Lake Mead National Recreation Area Monitoring and Evaluation of Sensitive Wildlife: Final Project Report

This task agreement was originally awarded by the National Park Service (NPS), Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LMNRA) to the Public Lands Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on September 30, 2006, and was amended to run through March 31, 2011. This agreement covered several project elements focused on: Monitoring and conservation actions for the relict leopard frog Coordinating and conducting annual bald eagle counts on Lakes Mead and Mohave Development and assessment of a habitat map for wintering bald eagles based on observations data collected during winter counts Monitoring of breeding peregrine falcons and assessment of reproductive success Development of a predictive habitat model for high-grading potential peregrine falcon breeding areas to be used with a call-broadcast protocol to rapidly assess territory occupancy Inventory of nesting activity for nine rare/cryptic songbird species at targeted habitats Historical assessment of habitat degradation and loss associated with nine rare/cryptic songbird species Development of predictive habitat models for nine rare/cryptic songbird species Inventory and monitoring of aquatic birds on Lakes Mead and Mohave Monitoring actions for desert tortoise Technical assistance for a project monitoring the impact of highway construction on desert bighorn sheep Many of these project elements were associated with the implementation of projects funded by the Clark County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan (MSHCP), and consisted of numerous milestone and deliverables that required reporting by NPS to Clark County. These milestones and deliverables were all successfully met, as were the other deliverables associated with this task agreement. Project elements associated with MSHCP funding to monitor desert tortoise populations were discarded from this task agreement when that project was declined by LMNRA; associated actions were modified as requested by the NPS Agreement Technical Representative