Desert Tortoise

I was working out in the Mojave Desert this last tour in an area near Lake Mead called Callway Wash. Our project partner was the National Recreation Area (NRA) and our project was to repair damaged desert tortoise fence.


In 1990, the desert tortoise was placed on the threaten species list and from then on out has been protected under the Endangered Species Act, which came into place in 1973. They are found throughout the Mojave Desert and can reach up to about 16 inches long and live to be around 80-100 years old! They spend most of their time underground in the burrows to keep cool so it's rare to spot any. We had to go through a training and get "certified" to work in the desert tortoise habitat. They told us, if we came across one in immediate danger (i.e. crossing the road) to pick it up with one hand under it's butt and the other on it's shell. Apparently this handling maneuver keeps them from urinating, which could dehydrate them and if they cannot find water in time, may kill them. They can hold water for up to a year! Obviously, I was hoping I'd see one but I didn't. In fact, our project partner has been working there for 3 years and just recently saw his FIRST one.

During the construction of any roads in the NRA, the Fish and Wildlife Service added in the required building of a 2 ft wire fence to run along the edges. This fence is to prevent the desert tortoise from crossing the roads and getting hit by the traffic. The fence funnels the tortoises into the culverts that run underneath the road, allowing them almost the same free range. A few weeks ago the Las Vegas/Lake Mead area had some severe storms which created flash flooding. There was 10-15 foot wall of water than ran through this Callway Wash and it damaged numerous sections of this fence.


The work was split up between us having to dig the fence out and to actually having to replace and repair fence that was damaged too severely. Above is an example of a section of fencing that was just buried on one side and needed to be dug out. See below.


It was a fun tour and I really liked the work because, well, I actually had to use my brain. :) I liked constructing the fences and, of course, I loved shoveling! It's a good workout! I had heard some complaints from other crew members, but overall, I was satisfied with it. :)

We camped in a campground, which was pretty bad. It was an RV haven. I think we were the only tenters. It wasn't one of our best camping sites but we did have bathrooms which was nice, I'll admit that.

On a side note, I don't know if I mentioned this, but I am officially the only female on the crew. The other girl that was with me, decided she needed to leave the program. So then there was one. It's me and 8 other males. G'luck to me! This has become my get-away; No Boys Allowed! :-P

Address

For those of you that may want this, my new address until at least March is:


2700 Sierra Madre Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89102

Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge

I just returned from my first tour based out of Las Vegas. It was a 4-day tour which went by really fast since I have only been on 8-day tours so far. We were working in this 23,000 acre desert oasis in the Mojave Desert called Ash Meadows. First I'll tell you a little bit about the refuge and then I'll tell you about the work we did there.

Ash Meadows NWR was founded in 1984 so it is relatively new and it is mostly comprised of desert uplands and spring-fed wetlands. The really awesome thing about this place (besides the fact that there are wetlands in the middle of the Mojave Desert) is that it has the highest concentration of endemic species in the United States! It is home to at least 26 different endemic species! (Endemic meaning found here and no where else in the world). One of the coolest species, I think, is the endangered Devil's Hole pupfish, which I'll get more into in a bit.

Another aspect of this NWR that is amazing is the numerous hot springs that are scattered throughout the refuge. These springs are fed with fossil water which takes thousands of years to move through the compact ground. It is often forced to the surface which created the springs and seeps. The springs all average about 88-90 degrees in temperature and are crystal clear! The annual water flow usually holds steady around 10,000 gallons per minute! Here is a picture of the Fairbanks Spring (low quality is because this was taken on my phone):

This is an underwater picture I was able to take from the Kings Pool at Point of Rocks Springs. I asked permission from our project partner as to not disturb this delicate environment:


As I mentioned before, one of the most amazing endemic species they have is the Devil's Hole Pupfish. The entire species' population lives in this water filled cavern which is under crazy surveillance and protection:

You can see the little white dots at the bottom which are security cameras. This pupfish has been isolated here for 10,000-20,000 years. This cavern goes down about 55o feet, however, the pupfish feed and spawn on a small rock shelf near the surface. Because of intense construction and farming on Ash Meadows in the 70's the water levels of this cavern began to severely drop. This eventually lead the Supreme Court to designate 21,000 surrounding acres as essential habitat.
Bumper stickers were even created saying: "Save the Pupfish!" I kind of want one. :)

Now to the actual work we did on the refuge. In the 1960's, before the NWR was established, this land was farmed for peat. The Carson Slough was where rainwater and the "fossil water" was all collected. Different streams and waterways lead to here. This was drained and these waterways were redirected or blocked off in order to create the ideal farming conditions. The restoration that is now underway, is to bring these waterways back to their natural and historical directions and location.
As you can see, the banks of the waterway are pretty bare. Our job this tour was to replant some native grasses and trees. We planted a special type of Ash Tree, Salt Grass, Baltic Grass, Scratch Grass, Alkali Sacatone and Sedge Grass. It was fun learning each grass and eventually being able to recognize which was which. The Salt Grass and the Alkali Sacatone like the drier soil so we tended to plant them in the second row from the water, whereas the others thrived in the wet saturated soils.

