Aldos Silver City • Entered by Marcia Stout on May 2, 2022
Riparian – Grazing Monitoring
April 1, 2022 – April 30, 2022
Participants and Hours
| Pre Planning hours | 12 |
| Post Admin hours | 1 |
| Activity Hours | 28.25 |
| Participants | 5 |
| Total Hours | 154.25 |
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 (5 surveys)
Outcome 2: Hiked (25 miles)
Short Description of Activity
During April our monitoring team conducted two trips: One along the San Francisco River going downstream from Head of the Ditch campground not far from the NM / AZ border, including inspecting several small exclosures up above the river that the Quemado District Ranger recommended we check. Later in the month we embarked on a wonderful 3 day monitoring / camping trip to the upper end of the East Fork of the Gila River near Trails End in the Wilderness District. There we conducted 3 monitoring hikes along the East Fork and Diamond Creek. We also met with GNF Hydrologist and acting grazing project manager ahead of time to plan this trip.
Reflection/Evaluation
More time was spent this month in planning for our overnight monitoring trip. We have been wanting to monitor the East Fork of the Gila River near Trails End since our scouting trip with the District Ranger last year and were finally able to accomplish it. It was a good 3- day trip in a lovely area we had not hiked or monitored previously. No fresh cattle sign was observed in these exclusion or non-grazing areas, which was good. We did observe a healthy looking spring-fed marsh, river meanders, and an impressive beaver dam. In addition during one of our meetings with GNF staff we briefly addressed communications with ranger districts, and found out there is new staff in several districts who may be good regarding communications / (monitoring results) with us. The grazing project manager also alerted us to a potential monitoring area along the main stem of the Gila River to look for sign of “feral” cattle.
Photos/Uploads
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Photo Captions
1: Monitoring East Fork of the Gila River headed downstream from Trails End in the Wilderness District.
2. Monitoring on the edge of a marsh on the East Fork of the Gila River, going downstream from the D Bar area toward Trails End.
3. Part of our team enjoying the landscape, East Fork of the Gila River downstream from Trails End.