Sections of the Rockaway Peninsula, a coastal strip of land in southern Queens, look like beach towns more than the concrete and steel landscape of much of New York City. On a mile-long stretch of the boardwalk in Edgemere, a neighborhood in the Rockaways that was a thriving resort destination a century ago, you can still see open skies, dunes and the ocean. But for most of the summer, the beach here is closed. Since 1996, this swath of sand and surf has been reserved for much of the spring and summer for nesting coastal piping plovers, which are endangered in New York and protected federally by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Along the Eastern Seaboard, from barrier islands to private and public beaches on the mainland, efforts are being made to provide safe habitats for them.

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Organizations: United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Seaboard Locations: Queens, New York City, Edgemere, New York