Category: Mammals

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Tales of the Packrat: The Legacy of Early Grazing on Utah’s Rangelands

Legacy of Early Grazing on Utah's Rangelands: Pack Rat Midden, Photo Courtesy and Copyright 2009 Ken Cole - All Rights Reserved
Pack Rat Midden
Copyright © 2009 Ken Cole

Reaching for a Pack Rat Midden, Click to Zoom, Photo Courtesy and Copyright 2009 Ken Cole - All Rights Reserved Reaching for a Pack Rat Midden
Copyright © 2009 Ken Cole

One of the best storytellers in Utah’s national parks is not a ranger, but the lowly packrat.The Legacy of Early Grazing on Utah’s Rangelands
Their stories of past plant communities are written in their middens. The midden is a heap of leaves, twigs, seeds and fruits the packrat discards outside its nest. Protected in a desert cave or rock crevice and preserved by a rat’s own urine, this heap is a detailed and accurate time capsule of the past local flora.

Ken Cole with the US Geological Survey is a fluent translator of the packrat’s stories. Ken and colleagues sampled old packrat nests around Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Capitol Reef National Park. By carbon-14 dating, the nest ages are known to span the last 10,000 years. As controls, they also collected nests from mesa tops inaccessible to livestock. Ken and colleagues then carefully translated these packrats’ stories by identifying and counting the plant fragments in these fossil nests.

At both Capitol Reef and Glen Canyon, old packrat nests revealed pre-settlement plant communities that were rich in diverse grasses, wildflowers and shrubs. Then these floras changed. Beginning 150 years ago, vast herds of sheep and cattle tromped and chewed their way across the unfenced rangelands of Utah in numbers unimaginable today. We know that palatable plant species and those susceptible to trampling suffered declines, because they are absent from middens from that time period. Unpalatable shrubs multiplied. Despite curtailed grazing in subsequent decades at Capitol Reef and Glen Canyon, packrats show us that the flora still has not recovered. Like Aesop’s fables, this cautionary lesson of the packrat’s ecological tale remains clear and relevant today. We should all listen.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.
The Legacy of Early Grazing on Utah’s Rangelands
Credits:

Photos: Courtesy and Copyright Ken Cole
Text: Julio Betancourt USGS and Jim Cane, Bridgerland Audubon

Additional Reading:

Betancourt, Julio L., Thomas R. Van Devender, and Paul S. Martin, eds. Packrat Middens: The Last 40,000 Years of Biotic Change, University of Arizona Press, 1990 https://www.uapress.arizona.edu/books/BID40.htm

Pack Rat Middens, Colorado Plateau in Land Use History of North America, Ken Cole, USGS/Northern Arizona University, https://cpluhna.nau.edu/Tools/packrat_middens.htm

Introduction [to Carbon 14 Dating], Tom Higham, Radiocarbon Laboratory, University of Waikato, New Zealand https://www.c14dating.com/int.html [Sep 24, 2009]

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Beavers: The Original Army Corps of Engineers

Beavers: The Original Army Corps of Engineers: Click for larger picture, Beaver with branch in water, Courtesy US FWS
Beaver with branch in water
Courtesy US FWS,
Steve Hillebrand, Photographer


Hi, I’m Holly Strand from Stokes Nature Center in beautiful Logan Canyon.

Beavers and beaver dams are a common feature of the Utah landscape. You’ll see the dams on smaller streams and side channels, constructed of branches, downed trees and mud. The still, deep water of the resulting pond creates ideal conditions for a beaver lodge. Beavers can escape and hide from predators by slipping into the pond and disappearing into the lodge. Beavers also use their ponds to cache their favorite
food—aspen and willow.

Because of their tree cutting and dam making skills, humans tend to have two divergent opinions of beavers: 60-pound nuisance or environmental engineer.

