Crucial to the successful conservation of endangered species is the overlap of their ranges with protected areas. We analyzed protected areas in the continental USA to assess the extent to which they covered the ranges of endangered tetrapods. We show that in 80% of ecoregions, protected areas offer equal (25%) or worse (55%) protection for species than if their locations were chosen at random. Additionally, we demonstrate that it is possible to achieve sufficient protection for 100% of the USA's endangered tetrapods through targeted protection of undeveloped public and private lands. Our results highlight that the USA is likely to fall short of its commitments to halting biodiversity loss unless more considerable investments in both public and private land conservation are made.

Beaver are ecosystem engineers capable of converting free‐flowing lotic habitats into a series of lentic ponds, thereby enhancing the wetland area of a riverscape. Process‐based riverscape restoration using beaver reintroductions and mimicry (beaver dam analogues, BDAs) are increasingly used to restore  functions, the provisioning of services, and improve the resiliency of ecosystems across North America and Europe. Beaver can create breeding habitat for a wide range of species within the highly imperilled class Amphibia by increasing wetland area, increasing emergent vegetation, prolonging wetland hydroperiod, and creating deep ponds. However, it remains unclear whether BDAs are creating suitable breeding habitat for amphibians by adequately emulating crucial ecosystem processes. We investigated the relationships between beaver dam and BDA complexes with amphibian breeding occupancy across four catchments feeding the Great Salt Lake, U.S.A. We surveyed 24 beaver dam complexes and nine BDA complexes during the 2019–2021 breeding seasons with varying levels of water availability. We compared environmental characteristics between beaver and BDA complexes, including elevation, depth, and fish relative abundance among others. We then used occupancy models to evaluate factors affecting breeding occupancy of the most frequently encountered amphibian species, barred tiger salamanders (Ambystoma mavortium). Without accounting for imperfect detection, at natural beaver ponds we recorded barred tiger salamanders in 58% of sites, boreal chorus frogs (Pseduarcris maculata) at 17% of sites, and northern leopard frogs (Lithobates pipens) at 4% of sites. Tiger salamanders were the only amphibian found at BDA sites, occupying 11% of those sites. We found that beaver complexes had 3 times less fish relative abundance, were 250m higher in elevation, 32 years older, and 0.43 m deeper than their BDA counterparts. Meanwhile, emergent vegetation height, water temperature, and hydroperiod demonstrated no significant differences between site types. BDAs modified ecosystem processes in a way that only partially replicated modifications by natural beaver dams. Occupancy models suggested that fish relative abundance, altitude, age, and being at the top of the drainage network were the most important variables for predicting tiger salamander breeding occupancy. Overall occupancy rate of tiger salamanders was 60%, while BDA complexes had a modelled occupancy rate of 14% compared to 78% in natural beaver complexes. Survey year did not appear to be an important factor in tiger salamander occupancy despite varying levels of water availability. Beaver and BDA complexes located near the top of their effective drainage or tributary junctions appeared to support amphibian along with fish species, thus boosting local diversity relative to a stream with only fish species. We therefore suggest future beaver restoration efforts target the top of effective drainages to benift both taxa. Overall, we found that while BDAs have the capacity to p...

Beaver (Castor canadensis) translocation and mimicry is an increasingly popular tool for process-based restoration of degraded streams. Processes influenced by beaver restoration include stream-floodplain connectivity, multi-threaded channel formation, enhanced riparian condition and fire resiliency, and streamflow attenuation. Beaver activity can also be a nuisance in agricultural settings, increase invasive species abundance, and create in-stream barriers to fish. Previous studies indicate that spring-spawning salmonid species can pass beaver dams in higher proportions than fall-spawning species. Thus, restoration or mimicry of beavers in streams containing fall-spawning, threatened Bull Trout (Salvelinus confluentus) is of concern to many biologists. We evaluated Bull Trout passage at beaver dams in two Montana streams: Meadow Creek (East Fork Bitterroot River drainage) in summer 2020 and Morrison Creek (Middle Fork Flathead River drainage) from 1997 to 2011. In Meadow Creek, 16% of PIT-tagged Bull Trout which entered a large beaver dam complex were detected upstream of some dams, but no fish moved through the entire 1 km complex. In Morrison Creek, redds were more likely than random to be located below dams, but two or more redds were found upstream of at least one dam in 6 of 9 years dams were present. These results suggest that beaver dams can affect the movement of Bull Trout, but that passage depends on the characteristics of individual dams and reach geomorphology. Our methods cannot distinguish between inhibition of fish movement and selection of beaver-created habitats by fish. Therefore, we suggest future research on beaver restoration in streams with Bull trout.

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