Fence Me In! June 23-26, 2008

Volunteers Mary, Alex, and Liz near Tasha Creek’s newest lodge, built by and for beaver.

This project involved a perfect number (3) of perfect volunteers and two interns, a summer Trust staff person, Utah Forest Project Manager Mary O’Brien, and Fremont River District Ranger Kurt Robins. Together the intrepid crew was successful in building a research fence around willows in Tasha Creek on the Fishlake National Forest. Before we built the fence, we spent a day making three sweaty round trips carrying metal fence posts and braces a mile up a steep trail. (Good thing the interns were cooking great meals!) But the exclosure took only a day and a half to build, which left us time to see the expanding series of beaver dams in this creek’s corridor and to record a day and a half of the browsing transects that the fence is designed to support. It appears there are too many mouths (especially elk and cattle) chomping on the willow, cottonwood, and aspen. These plants hold southern Utah forest streams together, supply beaver with food and dam materials, and support the biodiversity for which riparian areas and aspen groves are famous. This project contributes to Trust efforts to bring relief to these three essential poplar family members.

Thanks Elizabeth Krug, Alex Poole, and Mary Townsend!

Mary Townsend tying fence Alex and Liz tying fence. [No, Liz’s finger isn’t being punctured!]

Budding Botanist Field Trip

Barbershop Canyon sits on the edge of the Mogollon Rim in Northern Arizona. This place is an amazing harbor of biodiversity that could be designated by the Forest Service as a wilderness. The Grand Canyon Trust is part of a partnership to document the botanical diversity in this remarkable area. This field trip was also the first training opportunity for a massive statewide volunteer effort to document plant diversity in Arizona (the Plant Atlas of Arizona Project-PAPAZ). Here is the short film of our small group excursion to Dane Spring. Thanks to everyone that made this weekend very productive with their help!