CHICAGO (AP) – The Chicago Park District is adding about 3 acres of Lake Michigan lakefront to a protected area set aside as nesting ground for an endangered shorebird. The district’s move means several sand volleyball courts used at Chicago’s Montrose Beach will have to find a new home as the 12.8-acre protected area of the Montrose Beach Dunes expands. The Chicago Sun-Times reports conservationists and bird enthusiasts championed the expansion after a pair of piping plovers first nested at the site in 2019 and returned last year. The small shorebird is on a number of state endangered species lists and is listed as threatened at the federal level.
