Federal wildlife officials have come up with a road map for boosting populations of the imperiled Western Snowy Plover, a tiny sparrowlike bird that builds nests at several North County beaches and lagoons.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's recovery plan, released earlier this week, sets a goal of doubling the current number of adult bird species living along the Southern California cost - in San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles counties - to at least 500.

And it aims to rebuild the entire Pacific Coast population in California, Oregon and Washington to 3,000, up from 2,000 today.

Al Donner, a Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman in Sacramento, said by telephone Tuesday that the new plan relies heavily on the cooperative efforts of federal, state and local agencies, military bases such as Camp Pendleton, and volunteers from a variety of community groups. Donner said the plan is, by definition, a voluntary document and it does not impose new restrictions on coastal recreation and development.

Environmental groups criticized the 292-page blueprint, saying it falls well short of what is needed to help the tiny shorebird make a comeback.

"This is an extinction plan, not a recovery plan," said Kieran Suckling, policy director for the Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson, Ariz.

Suckling said the federal agency set the bar too low. He maintained that reaching a population of 3,000 will not ensure the bird avoids extinction.

Audubon California, a statewide environmental group that has long monitored the plight of the bird, charged that the plan relies too heavily on the efforts of volunteers.

"We are long past the point with this species where cooperation and volunteerism alone can make a difference," said Glenn Olson, executive director of Audubon California.

Federal officials defended the population target and the strategy for hitting it. Donner said it is patterned after a successful one that has helped populations of a cousin, the piping plover, make a comeback along the East Coast.

Donner said that, in the absence of a plan, volunteer efforts already have helped boost the West Coast population from 1,500 - at the time the Western Snowy Plover was declared threatened in 1993 - to 2,000.

Donner stressed that the bird, unlike many imperiled animals, doesn't live in the backwoods. On the contrary, it lives on the very beaches that millions of Californians flock to for swimming, surfing and sunbathing.

"Plovers are in the thick of people, where people want to play and recreate," said Jane Hendron, spokeswoman for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Carlsbad.

And Hendron said adult plovers lay their eggs and raise their young just as recreation enthusiasts begin to head for the beach in spring.

Because of the largely unavoidable conflicts with beachgoers, federal officials say they are counting on the volunteer community groups to guide people and their dogs away from nests by posting signs and temporary fences. Officials say they do not have the luxury of creating large reserves that are closed to the public.

Andy Mauro, conservation chairman for Buena Vista Audubon Society, said that developing plans for the restoration of North County's Buena Vista Lagoon could create a rare such reserve.

He said that one of the restoration options being studied would return Buena Vista to its original status as a coastal salt marsh lagoon. That could create islands that provide nesting areas protected from people and dogs.

"We see that as sort of a bright light for the Western Snowy Plover in San Diego County," Mauro said, adding that the plan could be finalized by the middle of 2008.

Jim Watkins, plover recovery coordinator for the wildlife service in Northern California, said the agency currently estimates San Diego County's bird population at 191 and Southern California's total at 238.

Hendron said plovers build nests at the Tijuana River estuary, Silver Strand, Naval Air Station North Island, South Mission Beach, South Carlsbad State Beach, San Elijo Lagoon and at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, and at Bolsa Chica State Beach, Salt Creek Beach and Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station in Orange County.

Phil Unitt, curator of birds and mammals at the San Diego Natural History Museum, said the highest concentration of plovers in the region is at Camp Pendleton, with most nests being made at the mouth of the Santa Margarita River.

Eric Kershner, wildlife management branch head for Camp Pendleton, said biologists counted 80 plovers on the base this year, down from about 120 last year and in 2005.

The tiny plover grows to 6 inches long. It has a white belly and a pale brown to gray back and head that matches the color of beach sand. And it has a black bill and a few black marks.

"They nest on the ground out in the open," Unitt said. "They are masters of camouflage. Their eggs match the sand colors very well, with a few black speckles in them."

Consequently, Hendron said, it is easy to step on them by accident.

"When Western Snowy Plovers are born, they are tiny cotton balls with toothpick legs," Hendron said. "They're cute. They're adorable. But they are very vulnerable when they first hatch."

- Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 745-6611, Ext. 2623, or ddowney@nctimes.com. Comment at nctimes.com.