RE-EVALUATING TRANSLOCATION OBJECTIVES: ESTABLISHING GROUSE CULTURAL AFFINITY TO THE RESTORATION SITE TO ACHIEVE SELF-SUSTAINING POPULATION GROWTH

Steven R Mathews; U.S. Geological Survey; Idaho State University; smathews@usgs.gov; Peter, S, Coates, Shawn, P, Espinosa, David, J, Delehanty

Columbian sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus columbianus, CSTG) is a native prairie grouse of the western United States that is now extirpated in California and Nevada. During restoration efforts, CSTG are typically translocated and released into areas where they lack information about lek and nest sites, which could adversely impact restoration success. We carried out a five-year reintroduction by translocating CSTG from Idaho to Nevada and evaluated translocation methods aimed at promoting cultural and behavioral identity. Our objective was to maximize reproduction with the goal of producing immediate offspring at the release site. We present results of a novel approach using an integrated population model that accounts for demographic differences among cohorts (i.e., newly translocated versus offspring at the release site). We present population projections of CSTG using: (1) estimated parameters from translocated CSTG, (2) parameters from their offspring, and (3) lek count survey data. Importantly, we demonstrate predictable differences in demographic parameters between translocated GSTG and their offspring, which did not undergo the stressors of translocation and have presumably experienced no loss of cultural information from the source population. Thus, we found that estimates of population persistence could be drastically misleading without considering differences among cohorts.

Endangered Species Recovery