Millet Canyon
In a wet year, standing and flowing water covers no more than 1-2% (percentage only a rough estimate). Three valleys (Millet Canyon, Murder Hill Canyon, and Moosebones Canyon) and the headwater area of Chicken Creek immediately downstream of Spring #1 have had, or currently have, small populations of beaver. At present, only Millet Canyon, and the area below Spring #1 have significant beaver activity. Most of the aspen near water in the other beaver activity areas have been felled, and, at most, only one or two beaver live in those areas. The majority of aquatic habitat was created by beaver, but land slumping has created a few additional ephemeral ponds which support aquatic vegetation during part of the year.
Even where there is beaver activity and a perennial source of water, the water supply is insufficient to maintain all the ponds throughout summer even in the wettest years. The majority of slump ponds also dry up by mid-summer or earlier. These ponds support several species of emergent vegetation, such as the common cattail, but they do not support a rich variety of submergent aquatic vegetation. Ephemeral ponds may actually be detrimental to Fossil Butte National Monument’s population of amphibians, including the northern leopard frog, which is a species of management concern, because ponds frequently dry up before the larval amphibians can live out of water. Even when ponds do not dry up completely, low water levels have been observed to concentrate tadpoles, making them easy targets for predatory birds.