Click for larger picture, Beaver Lodge, Courtesy US FWS
Beaver lodge
Courtesy US FWS
Hans Stuart, Photographer

Beavers are considered a nuisance when they gnaw down trees that humans want to keep. Dams can flood roads or stop up irrigation canals. When beaver activity conflicts with human interests, they—the beavers–are likely to be trapped and killed.

However, beaver activity has many positive environmental consequences that we are just beginning to appreciate. Wetlands created by beaver dams help soak up sediments, improving downstream water quality. Because of beaver dams, the winter snowpack isn’t lost in a short spring pulse, This results in a more constant stream flow through the summer –and that’s important as Utah’s climate is predicted to become drier. Finally, beaver dams enhance habitat for many other fish and wildlife species and plants.

Click for larger picture, Beaver in pond, Courtesy US FWS
Beaver in pond
Courtesy US FWS
Steve Hillebrand, Photographer

According to Dr. Joe Wheaton, a geomorphologist at Utah State University, there’s a lot of untapped potential for employing beaver engineers in stream and floodplain restoration. Say you want to restore a stream by reconnecting it with its floodplain. You need to excavate channels, redirect stream flow, revegetate and nurture the
area for a long period of time. To accomplish this, you often need a
number of highly trained professionals and some large Tonka toys.

Alternatively –under the right conditions– you might transplant a
colony of beavers and let them apply their vigorous work ethic to your
landscape and get quite satisfying results.

Recognizing that nuisance beavers can be rehabilitated into hard
working wetland engineers and stream habitat restorationists, the Utah
Division of Wildlife Resources has rolled out the state’s first beaver
management plan in 2010. This plan encourages live trapping of entire
families of beavers in nuisance areas and moves them to specific sites where their
environmental services can be appreciated and put to use.

Click for larger picture, Beaver in snow, Courtesy US FWS
Beaver in snow
Courtesy US FWS

Thanks to the USU College of Natural Resources for supporting this Wild about Utah topic.

For Wild About Utah and Stokes Nature Center, I’m Holly Strand.

Credits:
Images:
Text: Stokes Nature Center: Holly Strand

Sources & Additional Reading


ARKive Images of Life on Earth, Information Sheet on Castor Canadensis (including some outstanding videos) https://www.arkive.org/ – (BBC Natural History Unit)

  • American Beaver – Overview
  • American Beaver in the Lodge with Young
  • American beaver felling trees and storing food for the winter
  • American beaver scaring moose away from its lodge
  • American beaver returning to its lodge with food


    • Collen, P. and R.J. Gibson. 2001. The general ecology of beavers (Castor spp.), as related to their influence on stream ecosystems and riparian habitats, and the subsequent effects on fish – a review. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 10: 439–461, 2001. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227028536_The_general_ecology_of_beavers_Castor_spp_as_related_to_their_influence_on_stream_ecosystems_and_riparian_habitats_and_the_subsequent_effects_on_fish_-_A_review [ Accessed May 1, 2010]

    Prettyman, B. 2009. Utah wildlife: Leave it to the beavers. Article in Salt Lake Tribune, October 16, 2009. https://www.sltrib.com/ci_13570110 [ Accessed April 29, 2010]

    Smithsonian Castor Canadensis Information Page https://www.mnh.si.edu/mna/image_info.cfm?species_id=32 [ Accessed April 29, 2010]

    Big Bend Habitat Restoration Project: A Natural Work of Heart, Open Spaces-A Talk on the Wild Side, US FWS, https://www.fws.gov/news/blog/index.cfm/2016/3/25/Big-Bend-Habitat-Restoration-Project-A-Natural-Work-of-Heart [Accessed March 31, 2016]

    Beaver Dams Strengthened by Humans Help Fish Rebound
    60-Second Science – July 25, 2016 – By Jason G. Goldman02:29 https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/beaver-dams-strengthened-by-humans-help-fish-rebound/ Also available through the podcast https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/60-second-science/id189330872?mt=2

    Goldfarb, Ben, Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, Chelsea Green Publishing, March 8, 2019, https://www.amazon.com/Eager-Surprising-Secret-Beavers-Matter/dp/1603589082/ref=asc_df_1603589082/

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    A Modern Day Phoenix

    “Phoenix,” an immature Golden Eagle
    Aquila chrysaetos
    Courtesy Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah (WRCNU.org)

    Elk Bath
    From a 2000 fire in the
    Bitterroot National Forest in Montana

    Courtesy Wikimedia &
    USDA Forest Service
    John McColgan, Photographer

    Hi, I’m Holly Strand.

