Aldos Silver City • Entered by Marcia Stout on August 5, 2024
Riparian – Grazing Monitoring
July 1, 2024 – July 31, 2024
Participants and Hours
| Pre Planning hours | |
| Post Admin hours | 2.5 |
| Activity Hours | 11.75 |
| Participants | 4 |
| Total Hours | 49.5 |
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 (3 surveys)
Outcome 2: Hiked (12 miles)
Short Description of Activity
Three members of our broadband team monitored a section of Saliz Canyon as a follow-up to an earlier 2024 trip to that area. This time we were pleased to not observe any cattle or fresh cattle sign. We did observe plenty of bear sign and some elk sign. On July 18 one of our team observed at least 6 cattle while hiking recreationally in an area near Signal Peak in an “iris meadow”. This area would be attractive to cattle given the amount of vegetation and moisture, and the observer had seen cattle evidence (tracks and some trampling) in previous years. An email report with photo was sent to the District Ranger and range staff. On July 26, 3 members of our team monitored along the San Francisco River from the Alma Bridge 1.5 miles downstream. Right before our trip a district staff member told us that they had reports of a bull in that area that had been recently removed, and follow-up monitoring would be good. Starting about ¾ mile downstream we saw very fresh cattle sign and plenty of cattle tracks/ major trails and we reported cattle presence on the survey. We also reported fencing maintenance repairs or replacement needed particularly near our starting point barely north of the bridge and along that eastern corner.
Reflection/Evaluation
We were informed by district staff that the cattle we previously reported in Saliz Canyon were removed by the permittee after being contacted by forest service staff, in response to our report, and it was good to receive that feedback from district staff. Regarding the cattle in the Signal Peak area, the District Ranger informed us that they have been in contact with the permittee to remove the cattle. She also indicated a fence was down and work was being done to remedy this. (It will be good to keep looking for/ reporting cattle when recreationally hiking in the Signal Peak and Meadow Creek area.) Communication with GNF staff continues to go well and we get feedback in response to our questions. We hiked fewer miles this month because we focused on mornings relative to afternoon thunderstorm forecasts during the monsoons.
Photos/Uploads
Upload 1 |
Upload 2 |
Upload 3 |
Photo Captions
1. Monitoring in Saliz Canyon on July 16, 2024 as follow-up to cattle observed earlier in the year.
2. Cattle observed in the Signal Peak area on July 18.
3. Monitoring along the San Francisco River from Alma Bridge on July 26 – fresh cattle sign observed.