New Mexico - Rio Puerco Mammal Studies - Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (CESU)

Various mammal inventory, survey and monitoring efforts have occurred intermittently within the Rio Puerco Field Office throughout the past. Small mammal inventory was conducted in 1979 to aid in planning efforts for field office habitat management plans (Whiteman 1979). Acoustic and physical surveying for bats at 5 sites was conducted in 1998 (Gannon 1998). Coarse prairie dog surveys were conducted at El Malpais circa 2001 â¿¿ 2007. Prairie dog population identification and delineation has also been done on a case-by-case basis from 2009-2016 as information is obtained through various field work. Big game species surveys have been conducted primarily by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish for game management purposes. However, most data that exist are relatively old and may not accurately represent the current distribution of mammalian populations. There is a great need for current, systematic and consistent study of the mammalian fauna of the Rio Puerco Field Office.