    You may have heard about the golden eagle nestling that was badly burned during a recent Utah wildfire. Its nest was totally destroyed, but the little eagle had fallen to the ground and survived. After the fire, he was found by Kent Keller, a volunteer for Utah’s Div. of Natural Resources, who had banded the young eagle a month before. The eagle was dehydrated—his feathers, face, and feet were badly burned. So Keller obtained a permit from wildlife officials to intervene. Now in the care of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah the eagle is recovering rapidly. Even so, it will take a while for the damaged feathers to be replaced by healthy new ones. Phoenix–as is he was aptly named–won’t learn to fly for at least another year.

    With this and other fire-related stories in the news, I‘ve been wondering about the fate of animals caught in wildfires. Scientific observations of animal behavior during fire events are rare. But by conducting post-fire surveys, and comparing results with unburned areas, some researchers have been able to piece together an idea of who survives, who dies and who thrives.

    Obviously, faster and more mobile animals have the advantage. Birds can fly away and most mammals can outrun the spreading flames. Spring fires can be disastrous, destroying birds who haven’t fledged –like Phoenix– or mammals who are still too immature to escape. Fortunately, fires are more frequent in mid to late summer when little ones have matured.

    If a fire moves through an area quickly, without superheating the ground, dormant animals or those hiding in burrows can survive. The surrounding soil provides plenty of insulation. Soil also protects most soil macrofauna and the pupae of many insects.

    Animals that live their lives totally or partially in the water may not suffer at all during a fire. However, smaller bodies of water, such as streams, can quickly heat up fairly quickly. Oxygen loss is a problem as well. And fire-fighting chemicals dumped from the air can end up in water, killing fish, frogs and other animals.

    Indirectly, the alteration of habitat by fire can also restructure animal populations. Interestingly, there are quite a lot of animals that benefit from post-fire habitats. For example, the insect population above ground may plummet during a fire, but then increase above pre-fire levels when fresh young plants start to grow back. Burned trees are attractive to certain beetles as breeding sites. An increase in beetles is a windfall for the woodpeckers that devour them. Swallows and flycatchers use burned dead trees as perch sites. They survey from on high and then swoop to catch their insect dinner. Seed eating birds like Clark’s Nutcracker, gobble up conifer seeds when cones open in response to fire.

    Among mammals, ground squirrels, pocket gophers and deer mice generally increase after severe fires. Even large herbivores such as pronghorn or deer may benefit from the increased food and nutrition on recent burns. In turn, predators of these creatures enjoy a bumper crop as well.

    For images of Phoenix the recovering golden eagle and a link to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah go to www.wildaboututah.org.

    For Wild About Utah, I’m Holly Strand.

    Credits:

    Images: Courtesy Wikimedia, Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Gavin Keefe Schaefer and Dave Menke, US FWS images.fws.gov
    Text: Holly Strand

    Sources & Additional Reading:


    Baker, William L. 2009. Fire ecology in Rocky Mountain Landscapes. Washington, DC: Island Press.https://islandpress.org/ip/books/book/islandpress/F/bo7019409.html

    Bradley, Anne F.; Noste, Nonan V.; Fischer, William C. 1992. Fire ecology of forests and woodlands in Utah. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-287. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station. https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs_int/int_gtr287.pdf

    Hutto, RL. 1995. Composition of bird communities following stand-replacement fires in northern Rocky-Mountain (USA) conifer forests in Conservation Biology Volume: 9 Issue: 5 Pages: 1041-1058 https://www.fsl.orst.edu/ltep/Biscuit/Biscuit_files/Refs/Hulto%20CB1995%20fire%20birds.pdf

    Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah https://wrcnu.org/

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    Utah Prairie Dogs

    Three Utah Prairie Dogs
    Cynomys parvidens
    Courtesy US NPS, Bryce Canyon NP

    White-tailed Prairie Dog
    Cynomys leucurus
    Courtesy US FWS
    Rhonda Foley, Photographer

    Throughout certain areas in southwestern Utah, construction is currently underway. New neighborhoods and subdivisions are being worked on daily, with mounds of dirt displaced. But this isn’t your typical suburban development. Its inhabitants are only 12 inches tall and furry.

    The Utah prairie dog is the westernmost of five prairie dog species in the US and is unfortunately the most threatened. Since 1973 it has been a regular feature on the endangered species list, though it was downgraded to ‘threatened’ in 1984 and populations continue to show signs of growth.

    Utah prairie dogs are very social creatures, living in large groups called colonies or towns which consist of hundreds or even thousands of individuals and their vast networks of underground burrows. While the group forages for grasses, seeds, leaves, and insects, colony guards or lookouts take turns watching for danger. If a hazard is identified, loud barks echo throughout the colony and foraging dogs run for cover.

    Earlier this spring, Utah Prairie dogs in Parowan made national news when the town started construction on a $300,000 fence to keep these industrious critters from burrowing under and buckling the local airport’s runway. Their threatened status means special care must be taken in removing the dogs from airport property and relocating them to nearby public lands. Airport personnel waited until the beginning of July, after this year’s offspring had matured and left home, to begin the specialized trapping and relocation process.

    While some consider prairie dogs and their digging habits to be a nuisance, these diminutive creatures are an incredibly important part of their ecosystem. Ecologists have a name for organisms whose role is disproportionately large – a keystone species. In architecture, a keystone is the uppermost piece in an arch – the one on which all the other stones lean. Ecologically speaking a keystone species is one that supports many others that live around it.

    It has been estimated that more than 170 species – many of them also threatened or endangered – depend in some way on the Utah prairie dog, generally for either food or shelter. For example, the quirky and unique burrowing owl depends upon abandoned prairie dog homes for constructing its underground nests. Black – footed ferrets, whose population was at one time reduced to only 18 individuals, inhabit abandoned burrows within a large prairie dog colony and rely almost 100% upon the rodents for food.

    Other animals that are linked to the Utah prairie dog include badgers, coyotes, sage grouse, Swainson’s hawks, and kit foxes. Like its architectural counterpart, if an ecological keystone is removed the whole system is prone to collapse. Thankfully, with a species recovery plan in place, and a dedicated inter-agency group of supporters, the Utah prairie dog’s housing market continues to boom.

    Thank you to the Rocky Mountain Power Foundation for supporting the research and development of this Wild About Utah topic.

    For the Stokes Nature Center and Wild About Utah, this is Andrea Liberatore.

    Credits:
    Images: Courtesy & US FWS, images.fws.gov
                Courtesy US NPS, https://www.nps.gov/brca/naturescience/upd.htm

    Text:     Andrea Liberatore, Stokes Nature Center in Logan Canyon.


    Additional Reading:

    Hengesbaugh, M.G. (2001) Creatures of Habitat: The Changing Nature of Wildlife and Wild Places in Utah and the Intermountain West. Utah State University Press: Logan, UT,

    U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service – Mountain-Prairie Region. (2012) Endangered Species: Utah Prairie Dog. Available online at: https://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/UTprairiedog/

    National Park Service – Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah. (2012) Utah Prairie Dog. Available online at: https://www.nps.gov/brca/naturescience/upd.htm

    Carlton, J. (2012) In Utah, A Town Digs Deep to Battle Prairie Dogs. Wall Street Journal, May 6 2012. Available online at: https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304020104577384642186959960.html