Aldos Silver City • Entered by Marcia Stout on April 14, 2025
Riparian – Grazing Monitoring
March 4, 2025 – March 31, 2025
Participants and Hours
| Pre Planning hours | 5.5 |
| Post Admin hours | 5 |
| Activity Hours | 14 |
| Participants | 5 |
| Total Hours | 80.5 |
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 (5 surveys)
Outcome 2: Hiked (21 miles)
Short Description of Activity
After receiving training on a new survey 123 app in Feb., we conducted trial surveys to test it out. At the end of the month, we went on an overnight trip to the Reserve Ranger District, where we monitored three locations (and took a well-deserved recreational hike the second day). March 4: Two team members monitored the San Francisco River along the Hot Springs trail. There was no recent cow sign and the area was in much better shape than it has been in past years. March 5: Two members practiced our surveys in the Gomez Peak area on a recreational hike, but did not turn in a survey. March 7: Two members monitored in the Cameron Creek area. There was quite a bit of sign along the creek all the way to the Big Tree Trail. We did not see where the cows got in, but previous experience leads us to believe it came from the Crumbley Ranch. March 30 – Four team members monitored 3 exclosures in the Reserve District: We monitored along the Tularosa River 2 exclosure near Deep Canyon allotment. Downstream, we saw one black angus cow. There was a lot of trampling of the stream banks and cow sign, but the sign did not look recent. We saw a lot of elk sign everywhere. 2. We then took FR 4033P and monitored along the Tularosa River downstream then upstream, and saw a lot of trampling and fresh cow sign all the way. We saw 4 cows downstream and then 17 cows in water gap. Outside of the water gap in the exclosure on both sides there was lots of trampling and fresh dung. We went around the exclosure and upstream to where the canyon narrows seeing lots of fresh sign and trampling. The survey showed where we thought the cows accessed the exclosure. Lastly, we monitored the San Francisco River, adjacent to the Frisco Plaza allotment. We saw sign and trampling right away. We saw a total of 6 cows.
Reflection/Evaluation
Except along the Hot Springs Trail on the San Francisco River, cattle trespass into riparian areas where we monitored is as bad as we’ve ever seen it. The FS in the Reserve and Silver City Ranger Districts has told us that they are working on/ have taken care of the issues. We wonder what is contributing to more cattle incursion into protected riparian exclosures this spring. One factor could be the extreme drought this winter, and of course there could be other factors as well.
Photos/Uploads
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Photo Captions
1. Monitoring the San Francisco River via Hot Springs trail on March 4, 2025.
2. Monitoring Tularosa River (2 exclosure) on March 30, 2025
3. Monitoring another section of the Tularosa River exclosure, upstream, March 30, 2025.
4. Lunch break during monitoring along Tularosa River (small exclosure 2), March 30, 2025.