NON RECORD NON LIBRARY KANABAMBERSNAIL 2003 PROGRESS REPORT: ANALYSISOF HABITAT DATA, STATUS OF TRANSLOCATED POPULATIONS, ANDADDITIONAL HABITAT SURVEYS JeffA. Sorensen, Nongame Program Manager Clay B. Nelson, Nongame Wildlife Specialist Darren K. Bolen, Nongame Wildlife Specialist Nongame Branch, Wildlife Management Division ArizonaGame and Fish Department Technical Report 220 Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program Program Chief: Terry B. Johnson Arizona Game and Fish Department 2221 West Greenway Road Phoenix, Arizona 85023-4399 September 2003 CIVIL RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMPLIANCE The Arizona Game and Fish Commission receives federal financial assistance in SportFish and Wildlife Restoration. Under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the U.S. Department of the Interior prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, or disability. If you believe you have been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility as described above, or if you desire furtherinformation please write to: Arizona Game and Fish Department Officeof the Deputy Director, DOHQ 2221 West Greenway Road Phoenix, Arizona 85023-4399 and The Officefor Diversity and Civil Rights U.S. Fish and WildlifeService 4040 North FairfaxDrive, Room 300 Arlington, Virginia 22203 AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT COMPLIANCE The Arizona Game and Fish Department complies with all provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This document is available in alternative format by contacting the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Office of the Deputy Director at the address listed above or by calling (602) 789-3290 or TTY 1-800-367-8939. 1 RECOMMENDEDCITATION J.A. Sorensen, C.B. Nelson, and D.K. Bolen. 2003. Kanab Ambersnail 2003 Progress Report: Analysis of Habitat Data, Status of Translocated Populations, and Additional Habitat Surveys. Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program Technical Report 220. Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, Arizona. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank the following individuals for their recent contributionsin the field: DanAdikes, Linda Allison, Dave Baker, Paul Barrett, Lee Ann Bemer, Sandy Bernstein, Sharon Biggs, Sean Blomquist, Mariann Cunningham, Val Davison, Brent and Cynthia Davison, Danica Davison, Patrice Davison, Chuck Emmert, Wayne Feller, Scott Gardner, Susie Gardner, Bob Gaulden, John Gunn, Steve Haas, Bob and Janine Hembrode, Joy Hembrode, Monique Imberski, Ed J ahrke,Alicia Jontz, DeLise Keim, Keith Kohl, BrandiKuhlmann, MargretMartinez, Bob Miles, Neibert Niemi, Richard Ockenfels, Christine Palanuk, Alan Pils, Chuck Pils, Barb Ralston, Daren Riedle, Teresa Riza, Tom Ryan, Maaike Schotborgh, Joan Scott, Tara Sprankle, Brian Smith, Sheridan Stone, Robert Sucharski, Matt Sweeney, Jessica Thiebeau, Rickard Toomey, Bill Vercammen, Eric Whiteman, Scotty Davis and J.P. Running withHatch River Expeditions, andTiffiny and Mike with Western River Expeditions. A special thanks to Jessica Thiebeau, our project's first intern, who spent many long hours at data entry, and Joyce Francis for improvements to the ambersnail database and converting it to a MS-Access format. Logistical and administrative support was provided by: Dennis Kubly and Tom Scoville (U.S. Bureau of Reclamation); Ralph Swanson (Central Utah Project Completion Act Office); Paul Barrett, Debra Bills, Larry England, and Glen Knowles (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service); Carol Fritzinger, Steve Gloss, Keith Kohl, Barb Ralston, Parke Steffensen, and Jake Tiegs (Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center); EmmaBenenati, Ray Hall, Kirsten Heins, and Della Snyder (National Park Service); John Gunn (Maricopa County Parks); JohnBoeck, Jean Emory, Steve Haas, and Rickard Toomey (Arizona State Parks); Linda Allison, Mike Demlong, Joyce Francis, Terry Johnson, and Bill Persons (ArizonaGame andFish Department). Cover photo by JeffSorensen. PROJECTFUNDING Funding for this project was provided by: voluntary contributions to Arizona's Nongame Wildlife Checkoff; the Arizona Heritage Fund; U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Grant No. 02-FC- 40-8390 and Modification #001-2003, Central Utah Project Completion Act Cooperative Agreement No. 02-FCCU-AZOlO, BSA Section 6 Federal Aid (State Trust Fund), and State WildlifeGrants. Logistical support provided by GrandCanyon Monitoring andResearch Center. File: NGTR 220 KAS 2003 Progress Report.20031230.doc 11 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY To alleviate operational restrictions on Glen CanyonDam and furtherrecovery objectives forthe endangered Kanab ambersnail (Succineidae: Oxyloma haydeni kanabensis Pilsbry), the