We had some crazy storms while we were out there so the soil became really sticky and tricky to plant in but we managed. We even reached the point where the clay-like soil collected on our boots giving us about a 2-3 inch lift. It was a good workout though, adding a few pounds to our feet while we walked! :)


From left to right, Raul, Chris, Phil and Chris hard at work planting the native grasses.

It was an awesome tour and I had so much fun. It was a nice change up from sawing and am excited to see what other projects we'll be working on this "winter." ;)

Viva Las Vegas!

My previous tour was back to Pony Springs, which is about 2 hours or so from Ely, NV. This time we ran into some unexpected weather. We had rain, hail, wind, thunder and lightening for the first 3 or 4 days of tour. It was an experience, camping in the rain, that's for sure. Here is some of the hail around camp:

One bonus, however, to this crazy weather was the cool sights it created:



Despite the weather set backs, we were able to complete the project which felt great! We got to have Sunday to ourselves. I slept in until 6:30AM and didn't get out of my tent until 7:30AM!! Woohoo! I went on a short hike, read my book in the sun and even took a nap in my tent! It was a great way to end the tour. This was our last saw tour until the spring which was sad. I really grew to like it. It will be nice to vary it up a bit now, however.

Yesterday, I did the BORING 8-hour drive from Reno to my new home of Las Vegas. I'll be living here for the next 6-months. It'll be interesting to see how I take to this city. I have a nice 4-bedroom house though and am living with 4 other people. We even have a pomegranate tree in our back yard! :) I'll try to get some pictures posted of it soon.

As I mentioned before, I am done with saw tours for the winter. Down here I believe most of our tours will be trail building/maintenance, exotic species removal (which is a fancy name for pulling weeds) and working on Lake Mead. My tours will also be switching back and forth from 8-days and 4-days. So I think the variety of this winter will be fun and keep things interesting.

Tahoe Rim Trail

So my long time friend, Tommy and I decided we wanted to do some hiking this week. We were originally going to head down to Yosemite but our schedule's didn't coincide enough to allow us enough time to really explore. So instead, we decided to do a portion of the Tahoe Rim Trail. The TRT is a managed trail that goes all the way around Lake Tahoe. It is 165-miles in total and once you've completed it, you're in the 165-mile Club (and perhaps one day I will). We only had a day to hike so we focused on the Mt. Rose summit to Brockway, which is a 20-mile portion of the north east side of the lake. This segment also passes through Relay Peak, the highest point on the entire TRT, which rises up to an elevation of 10,338 ft.

The final ascent to the top of Relay Peak definitely made me realize how NOT in shape I am. :) It was a steep incline, in a short amount of distance rising about 1000 ft in elevation. I could also really notice the thinning of the air the higher we got. It was well worth it with 360 degree views like that (above) from the top. We took a short break, did some stretching and took in the views before we headed on our way. From this point we still had about 15 more miles of trail to cover.

Once we headed down the other side of the peak we came across absolutely stunning views of Lake Tahoe. I'd say this was my favorite part of the hike, for sure. They were just breath-taking. As everyone says, the pictures don't do it justice but here is an idea of what we saw:

After another hour or two we stopped for lunch. Tommy had made us some Spanish Tortilla! It was so delicious and full of the calories we needed to get down the mountain. It hit the spot and I cannot wait to have it again (or attempt making it myself). That gave us a wonderful boost of energy as we headed back down into the forest.

Once we got below the tree level again, we came across meadows and meadows of Mule's Ear. Of course, since it's early fall, they were not in bloom, however, their leaves were dried up and the sound of the wind blowing through them was pretty cool none the less.

The rest of the hike was smooth, stopping for water and snacks every now and then. We made it to Brockway a little after 5:00pm. We started hiking at 7:30am, so it took us about a good 10 hours or so. We planned the day perfectly and it was just an awesome, awesome hike. I'd recommend that route to anyone, anyday.


The following day, however, my body hated me and I ended up soaking in the hot tub for a good portion of it. :)