If you build it will they come? Artificial midden creation and settlement by Mt. Graham red squirrels

Despite more than fifteen years of legal protection, the Mt Graham Red Squirrel, a subspecies of red squirrel in North America, is critically endangered at approximately 100 individuals and continues to face a myriad of challenges, including wildfire, insect infestations, and invasive species. The species is found only in the highest elevations of a single mountaintop, and available habitat is rapidly dwindling as climate change causes ecotones to shift higher and wildfires increase in frequency, intensity, and size. Managers are now considering translocating Mt. Graham red squirrels to available habitat they cannot get to themselves, but whether red squirrels can be translocated successfully is an open debate. We are working with red squirrels in the White Mountains, a non-endangered population, to develop a successful translocation strategy.