| One of the last undeveloped stretches of coastline in Southern California, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton beaches are important nesting grounds for federally endangered California least terns and federally threatened western snowy plovers. Camp Pendleton's 125,000 acres encompass a variety of habitat types such as grassland, oak woodland, coastal sage scrub and riparian, enabling a healthy population of raptors, corvids, and other avian, mammalian, and reptilian predators. Many of these forage on the beaches and pose a significant threat to the recovery of nesting terns and plovers. Predator removal is an effective management tool that has been used on Base for more than 20 years to protect endangered shorebird populations. Various non-lethal methodologies implemented on Base include hazing, trapping, taste aversion conditioning, and translocation; lethal removal is also employed when necessary. Nests lost to depredation have gradually decreased over the last five years in California least terns (11%) and western snowy plovers (24%) concurrent with drought conditions and change in management strategy. Accurate identification of individual predators for removal and effectiveness of non-lethal methodologies continue to present challenges to predator control. Camp Pendleton continues to seek new and innovative strategies to reduce predation pressure on federally protected species and contribute to ultimate recovery goals. |