Abstract ID: 3.10483 | Accepted as Poster | Talk | TBA | TBA

During the global economic downturn of the 1930’s, the United States government established the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which was a program for unemployed young men. The CCC engaged in work projects related to transportation, structural improvements, and a host of activities intended to improve America’s public lands. Overgrazing in mountains of the American West resulted in increased erosion and fatal debris flows below denuded slopes. In an effort to improve watershed management and reduce devastating flows, the CCC implemented contour terracing and constructed erosion-control terraces in many mountain environments. A reduction in the number of debris flows after construction suggests terracing has been successful, but insufficient research exists on the secondary geomorphic effects these features have on the landscape. Preliminary data suggest that terraces impact burrowing locations of fossorial mammals and dictate game movement, as evidenced by trail locations. Mammal burrows and game trails have both been identified as geomorphic features that influence vegetation dynamics and other ecosystem properties. Additional knowledge of the relationship between anthropogeomorphology and zoogeomorphology is necessary to understand ecosystem functioning of dynamic mountain landscapes.