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<br />Arizona Game and Fish Department <br />Biological Evaluation: Kanab Ambersnail <br /> <br />July 1998 <br />Page 5 <br /> <br />late afternoon shade during hot summer days. Solar Pathfinder data, <br />basic water quality, and soil characteristics from selected springs <br />and seeps in Grand Canyon and adjacent areas, including potential <br />establishment sites, are reported in Sorensen and Kubly (1997 and <br />1998). The water from VP spring is described by Cole and Kubly <br />(1976) as dilute dolomitic, issuing from the Mississippian Redwall <br />Limestone. Chemical analyses of VP water reveals more or less equal <br />proportions of calcium and magnesium, and very low quantities of <br />sulfate, chloride, and sodium (Kubly and Cole 1979). The biological <br />importance of these conditions on KAS is not fully understood, and <br />they require additional study. <br /> <br />E. ECOLOGICAL STUDIES <br /> <br />The USFWS 1994 Biological Opinion (BO) on the preferred alternative <br />of the operation of Glen Canyon Dam required that the VP KAS <br />population and habitat be quantified. The 1996 Biological Opinion <br />specifically addressed the incidental take of VP KAS and habitat <br />loss from the March 1996 experimental Beach/Habitat-Building Flow <br />(BHBF) . An interagency team of researchers began ecological <br />studies on KAS at VP in 1994 and continued monitoring through 1997. <br />Representatives of the following agencies/institutions participated <br />in the ecological studies: AGFD, Grand Canyon Monitoring and <br />Research Center (GCMRC), the National Park Service (NPS), Northern <br />Arizona University (NAUl, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), the <br />USFWS, and others. Beginning in 1998, ecological monitoring of <br />KASs at VP was contracted out to individuals and/or organizations <br />through a competitive bid-process established by GCMRC. <br />