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Arizona Game and Fish Department NGTR 125: Kanab Ambersnail Report April 1998 Page 11 4) Enter into cooperative agreements or land acquisition (including secured water rights) of the privately-owned 3L site, the extirpated type 1000000ty-- "the Greens, ~ and other potential introduction sites. To protect the VP population, interagency cooperation is needed to manage Glen Canyon Dam operating flows that would lessen impact on VP habitat. 5) Physically modifying marginal or less-desirable natural habitats to be comparable to the VP and 3L sites. Site enhancements would include any of the following: constructing water retainment basins or channels, installing physical barriers to lessen the impact of flash floods and rockfall, increasing primary vegelation area, or adding primary vegetation to existing secondary vegetation. Ideal sites for physical modification would be: Upper Elves Chasm; Nankoweap "Canyon Grape Spring" and "Twin Springs", Kanab Creek Seep, and Pipe Spring National Monwnent. Each of these sites has several acceptable KAS habitat characteristics and receive moderate natural disturbances, but low recreation use. ;~ ,; ., ,~ ~ ., Ii '. ,- 6) Creating habitats by extensive modification of natural areas that did not have suitable habitat originally. This option would require creating spring/seep habitat by providing a diverted or piped ~ lIOU1'CC, eslablishing riparian vegetation where none existed before, and other features detailed in option 5. The introduction of KASs into 'new, created habitats would circumvent any potential adverse impact to existing mollusk: populations, but requires the most effort in creating and maintaining a stable, usable habitat. " KAS recovery will not benefit from a "no action~ option or from continuance of current management strategies. Introducing new KAS populations to comparable habitats requires additional work specifically addIessing site environmental assessments, National &wironmental Policy Act compliance, state and fi:dellIl permits, AGFD's l2-step reintroduction process (AGFD 1987), agency funding and logi~cal support, and long-term monitoring. The Department of the Interior CUPCA and AGFD have entered into an agreement to establish a long-term refugium population of KAS at TPZ in Phoenix, Arizona. In addition, these cooperators are working on the establishment of wild populations of KASs in Grand Canyon region using the AGFD l2-step process to follow legal compliance and solicit agency, public, and peer review. Concurrent research at NAU is studying the methods and viability of transIocating KASs and habitat to other sites, and captive propagation ofKASs for future recovery efforts (L. Stevens, pers. comm.). General agreement of the KAWG states that zoo refugium and the Nelson/Stevens test population at Glen Canyon Dam will be equivalent to 1O(j) status populations, and will not count in recovery efforts toward downlisting. Natural habitats must be used for long-term species recovery. J::" ~:: ~~ ::;" L-," 1: ~ .> . ", ~~.~ ~ ~.. l;~ .;.