Bird nests delay work on county emergency routes

JAMESTOWN, N.D. (AP) — Road work on two emergency routes in central North Dakota is being delayed because of possible bird nesting, a county commissioner says.

Officials want to raise the roadbed of the former Highway 10 in western Stutsman County because the road has been repeatedly flooded. Its dirt roadbed is now surrounded by water.

"It has flooded for years. It's been built up time and time again," Stutsman County Commissioner David Schwartz told KVLY-TV of Fargo.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved the project in April. This week, however, with construction equipment already in place, county officials were notified that construction had to stop because a piping plover may be nesting on the road.

The plover is a small, stocky migratory bird that favors sandy areas with little vegetation for nesting.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services lists the plover as a threatened species on the upper Great Plains. The bird influences how the Missouri River is managed, because it nests on the river's sandbars.

Schwartz said a biologist will visit the old Highway 10 construction site to determine whether the plover is nesting there. If it is, the construction project will be delayed until September to allow its breeding season to finish.

Work on a township road north of Jamestown is also being delayed because of duck nesting, Schwartz said. The county and township roads are both important access routes for emergency vehicles, he said.

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