On a scorching June day, we set off to see what the beavers have been up to in recently exposed side canyons of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The purpose of our trip was to scout out sites for a master’s thesis project, and we needed to know what the ponds look like and what lives there to effectively design a sampling protocol for next summer.
Collecting bug samples in the heat. Photos by Jack Stauss.
The canyons are magical and seeing the work of beavers is always inspiring. We’re used to seeing beaver ponds in the headwaters of the Colorado River, which differ significantly from the Glen Canyon ponds. Central Colorado beaver ponds are wide, inundation spilling around meadows and riparian areas. Conversely, Glen Canyon beaver ponds snake along the canyon walls, providing a uniquely deep and sinuous physicality that we are unused to seeing—but makes total sense for the geology! We had to reset our previous beaver pond biases to consider how we will sample these ponds when the edges may be difficult to access and the dam structures potentially prone to damaging flash floods.
Above, students look at invertebrate samples from a beaver pond in the Taylor River drainage of Colorado. Below, we explore beaver ponds in Glen Canyon’s Smith Fork Canyon. Photos by Susan Washko.
We also wanted to become more familiar with the aquatic insects of these beaver ponds, so we took samples from a few ponds in two different canyons. Interestingly, while out in the field, we noticed differences between the two canyons. Davis Gulch had a lot of nonnative fish, such as red shiner and catfish. In Davis, we saw very few invertebrates, and only small-bodied ones like water mites and midge (tiny fly) larvae. In Smith Canyon, however, we did not see invasive fish in the stream, although they could be there in lower densities. Where there weren’t obvious nonnative fish, we saw toad tadpoles growing in the creek and a higher diversity of invertebrates, such as mayfly larvae, soldier fly larvae, and damselfly larvae in addition to the small-bodied invertebrates from before.
Beaver lodge in Davis Gulch. Photo by Jack Stauss.
We’re excited to explore these canyons further to try and better understand how these creek and beaver pond ecosystems develop in the former lake bed. Our scouting trip ended with more questions than answers, but was extremely necessary in a successful planning stage. We will spend the next school year processing preliminary samples and talking to local experts to help determine what sites we will use and which research questions we will pursue.
Beaver dam in Smith Fork Canyon. Photo by Anna Penner.
