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Beavers Are Partners in Riparian Restoration on the Zuni Indian Reservation

for rare birds. I n the semi-arid high desert of the Colorado Plateau, the Zuni Indians of New Mexico have long known the value of healthy riparian areas, lakes, wetlands, and springs. Aboriginal Zuni land once occupied more than 20 million acres in northern Arizona and New Mexico (Ferguson and Hart, 1985), and tribal members still travel widely over this area to collect plants and animals, many of which are found only at certain wetlands or springs. On the present-day Zuni Reservation (which covers nearly 600,000 acres in east-central Arizona and west-central New Mexico) all of the springs and seeps are known and named, many of them are held sacred, and some of the most important plants and animals in Zuni culture and religion are riparian obligate species. From a biological viewpoint these areas offer some of the best biodiversity in the region because a far greater proportion of wildlife uses the riparian corridor than the surrounding landscape. In one study we conducted in the Upper Rio Nutria Watershed, a sub-watershed of the Zuni River, 37 percent of the individual birds occupied the riparian corridor of the Rio Nutria, an area which encompasses only about 2 percent of the land area surveyed. The diversity of bird species in the riparian corridor was also far greater than in the surrounding uplands. The Zuni Fish and Wildlife Department has begun a comprehensive program of wetland and riparian restoration. We are removing non-native plants, fencing wetlands while providing alternative water sources for cattle, and replanting native vegetation along streams and wetlands. An important and innovative component of this program is the use of beavers to restore riparian habitat.