Inventory of Reptiles in Dinosaur National Monument

Hanifin, Charles; Pedersen, Kristopher

doi:10.36967/2317045

Reptile fauna in Eastern Utah has been historically understudied, yet it represents important components of desert ecosystems. The Northern Colorado Plateau Network (NCPN) developed an inventory needs list in 2007 identifying amphibians and reptiles as high priority; this need was reaffirmed as a high priority in 2017 as a component of Inventories 2.0 scoping. Because these parks are managed for multiple use (e.g., grazing as well as human visitation and recreation), lack of good data associated with herpetofauna could place local populations at risk. Key pieces of information such as species presence and distribution data are required for risk management decisions and to enhance management of these taxa. Dinosaur National Monument (DINO) was not included in earlier herpetofauna inventory efforts by the NCPN but was specifically identified as a priority for further reptile inventory assessment (Platenberg and Graham 2003). Absence of good herpetofauna species presence and distribution data were also specifically identified as potential data gaps that might hinder progress of future grazing allotment management planning in the 2016 DINO Grazing pre-NEPA analysis and lack of data have been identified as key needs at other localities. Work reported here was supported by the Inventory & Monitoring group and provides these critical data for DINO. We used a combination of standardized herpetological inventory tools as well as quasi randomized habitat-based sampling to assess reptile presence in a set of five active grazing allotments at DINO. As recommended in previous herpetofauna inventories we used the presence of water features and other unique habitat elements to maximize the effectiveness of surveys. We identified the presence of nine reptile species in target sites during a single field season in 2024. Species presence data from our study suggest that even common species of reptiles have a somewhat patchy distribution in upper elevation sites at DINO.

Inventory of Reptiles in Dinosaur National Monument

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