Aldos Silver City • Entered by Marcia Stout on September 15, 2021
Riparian – Grazing Monitoring
August 1, 2021 – August 31, 2021
Participants and Hours
| Pre Planning hours | 3 |
| Post Admin hours | 3 |
| Activity Hours | 14.5 |
| Participants | 4 |
| Total Hours | 64 |
Key Issue: Livestock Grazing Management
Activity Type: Stewardship (monitoring, sampling, planting, etc.)
Key Partners: Gila National Forest
Landscape/area: Gila National Forest (2658321 acres)
Measurable Outcomes
Outcome 1: Trail/land monitored (1 surveys)
Short Description of Activity
GOB grazing monitoring team conducted two monitoring related activities. On August 2, four of the committee members took a long field trip with the Wilderness District Ranger following North Star Road into the wilderness. Mr. Graves showed us approximately 4 priority riparian areas that he wants us to monitor in the future. (Had to return the same day rather than monitoring the next day, due to flash flooding.) On August 12th, 3 of the group monitored Gomez Peak and found fencing that was damaged and completely down in some areas and obvious signs that cattle were using the gap to enter the Gomez Peak Recreation Area. A survey report was sent to the Forest Service and they responded that they have plans to repair the fence prior to future grazing use. On August 22, 3 of our volunteers were going to camp out near Luna to monitor the San Francisco River and Stone Creek near Luna, NM as a follow up to reporting cattle in those locations in June. We turned back because there were flash flood warnings for the area.
Reflection/Evaluation
Objectives were met. We received a relatively detailed reply from the district ranger based on our report of cattle in the Gomez Peak area. The one day (> 12 hour) field trip into the Wilderness District of the Gila National Forest was quite productive, even though a long day. We obtained good info from the District Ranger that will help us with planning monitoring trips to this part of GNF. This effort also improved our volunteer relationship and communication with key GNF staff.
Photos/Uploads
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Upload 2 |
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Photo Captions
1. Hiking down from Trails End toward upper section of East Fork of the Gila River (Field trip with District Ranger)
2. Picnicking along the upper section of the East Fork – Gila River, while discussing monitoring needs for this area with District Ranger.
3. Orientation during Aug. field trip.