A Declining Beaver Population in Acadia National Park: Should the NPS be Concerned?
O'Connell AF and Connery B. 1998. A Declining Beaver Population in Acadia National Park: Should the NPS be Concerned?. Pages 48. In On the Frontiers of Conservation: Discovery, reappraisal & innovation, the 10th Conference on Research and Resource Management in Parks and on Public Lands. Asheville, NC. 1998
1-paragraph summary of a paper given at the conference, quoted here in its entirety: 'Beaver were extirpated from Mount Desert Island, Mane (and Acadia National Park) in the late 1800's and subsequently reintroduced by the NPS using animals from the mid-Atlantic states. From a high of 350+ individuals in the late 1970's, the population has declined to about 100 individuals in the mid-1990's. Beaver densities and the number of active lodges and dams remain highest where vegetative succession was altered by a large fire in 1947. Beaver remain in some areas despite changes in vegetative composition; recent surveys indicate that 75% of preferred food species no longer occur in sites surveyed over 20 years ago. The number of beaver that can be adequately supported in this insular environment is unknown. Management issues include: integrity and viability of the beaver population and associated resources (i.e., wetlands) and determination and evaluation of the social, cultural, and biological carrying capacities as they relate to this population.'
- Type
- Conference Proceeding Paper
- Authors
- O'Connell, Allan; Connery, Bruce
- Units
- ACAD
- Keywords
- Acadia National Park, Animal Studies, ME, Population Decline