LEWES, DELAWARE (5/19/2015) A section of ocean beach in Cape Henlopen State Park is being closed to protect a threatened bird species.
A half-mile section of beach near Gordons Pond will be cordoned off beginning Wednesday, officials of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control announced Tuesday.
The closure between the twin observation towesrs and Herring Point comes after siting of the first piping plover nest of the season in the area.
“Closing off plover nesting areas is an established protocol every year at Cape Henlopen, and this closing is in the traditional nesting area that beachgoers are accustomed to,” said wildlife biologist Matthew Bailey, coordinator of the Division of Fish & Wildlife’s Piping Plover Protection Program. “The area will remain closed until the last of our plover chicks are fledged, usually in late August.”
Another section of beach in the park, at the Cape Henlopen point, was closed to the public last month to protect piping plover nests in that area.