Frances Bidstrup

Research Associate

Frances Bidstrup began volunteering for Point Blue’s Snowy Plover Project as a researcher examining the plovers’ breeding success at Wilder State Beach in Santa Cruz County in 1979.  From 1983-1989 she helped to expand the scope of the project by covering several additional sites in Monterey County, which included taking on the role of volunteer coordinator for a west coast winter plover survey project, which she has continued to the present.  With great skill and charm, she has recruited and managed hundreds of volunteer observers who conduct regular winter Snowy Plover surveys at particular beaches. She has helped to manage the enormous data set that has amassed on the occurrence of non-breeding plovers at hundreds of locations.  These data have informed land management decisions and helped to highlight the occurrence and importance of natural resources on the coast.

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