Volunteers are Rockin’ the Colorado Plateau

“The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.”
Marge Piercy

This summer hundreds of GCT volunteers are burning hundreds of thousands of calories to protect and restore the Colorado Plateau. Every single day in the field our volunteers give their time to work long hours doing extremely physical work and make it so much fun! The Volunteer Program staff is constantly fulfilled and uplifted by the spirit volunteers bring to both work and camp life.


Volunteer projects on the Kane and Two Mile ranches ranged from monitoring invasive cheatgrass to building a dozen long term exclosures to study the potential impacts of both bison and cattle on the ecosystems of the Kaibab Plateau. These science-based projects will provide land managers with the tools for management practices in the future. In Utah volunteers are covering lots of ground on the Aquarius Plateau, to assess the upper reaches of the famed Escalante Watershed to assess potential habitat that would support the reintroduction of beavers. Several groups of youth from area reservations and as far away as the East Coast are keeping the legacy of traditional agriculture alive at North Leupp Family Farms on the Navajo Reservation. These young volunteers helped plant over 4 acres of desert-adapted heirloom seeds.


Together we are building a community of smart and committed land stewards dedicated to the future of the Colorado Plateau. This sentiment is best reflected by a comment from a recent volunteer: “My experience with Lauren and Joshua and others on the trip has rekindled my hope that there are too many of us kindred spirits to allow the short-sightedness of man to destroy the world we so love.”

There are many upcoming opportunities with Colorado Plateau springs as a spring steward volunteer. Check out our trip schedule to get in on the action!

A Grand Summer Conservation Experience to Remember:

A hands-on approach to learning while providing services for the greater good of communities.
Lauren Berutich

Somebody pinch me! I must be dreaming. Learning hands-on while actually doing work and getting your hands dirty? Communal living, shared responsibilities, open dialogue about environmental issues and concerns, local food systems, inquisitive students, stand up instructors, all taking place on the beautiful and vast landscapes of the Kaibab Plateau? As I squint back into reality, I realize this is not a dream at all, this is my life as a volunteer coordinator for the Grand Canyon Trust. These bright young minds are indeed right in front of me with large, motorized tools; all displaying smiles, and even bigger hearts as they plow through the fence building process on a sunny July day.

The Dorrance Scholars, as they are referred to throughout our three Arizona state universities, have proven themselves through their rigorous academic achievements, their strong ethic for community involvement, assisted by their down-to-earth, bubbly, and strong-willed personalities. These students are all first-generation college students in their families and seem to be taking this world by storm. They joined us with enthusiasm, curiosity, and a strong motivation to make a difference. The Grand Canyon Trust partnered with Angela Gatto and Dustin Burger from the US Forest Service (USFS) on a fencing project near the North Rim.

There are seventeen natural lakes on the greater North Kaibab landscape negatively impacted by large game and cattle that cause erosion and oxygen depletion in the water. This, in turn, has harmful effects on native plants and wildlife that also try to survive in this unique, riparian ecosystem. The Trust has partnered with USFS over the past few years to build exclosures to prevent further damage from grazing cattle, while allowing deer and other wildlife to continue to enjoy their natural resources.

East Lake was the last of the seventeen lakes in need of protection. The students worked hard to carry large logs and poles around the lake, and piece-by-piece a gorgeous fence was meticulously built. What a masterpiece. What a huge accomplishment.

In between hammering and hurling heavy loads of old, burnt wood into piles, the students engaged in complex discussions about science and conservation across the Colorado Plateau. They played games, read articles, and participated in observation journaling (what is “observation journaling”?) allowing the natural surroundings to silently guide them.

We are products of what we do. Our actions determine who we are and who we will become. Action makes movement and movement creates change. By immersing oneself in this environment and learning from the surrounding landscape, we are able to find solutions for all life across the Colorado Plateau. Thanks to each and every individual that donated their time, energy and spirit to these important conservation and restoration efforts. You do indeed make a difference.

Please stay tuned for updates on the second part of the trip involving Upward Bound and North Leupp Family Farm with co-lead Deon Ben. Cheers!

Just getting warmed up!

June 3-8, 2010: Warm Fire Cheatgrass Perimeter Monitoring Project...but wait, there's more. This project was partnered with another important volunteer project to complete the fencing exclosures for post fire grazing monitoring work. The volunteers smiled and with enthusiasm, headed out to the Kaibab for 6 days of varied project work and great experiences.

Thank you to everyone involved! Your contributions to our organization were instrumental to our continued success monitoring and restoring our treasured landscape. The solid data collected and rigorous science practiced through both the fencing project as well as the Cheatgrass information collected will significantly contribute to the active participation in the management and restoration of the Plateau.