Arizona Game and Fish Department partnered with the Central Utah Project Completion Act Office, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Upper Colorado Region, andthe National Park Service to establish an additional wild population of the snail in Grand Canyon National Park. State, federal, tribal, and private cooperators affiliated with the Kanab Ambersnail Working Group and the Glen Canyon Technical Work Group participated in the environmental compliance process. The U.S. Fish andWildlife Service issueda Biological Opinion in early September 1998 authorizing this translocationeffort. In mid-September 1998, 450 Kanab ambersnails (:S: 5 mm in shell size) were collected from Vaseys Paradise (river mile 31.8 R), Grand Canyon,Arizona, as foundingstock fortranslocation efforts. These snails were collected from the lower vegetated zone, an area frequently inundated 3 by river flowsof 30,000 cfs (849.9 m /s) or less. Translocatedsnails were released at 3 sites (150 snails/site) in Grand CanyonNational Park The 3 sites ("KeyHole Spring" at 47.1 mi R, Upper Elves Chasm at 116.6 mi L, and Lower Deer Creek Spring at 136.1 mi R) were selected following a National Environmental Policy Act review. In July 1999, another 450 snails were translocated in an effort to augment population densities and maintain genetic variability at each of the new sites (also 150 snails/site). fu July 2000, a minor translocation of 30 Kanab ambersnails from V aseys Paradise were moved to 2 of the 3 sites (20 snails to Upper Elves Chasm and 10 snails to Lower Deer Creek Spring) to help maintain genetic variability of new populations. Another20 juvenile ambersnails were transplantedto Upper Elves Chasm in August 2002 for genetic variability. No ambersnails were translocated to "KeyHole Spring" in July 2000 due to dry habitat resulting from the continued drought. fu early 2003, the National Park Service Grand Canyon Science Center staff had announced their decision to halt any further augmentations of the Upper Elves Chasm site, due to a change in their vision for managing wildlifein the park. The results of the ambersnail translocation andseasonal monitoring from October 1998 through August 2003 are summarized in this report. Of the 3· sites, Upper Elves Chasm continues to harbor numerous translocated Kanab ambersnails, and appears to be establishing a new population underthe draftcriteria for determining establishment success forKanab ambersnails. Successive surveys at this site have consistently found live Kanab ambersnails and successful recruitment. fuaddition, this population is increasing in occupied area. Ambersnailtranslocations to ''KeyHole Spring" andLower Deer Creek Spring appear to be unsuccessfulafter 5 years and2 attempts at releasing founding stock (September 1998 and July 1999). Observations of live ambersnails were sporadic and limited to a few individuals at each site during the first 2 years. No live Kanab ambersnails or shells have been foundsince 2001 at either site. However, periodic sampling may be usefulto determine if any remnant ambersnails fromprevious translocations in 1998 and 1999 survived the last 4 yearsof drought. No parasites have been detected in any of the snails at translocation sites. Resident native landsnails at the translocation sites were documented when encountered-Catinella sp. at all 3 sites and Zonitoides sp. at Upper Elves Chasm and "KeyHole Spring". Densities and distribution of resident landsnails at these sites did not appear to be affectedby ambersnail translocation. Continued monitoring of Upper Elves Chasm is highly warranted, since this new population has full protection under the Endangered Species Act. Limited augmentation of this site, at least periodically (every 2-3 years with 20 juvenile ambersnails), would help ensure the genetic integrity of this translocated population. In addition to achieving recovery objectives, the 2 ambersnail population at Upper Elves Chasm and its occupied habitat (-50 m in area) can be included in mitigation decisions regarding the operation of Glen Canyon Dam and incidental take statements forKanab ambersnails at Vaseys Paradise. The successful establishment of this new ambersnail population allows for more flexibility with regards to future Beach/Habitat­ Building Flows and adaptive management of other resources in Grand Canyon. A statistical analysis of habitat dataand snail countsamong the 3 translocation sites was conducted to help identify differences in habitat quality and better understand why 1 translocation site was more successfulthan the other 2. Using methods fromSorensen (2001), stepwise logistic regression was used to determine specific habitat variables that characterize high and low quality Kanab ambersnail habitat based on snail densities. For Vaseys Paradise, the most significant