Activity Report Explorer

Aldos Silver City • Entered by Marcia Stout on March 14, 2021

Grazing Monitoring

February 1, 2021 – February 28, 2021

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: Other (2 surveys)

Short Description of Activity

On February 2, the team monitored a section of Whitewater Creek that is considered a priority area for the Forest Service. No recent cattle sign was observed. On February 16, team member Denise Smith met with Carolyn Koury, USFS hydrologist, about areas that need monitoring that are not “priority areas,” since most of these are in very wet riparian areas (cold in winter!). When the weather warms up, we plan to return to the priority areas. Based upon these recommendations, we made two additional field trips in February. One was to Casey Spring, on Royal John Mine road. We had to turn around before reaching the spring because of mud and snow. The second was to Goat Canyon in the Burro Mountains. We did not see recent cattle sign there, BUT did find it in the adjacent Saddle Rock Canyon, which is also behind the exclosure fence. We took pictures of this area and reported it to the Forest Service. Team members also did preparatory activities such as photographing maps, and post- field trip activities such as sending photos of monitored areas for reports to the FS, and reporting to the team on FS meetings.

Reflection/Evaluation

We have now added additional areas to our original “priority areas” for monitoring, and are planning for integration with USFS interns in the riparian areas when the area warms up.

Photos/Uploads

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Photo Captions

1 – Monitoring along Whitewater Creek (Feb. 2021)
2 – Monitoring Goat Canyon – vehicle tracks in non-motorized area. (Feb. 2021)