Last year our volunteers donated over 14,000 hours of their time in the field and office. We are, once again, adding those hours up and celebrating the amazing work done thus far in just the five months of field time in 2010. Thank you for partnering with the Grand Canyon Trust. Your generosity of time and energy has already contributed to:

• 10 fence exclosures built!



• Over 50 Cheatgrass plots visited and transects walked!



• Acres of weed pulling and seeds traditionally planted



• Willow trees planted and Tamarisk removed from fragile riparian ecosystems
  


• Many springs and seeps visited and monitored



• Paria Plateau cleaned up



• Beaver habitat assessed around 2 lakes and several miles of stream, including beaver dams
  

My favorite quote just recently arrived in my email box from a recent volunteer. During times when I see our ecosystems faltered and our resources scarce, I will pull out this gift, smile, and continue on with my work for this spectacular organization, knowing we are indeed making a difference everyday. Cheers!

"My experience with them and others on the trip has rekindled my hope that there are too many of us kindred spirits to allow the shortsightedness of man to destroy the world we so love." -G.C., 2010

Here's to a year of exploration, restoration, and conservation of our treasured Colorado Plateau.

Grand Canyon: Connecting Plants and People through Past to Present

Grand Canyon Trust Community Education Series
presents

Grand Canyon:

Connecting Plants and People from Past to Present

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

6-8 pm with refreshments at 5:30

Flagstaff Arboretum (3.8 miles down Woody Mt. Rd)

Join presenters, Wendy Hodgson, Research Botanist at the Desert Botanical Garden and Lori Makarick, Vegetation Program Manager for the Grand Canyon National Park as they take you on a botanical journey of a lifetime! They will provide an overview of Grand Canyon National Park's amazing plant diversity, hoping to unravel some of the many mysteries of the canyon's plant life.

Discover how early botanists continue to influence our current day research and knowledge. Explore some important on-going projects, including the Kolb Studio exhibit and botanical bonanza. Be aware- you may look at the canyon differently after hearing this talk!

Refreshments served at 5:30 in the lovely outside patio area of the Arboretum. Free and open to the public. For more information visit http://www.grandcanyontrust.org/ or call 928-774-7488.

Hope to see you there!

U of WI, Madison Alternative Spring Break 2010

by Deon Ben

Spring break 2010 has come and gone, but for many spring break lingers in sunburns, souvenirs, and thoughts for next year. Here in Arizona we don't have the ocean nor the beach but we do have the Colorado Plateau, and places in this region that sure can accommodate spring breakers.

For the University of Wisconsin, Madison, ten students traveled across the country in hopes of seeing the Grand Canyon, getting some serious tanning, and to experience the lifestyle of the southwest cultures. As expected, the ten students got what they wanted plus more. The students experienced the lifestyle of western ranchers while spending a couple of days on Kane Ranch. The ten amigos had a round of southwest altering weather as many of them worked in the spring sun and enjoyed the famous Arizona sunsets. As the spring winds hit Kane Ranch our group of ten withheld the 60mph wind gusts and worked alongside the tumbling invasive tumbleweeds. As the cold front hit the ranch the ten spring breakers hit the river, the canyons, and the cliffs.

With a week full of accomplishments in building a cedar fence, trail work, chopping wood, repairing tools, repairing fences, installing a gate, breaking ground on a new native plant garden, and the group enjoyed the landscape and all it had to offer. As the spring break week came to its close, the group of ten Bucky Badgers traditionally celebrated the grand finale by engaging in rounds of s'mores and charades along the Colorado River. So, I would say the ten travelers may not have arrived in Mexico, but Arizona sure gave them a spring break to remember; including the sunburns, shell/turquoise jewelry, stories and plans for returning to volunteer with the Trust next year!

A Time to Celebrate our Public Lands

By: Lauren Berutich

Get Inspired to Act! These words were like songs to my ears as I read the description of the film, Earth Days: The Seeds of a Revolution. The film is a documentary by Robert Stone that chronicles the first decade of the environmental movement. Do the names Udall, Ehrlich and Carson ring a bell? No, they are not a law firm. They are the names of pioneers involved in the environmental movement throughout history. Learn more about them when you join us to celebrate stewardship on public lands next month!

What can you do to make a difference? Join us at the Orpheum Theatre on May 11th from 5:30-8:00 pm. There will be music by Flagstaff's local favorite, Karna Otten, lots of tasty foods to graze, and numerous partnerning organizations to meet with. Learn more about how you can volunteer to preserve the immense natural beauty and cultural heritage of the Colorado Plateau by visiting with groups such as the Grand Canyon Youth, Black Mesa Water Coalition, and many more.

