Activity Report Explorer

Aldos Silver City • Entered by Marcia Stout on September 6, 2023

Riparian – Grazing Monitoring

August 1, 2023 – August 31, 2023

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 (7 surveys)
Outcome 2: Hiked (26.5 miles)

Short Description of Activity

On Aug. 2nd (camping trip), two of us monitored the little exclosure along the Tularosa River just past Aragon, NM. No recent cattle sign observed. On Aug. 3rd we monitored a new (to us) stretch of the Tularosa River, just downstream of the rock art section, a particularly beautiful section upstream from where we camped. Did not observe recent cattle sign. On that trip we also scouted access to areas in the Reserve District along which we hope to monitor. On Aug. 16th we monitored along the San Francisco River starting just outside of Glenwood, then upstream. (This is the section where access to the river was recently acquired/ provided by NM Game & Fish). We observed recent horse “sign” / pasturing and reported that on our livestock survey. On Aug. 25 three members of our team monitored the Gila River Birding Area. This time we didn’t observe recent cattle sign. On August 29, we scouted out a potential access route to the San Francisco River from just south of Luna – and the access was good. This is a high priority monitoring place that GNF staff has been hoping we could also help monitor. We observed and reported some recent cattle sign. Then we drove to Head of the Ditch campground and monitored the San Francisco upstream and did not observe recent cattle sign. On Aug. 30th 3 of us scouted the route to the San Francisco River Box and monitored (via vehicle) on the return route since the dirt road is close to the river in one section.

Reflection/Evaluation

A good month of “firsts” for monitoring locations, along with scouting future priority areas. Information and questions were shared with several District Rangers and relatively good communication with staff continues. We monitored several areas that were new to us, which was particularly fun and rewarding. It is notable that we did not observe recent cattle sign in the Gila River Birding Area this month, which is a problem area. We feel that our monitoring has helped in this area, although it took too long for the cattle to be removed and we will continue frequent monitoring of this area. We successfully figured out access to a particularly important monitoring area near Luna, NM which will be a good area for ongoing monitoring. Lastly, we were able to monitor fairly frequently because, while the weather had finally cooled, water levels in many areas were not as high as usual during the monsoons. So we went further afield – way out there- with several camping trips too.

Photos/Uploads

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Photo Captions

1. Monitoring on the Tularosa River downstream from the rock art, for the first time.
2. Appreciating the sycamores while taking a break from monitoring along a stretch of the San Francisco River, with a new access route near Glenwood.
3. Monitoring a particularly priority section of the Tularosa River exclosure near Luna, NM, following scouting an access route.
4. Monitoring along the San Francisco River not far from Glenwood.