Balancing Endangered Species and Ecosystems: A Case Study of Adaptive Management in Grand Canyon

Adaptive ecosystem management seeks to sustain ecosystems while extracting or using natural re- sources. The goal of endangered species management un- der the Endangered Species Act is limited to the protection and recovery of designated species, and the act takes pre- cedence over other policies and regulations guiding ecosys- tem management. We present an example of conflict be- tween endangered species and ecosystem management during the first planned flood on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon in 1996. We discuss the resolution of the conflict and the circumstances that allowed a solution to be reached. We recommend that adaptive management be implemented extensively and early in ecosystem management so that in- formation and working relationships will be available to ad- dress conflicts as they arise. Though adaptive management is not a panacea, it offers the best opportunity for balanced solutions to competing management goals. Ecosystem management is a process of balancing physical, biological, and sociological aspects of man- aged landscapes (Grumbine 1994). In contrast, endan- gered species management under the Endangered Species Act is a narrowly focused discipline in which most other management needs are intentionally subor- dinated to the needs of endangered species by the language of the act. The presence of endangered species can therefore limit options for ecosystem manag- ers, and conflicts may arise between the safest course of action for endangered species and the preferred course of action for the ecosystem in which endangered species are found. We present a case study of successful integra- tion of ecosystem and endangered species manage- ment—protection of the endangered Kanab ambersnail (Oxyloma haydeni kanabensis) and its habitat during the first controlled flood of the Grand Canyon using Glen Canyon Dam (Wegner 1996). Grand Canyon ecosys- tems were significantly affected by construction of Glen Canyon Dam; this adaptive management experiment was used to study the effectiveness of using high-volume controlled releases from the dam to simulate effects of natural flooding on the downstream ecosystem. We discuss the adaptive management environment in which this integration occurred, as well as other factors that contributed to the speed and success of the outcome.