A beaver at Tapeats Creek was one of the furbearing mammals inventoried along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park in 2000.
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Relatively little has been published about the distribution and abundance of beaver (Castor canadensis), river otter (Lutra canadensis), and muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) in the Grand Canyon and their relationships with the riparian habitats along the Colorado River. This lack of information has made it difficult for wildlife managers to know how these species are faring in the park. In spring 2000, Grand Canyon wildlife biologists took advantage of a scheduled decrease in the river’s flow to conduct the first furbearer survey along the Colorado River from Lee’s Ferry to Pearce Ferry. Nearly 300 miles of riverine habitat was inventoried by park biologists and more than 20 interagency volunteers from as far away as Washington, D.C., and Yellowstone National Park. With flow rates below 8,000 cubic feet per second, bank dens, slides, and tracks belonging to riparian mammals were well exposed, offering clear and accurate observations of active and inactive furbearer dens. Nearly 300 beaver dens were recorded, muskrat and otter tracks were identified, and bank vegetation was identified and mapped. All of this information was entered into a geographic information system database. The resulting data are being compiled for inclusion in a feasibility study for reintroduction of the river otter into Grand Canyon National Park, which the park hopes to complete by 2002. Although one pair of otter tracks was observed in the survey, a viable population of the species no longer exists in the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam. The park staff plan to work cooperatively with local tribes, adjacent land management agencies, and local environmental groups to restore this important carnivore to the river ecosystem. |
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This material is from Natural Resource Year in Review--2000, published by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, in May 2000 (publication D-1459)
/YearInReview/yir/yir2000/pages/02_nps_science/02_08_sidebar_beaver.html
Last Updated: 06/17/2001
Direct comments on this website to jeff_selleck@nps.gov