Don't be late! It's going to be a packed evening. Doors open at 5:30 for food and networking. Film screening at 6:00. This event is FREE and open to the public. For more information on this event and our organization visit our website or call 928-774-7488. We look forward to seeing you there.

Grand Canyon Trust Community Education Series

The time is here again. The time to discuss important topics crucial to the sustainability of our landscapes, the protection and restoration of these vast beautiful places making up the Colorado Plateau. The Volunteer Program is hosting another year of wonderful, free and open to the public lectures and our first one is just around the corner. Hope to see you there!

Clean Energy Collaborations with Native Nations:
Grand Canyon Trust Native America Program Director Tony Skrelunas discusses Hopi and Navajo wind energy projects, Shonto Chapter's solar energy business plan, and the Navajo Nation Green Jobs Commission. Grand Canyon Trust Air & Energy Program Director Roger Clark reviews solar projects for off-grid homes and prospects for utility-scale renewable energy development to replace our region's dependence on coal.

When: Thursday, February 18 from 6-8pm
Refreshments served at 5:30

Where: Applied Research and Development (ARD) building on NAU Campus

For more information please visit www.grandcanyontrust.org or call 928-774-7488.

As always, our events are free and open to the public. Hope to see you there.

Making Conservation Real-Unforgettable Landscapes and People

By Kate Watters

The country that we work in is unparalleled in its ability to wrench hearts over and over with its sweeping dramatic beauty. We follow the Rio de Flag until it flows into the Little Colorado River at North Leupp Family Farm, where we camp beneath old cottonwood trees and the San Francisco Peaks rise out of an endless plain. Storm clouds hover around them, while the Hopis and Navajos dance and pray for them to grace their fields with rain.

We traverse the Painted Desert of the Navajo reservation, passing the rolling hills of Chinle Shale and the corn fields along the sandy wash along the Echo Cliffs. We continue north to across the Colorado River where we watch condors glide off the Navajo Bridge. Turning west we traverse the House Rock Valley, through the heart of the Kane Ranch where we watch the way that the sun blazes its way across the Vermillion Cliffs. The Paria Plateau rises above to the north as a sandy island heading straight to the Grand Staircase Escalante and drops sharply into the silty ribbon of the Paria River and joins the Colorado River at Lee’s Ferry.

We fall in love with the long, indigo blue slice of Kaibab Plateau, the mountain lying down, as the Paiute know it. It is our diving board into the Grand Canyon, where we traverse the equivalent of Baja, California to the top of the San Francisco Peaks in a hike from the North Rim to Phantom Ranch. Plants linger in hard-to-find places and springs offer refuge to wildlife and humans alike, and the glorious Colorado River cuts deep into the earth exposing the oldest rocks on the planet. On the west side of the Kaibab we are overpowered by the fragrance of cliffrose and daunted by a sea of invasive cheatgrass. Further west we encounter the fingers of the Kanab Creek watershed, named from the Paiute word for the willows that once flourished and today struggle to survive in a world dominated by invasive tamarisk trees.

The people we take with us are as diverse as the landscapes of the Plateau. Val is a veteran of the Vietnam War who lives between a piece of land in Chino Valley and out of his old truck in the forest and has gone on every trip for the last four years. Val has probably cut down more tamarisk trees in the Grand Canyon Watershed than anyone else. Levi is a 10-year-old boy from Phoenix found out about us by Googling “National Public Lands Day” and now he and his mother make mule deer habitat restoration trip an annual event. There are the newly retired folks who are ready to begin their next career in hydrology or botany, and recent transplants from the Midwest anxious to learn more about their new home. We take high school and college students from Chicago, West Virginia, Boston, Hopi, Apache and Navajoland on their first camping adventure.

Our job is to provide the opportunity for our volunteers to experience this landscape by rolling up their sleeves and becoming an active participant in the form of tangible, often physically challenging work. We taste the dust and sometimes wear the dirt for many days before washing. We feel the long days in the sun on our skin, our chapped lips, our bodies ache with new demands placed upon them. The energy it takes to get us there alone is sometimes the greatest adventure of all.

We share the stories that make this land come alive: the near extinction and reintroduction of the California condor; the rich human history and cultural legacies that continue to persist. We introduce people to their first buckwheat blooming in yellow extravagance and then feel their excitement when they are able to distinguish it from a snakeweed bush with the help of a hand lens that they proudly wear around their neck like a medal of honor. We discuss our philosophies of restoration in the shade of a pinyon tree.

We become connected to the dynamic places of the Colorado Plateau and to a larger community of people who have dedicated themselves to protecting it. JOIN US....

We hope to see you in the field in 2010!