One year ago, Superstorm Sandy moved tons of sand inland and upward, as storms have done for millennia, causing much suffering to New Jersey’s coastal communities. But not so for the piping plover, a native beachfront bird.

It turns out that Sandy was both useful and essential to the future survival of piping plovers, Charadrius melodius. These endangered, sparrow-size birds have declined tremendously due to human encroachment during the last century.