Norton Point Closed to Vehicles to Protect Piping Plover Chicks

By JAMES KINSELLA

Over the past four days, public and private officials have closed sections of Norton Point and East Beach to four-wheel-drive vehicles to protect newly hatched piping plover chicks and nests with eggs yet to hatch.

In Massachusetts, the piping plover is a threatened species. After hatching, the chicks take about 30 days before they fly, making them vulnerable to the tires of four-wheel-drive vehicles driving along a beach.