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Portion of Keewaydin Island to be closed for nesting terns
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Part of the southern portion of Keewaydin Island will be closed from May 1 to mid-August to protect nesting least terns, Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve announced Tuesday morning.
More than three acres of shoreline within the boundaries of the reserve will be closed for the seventh consecutive year. The area will be marked with signs, and the reserve plans to create a new walk-over through the area for boaters to get to the Gulf-front beach from the east side of the island.
Designated camp sites and campfire areas also will be established on the island "in the near future," according to Tuesday morning's announcement.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission lists least terns as a threatened species. They also are protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Two other species of shorebirds, Wilson's plovers and snowy plovers, also have been documented using the closed area on Keewaydin Island.
The Conservation Commission already has roped off parts of Sand Dollar Island, off Tigertail Beach on Marco Island, and a sandbar at Caxambas Pass.
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