SFSnowyPlovers is a forum for communication available to volunteers and professionals who are concerned with the stewardship and management of Snowy Plovers and their habitats along San Francisco’s coastal shores.

Discussion topics here include monitoring of Snowy Plovers & other shorebirds, habitat maintenance, public outreach & education, volunteer opportunities, and all related topics pertaining to the local aspects of the range-wide recovery of the Snowy Plover.

Background – Once quite common from Washington to Baja, the population of Snowy Plovers has been greatly reduced, primarily as a result of habitat degradation due to coastal development and increased human recreational use. As California’s human population increased along coastal areas, biologists recognized that the Snowy Plover population was declining dramatically. Listed as threatened in 1993, the Pacific coast population is now protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act. With cooperative efforts at federal, state and local levels, it is hoped that this inhabitant of the beach-dune ecosystem can be stabilized and fully recovered by 2047.

In San Francisco, Snowy Plovers live at Ocean Beach and Crissy Field, both areas within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, managed by the National Park Service.