Mammal Projects

At a time when bat populations are at a greater risk of extinction, the National Park Service has a strategic role to play in continent-wide bat conservation. Glen Canyon National Recreation Area is participating in the North American Bat Monitoring Program, conducting acoustic surveys and netting bats throughout the park. In addition, park scientists are involving youth in bat monitoring projects and bringing bat science to the public by hosting annual bat festivals.

Many visitors to national parks eagerly anticipate the chance to see large mammals such as bears, elk, and bighorn sheep. Yet surprisingly little is known about mammals in most parks. At Saguaro National Park, wildlife cameras were used for 10 years (1999-2008) to document the park’s medium and large mammals and where they occur.

Amistad National Recreation Area is positioned near the boundary of three biotic regions—Chihuahuan Desert, Edwards Plateau, and Tamaulipan Shrublands—and includes the confluences of the Rio Grande, the Pecos River, and the Devils River. Mammals have been studied both before and after the reservoir was constructed from the 1960s-1980s. However, no comprehensive mammalian inventory had been conducted within the park until this project.

The purpose of this study was to survey the mammals in selected riparian habitats along the Rio Grande from the eastern border of Big Bend National Park in Brewster County, downstream through Terrell County. This section of the river flows through the rugged limestone canyons of the Stockton Plateau, and is commonly referred to as the Lower Canyons. Access to most of the Lower Canyons is limited to multi-day canoe trips.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park is a critical location for understanding the distribution of mammals in the Chihuahuan Desert. Situated along the Texas-New Mexico border, the park includes representative habitats from desert lowlands to mountainous highlands. Situated at the base of the western escarpment of the Guadalupe Mountains in northern Hudspeth County, Texas, are a series of gypsum and quartz dunes of which the park recently acquired approximately 10,000 acres.

Mammal inventories help to close the gap in our knowledge and understanding of some taxonomic groups on the Colorado Plateau.

In May 2003, Saguaro National Park sponsored a “pulse study” of the Madrona Ranger Station area in the park’s Rincon Mountain (east) District.