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Arizona Game and Fish Department Biological Evaluation: Kanab Ambersnail July 1998 Page 7 With interagency support, AGFD has conducted surveys of 74 springs, seeps, and wetland areas of the Grand Canyon region and northern Arizona between 1996 and 1997. No additional KAS populations were found. Evaluation of potential KAS habitat is documented in AGFD Nongame Technical Report 122 and 125 (Sorensen and Kubly 1997, 1998). Eleven sites in Grand Canyon National Park were identified as having optimum or more desirable habitat for establishing KAS wild populations (Sorensen and Kubly 1997 and 1998). Three other sites outside Grand Canyon National Park were also identified as more desirable habitat for KAS, based on preliminary data from single visits. Pending approval of the draft Environmental Assessment, NPS/AGFD have tentatively designated the following three sites for establishment of wild KAS populations: "Keyhole Spring", Upper Elves Chasm, and Lower Deer Creek (Fig. 1). VP VaseY" Paradise 1 Keyhole Springs Z Upper Elves Olasm 3 !J:>wer Deer creek * '00 .-- Figure 1. Location of KAS establishment sites within Grand Canyon National Park. Detailed descriptions of the three establishment sites are provided in Appendix B. The attempt to establish multiple (3) KAS populations decreases the likelihood that a catastrophic event would eliminate all the populations and increases the likelihood that each allele will be preserved in a least one population (Leberg 1990). To address these genetic concerns and to increase the probability of success, NPS/AGFD proposes to simultaneously establish three new KAS populations, each from 150 founders (KAS individuals from VP). The establishment of a least one wild population of KASs will satisfy the 1996 and 1997 USFWS Biological Opinion requirements concerning BHBFs and KASs.