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 ForestNorth America’s Forests: Page 5 Predators of the Southeastern forests declined or disappeared after European settlement as a result of overhunting and persecution, leaving an imbalance in which White-tailed Deer proliferated without Grey Wolves or Mountain Lions to limit their numbers. Both the latter predators remain absent in the eastern United States, although there are unsubstantiated sightings of Mountain Lions in Maine and elsewhere. A few Grey Wolves have entered northern Maine in recent years, and some conservation organizations have proposed reintroductions of the species into Adirondack Park in New York state or in northern New England. Red Wolves (Canis rufus) were totally eliminated by predator control programs and hybridization with the Coyote, reaching extinction in the wild by 1973 when the last wild members of the species were taken into captivity. This uniquely American species, which until recently was considered to have been native to only the southeastern United States, is now thought to have been distributed throughout eastern North America, based on DNA testing showing close relationships between the Red Wolf and wolves of eastern Canada, which have managed to persist to the present. The species was larger in northern states and preyed on deer and elk. Red Wolves survive today as a result of the 14 animals that formed the nucleus of the Fish and Wildlife Service's breeding colony. By 1993, more than 233 animals resided in 31 breeding facilities. Several successful releases have taken place in North Carolina and other eastern states, and about 100 Red Wolves survive from these releases.
West of the Mississippi River, pine forests in the mountainous regions of the Southwest were also heavily logged. A resident of these forests, the southern Mexican Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis lucida), a race of the Spotted Owl, whose northern race inhabits old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest, has become very rare. This owl, like its northern relative, requires undisturbed forests. The dominant tree of the southwestern forests is the Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa), which towers 180 feet tall and can live 500 years (Jonas 1993). Originally, these trees covered hundreds of thousands of acres in northern Arizona, New Mexico, and neighboring states; old-growth pine forests also stretched south into northern Mexico. Beautifully adapted to the dry, mountainous habitat, Ponderosa Pines often grow in large, pure stands. These forests have very little old growth left today, and Mexican Spotted Owls have disappeared from national forests in Arizona and New Mexico after the oldest trees were logged (Johnson 1995).
Many unusual and endemic species live in pine and juniper forests of the Kaibab Plateau on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. The Kaibab Squirrel (Sciurus aberti kaibabensis) is confined to this plateau. This beautiful squirrel is considered by most authorities to be a subspecies of Abert's or Tassel-eared Squirrel, but some zoologists treat it as a separate species. One of the most dramatic looking of all squirrels, the Kaibab is dark brown, with long tassels on its ears, and a snow-white bushy tail. Its close relative, Abert's Squirrel, is dark, grizzled gray on its back and tail. Feeding mainly on conifer seeds, these squirrels suffer high mortality from hunting, road kills and natural predation by hawks (Whitaker 1980). Their habitat is restricted, and they are considered a rare and endemic animal. Ecologically, these squirrels are important in helping the Ponderosa Pine reproduce. They dig for truffles and absorb their spores, which enter their feces. When their feces are deposited near Ponderosa Pines, they spread the spores to the tree's roots, which grow into a fungus, triggering the tree's reproductive biology. In the spring of 2000, wildfires raged through their habitat, undoubtedly causing the squirrels high mortality.
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