Mad Machinist
Silver Member
pippen,
This is for you. I sincerely hope you don't have an aneurism over this, but everything you've been taught about mining causing the decline and extinction of species in Arizona is dead wrong.
You want someone to blame? Then blame the AZ Game and Fish Department and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Bureau of Reclamation: Lower Colorado Region - Phoenix Area Office
Crayfishes first appeared in Arizona about 30 years ago when they were stocked by the Arizona Game and Fish Department and US Fish and Wildlife Service for the purposes of aquatic weed control and as forage for sport fishes (Hyatt 2004). The negative impacts that non-indigenous crayfish can have on stream ecosystems in Arizona has been well documented by a study conducted in the White Mountains by Fernandez and Rosen (1996). Where crayfish were abundant, native leopard frogs were rare or not present, aquatic snails were eliminated, diversity and abundance of aquatic insects was reduced and aquatic vegetation was severely reduced.
Fernandez and Rosen (1996) also described an inverse relationship between the abundance of garter snakes and crayfish in Eagle Creek and the Blue River. Crayfish have even been implicated in the decline of Sonoran mud turtles, likely through predation on hatchlings. They concluded that introduced crayfish presented a significant danger to the ecological stability of Arizona's stream habitats (Fernandez and Rosen 1996).
Here's a link to M.W. Hyatt's 2004 report. http://www.usbr.gov/lc/phoenix/biology/azfish/pdf/CrayfishFinal.pdf
And here's some more for you.
Bureau of Reclamation: Lower Colorado Region - Phoenix Area Office
Flathead catfish were introduced into Arizona sometime prior to 1950 into the Gila River system, perhaps into San Carlos Reservoir, but possibly into the upper part of the drainage, in New Mexico, since they are now known from that area. The Colorado River populations in California and Arizona resulted, at least in part, from a stocking of about 600 flathead catfish above Imperial Dam made by the Arizona Game and Fish Department in 1962 (Fuller 2006). Considering Game and Fish stocked them in one area, we can reasonably presume they stocked tem elsewhere.
And about the decline of the desert tortoise: I'll have to find the report again, but depredation by coyotes is cited as the leading cause of tortoise mortality, especially among females since they are smaller.
This is for you. I sincerely hope you don't have an aneurism over this, but everything you've been taught about mining causing the decline and extinction of species in Arizona is dead wrong.
You want someone to blame? Then blame the AZ Game and Fish Department and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Bureau of Reclamation: Lower Colorado Region - Phoenix Area Office
Crayfishes first appeared in Arizona about 30 years ago when they were stocked by the Arizona Game and Fish Department and US Fish and Wildlife Service for the purposes of aquatic weed control and as forage for sport fishes (Hyatt 2004). The negative impacts that non-indigenous crayfish can have on stream ecosystems in Arizona has been well documented by a study conducted in the White Mountains by Fernandez and Rosen (1996). Where crayfish were abundant, native leopard frogs were rare or not present, aquatic snails were eliminated, diversity and abundance of aquatic insects was reduced and aquatic vegetation was severely reduced.
Fernandez and Rosen (1996) also described an inverse relationship between the abundance of garter snakes and crayfish in Eagle Creek and the Blue River. Crayfish have even been implicated in the decline of Sonoran mud turtles, likely through predation on hatchlings. They concluded that introduced crayfish presented a significant danger to the ecological stability of Arizona's stream habitats (Fernandez and Rosen 1996).
Here's a link to M.W. Hyatt's 2004 report. http://www.usbr.gov/lc/phoenix/biology/azfish/pdf/CrayfishFinal.pdf
And here's some more for you.
Bureau of Reclamation: Lower Colorado Region - Phoenix Area Office
Flathead catfish were introduced into Arizona sometime prior to 1950 into the Gila River system, perhaps into San Carlos Reservoir, but possibly into the upper part of the drainage, in New Mexico, since they are now known from that area. The Colorado River populations in California and Arizona resulted, at least in part, from a stocking of about 600 flathead catfish above Imperial Dam made by the Arizona Game and Fish Department in 1962 (Fuller 2006). Considering Game and Fish stocked them in one area, we can reasonably presume they stocked tem elsewhere.
And about the decline of the desert tortoise: I'll have to find the report again, but depredation by coyotes is cited as the leading cause of tortoise mortality, especially among females since they are smaller.
Well, What else CAN you say?
