock Island were planted with winter wheat to discourage nesting. Additional habitat modifications, including grass seeding and fence placement, will continue to be made throughout the spring.
The members of the Caspian Tern Working Group include: National Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Bonneville Power Administration, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Idaho Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Oregon State University.