Water for Wildlife Project May 18-20 2012 Mojave National Preserve, Landfair Valley, Volunteers needed

April 20-21-22, 2012   

Mojave National Preserve, Landfair Valley

 

I just returned from vacation, here is report for April 2012 WFW project, plus info on the May and June projects.  The only title I could come up with for this project April project;

 

 

Although this was the worst weather I have experienced since March of 2006, (the first WFW project), there were still 31 volunteers who battled rain, wind and snow to volunteer their labor for the wildlife.

 

Friday morning we pulled into camp around 10 am and the weather was not too bad.   The cooks arrived shortly  thereafter and began setting up camp and the cooking area.   Several volunteers dug a 3x3 pit for the pork to be cooked for the Saturday dinner.  Around 11:00 am, 15 volunteers departed camp, heading out to the area where we were going to clear the tamarisk.   You can see from the pic's, there was a lot of work that had to be done to clear the area of this invasive species.  The chain saws came out and the volunteers jumped in and started chopping and sawing the tamarisk plants/trees.  Lyle, BJ and Jim headed out to drinker #58 to work on the concrete tank - this tank had several cracks and was not holding water, plus do some repair work on the concrete apron.  All the volunteers worked hard and put in a good 5 hours of labor before returning to camp around 4:30 Friday evening. 

 

Friday evening the weather started to change very rapidly.  I don't know how the cooks, John and Dave got the spaghetti cooked and ready to serve.  Despite the wind howling and rain coming down, we were all served salad, bread and delicious spaghetti.  After dinner it was raining so hard we could not have a raffle or spend anytime around the fire.  All the volunteers had to head for cover, into their RV's and tents and wait it out until morning. 

 

 

In the morning John and Dave performed another miracle and had hot coffee, biscuits and gravy ready to serve.  After breakfast it was snowing, very windy and it looked like we were going to have to pack it up and head home but several of the volunteers wanted to stick it out and wait and see if the weather cleared, so we sat around the fire until 10 am when things starting looking a little better.  We all decided to go back out and finish what we had started the day before.  At 10:30 we headed out to finish clearing the tamarisk as well as to seal the tank and finish the apron on drinker 58.   Lyle, Frank, BJ and Jim also delivered one thousand gallons of water to a couple of drinkers.  Around 4 pm we made it back to camp and the weather was starting to cooperate.

 

John and Dave had cooked the pork in the pit for several hours and had it out and ready to serve at 6 pm.   The pork was served on a big bun, along with beans and salad.  This evening we were able to sit around the fire and enjoy the excellent dinner that John and Dave had prepared for us.  Thank you John and Dave!! 

 

Sunday morning was nice............the wind died down and after our breakfast of sausage and eggs, our windmill expert Frank, climbed up the windmill at Government Hole and changed the oil - see pic's.  We then went to Pettit Well about 10 miles away and assessed what was needed to be done to the concrete tank which is cracking and in bad need of repair.  It was noon when we came back to camp, finished packing up, then  headed for home.

 

 

Overall we accomplished everything except changing the oil in one windmill, so even with the terrible weather the volunteers put in over 225 hours of labor on this project.

 

Thanks so much to all volunteers, can't do without YOU!!!!!

 

Sincerely

 

Cliff McDonald

760-449-4820

 

 

This project will be at the same location as the April project.

 

Directions:  From Barstow go approx 90 miles to the Goffs exit, go North-East towards Goffs, 9-10 miles until you hit the town of Goffs, from Goffs go North on Landfair rd about 15 miles to Cedar Canyon Road, stay on Landfair and go 6/10th {six tenths} of a mile past Cedar Canyon Road, on your left will be a pipe gate with a sign that says campground.  Go thru gate about two hundred yards, look to the right and you will see the camp site. You do not need four wheel drive.  You can bring your motorhome or camp trailer, all level ground to park.

 

There is several projects that need to be done during these three days in the hills.

 

1. The galvanized tanks at Eagle Well and Hogieboom Well need to have plywood cut and screwed down over part of the water surface to help cut down on evaporation.

2. Build ramps to give the smaller wildlife access to the water at Government Hole and Pettit Well 3. Change the oil in two windmills.

4. Drain, clean and apply hydro cement inside concrete tank at Government Hole, plus fix the  float.

5.  Install galvanized tank inside of concrete tank at Pettit Well along with re-plumbing the float. 

6.  A couple more drinkers need the tanks cleaned and patched.

7.  If we have time left we will do some more clearing of the tamarisk. 

As you can see there is plenty to do to assure our desert wildlife have a year around water source. 

 

FYI, did you know that the Mojave National Preserve has over 200 species of birds that frequent or call the preserve home, plus over 40 mammals the call the preserve home.

 

Breakfast; Sat morning, sausage and eggs, Sunday morning, biscuits and gravy.

Dinner;  Saturday night, Hamburger and hotdogs

 Friday night, Elk Chili

 

If anyone wants to volunteer to cook the breakfast and the two dinners please let me know.  We will have all the cooking stuff needed all we need is for a couple of volunteers to cook and serve.

 

I will be at the camp site Friday morning around 9 am, we will set up camp and hopefully head out to work around 11 am.

 

Bring gloves, eye protection, smiling face, folding table for camp area, lantern.

 

Events:  We will leave the camp (8am) Saturday and Sunday morning after breakfast (7am) and head out to the work site.  We could be gone up to eight hours so make sure you pack a lunch and drinks.  Friday and Saturday night around 6 pm we will have dinner and our raffle.  If anyone has some goodies that they would like to donate to the raffle, bring them with you, any and all donations are much appreciated.

 

Everyone must fill out a volunteer form for the MNP, plus the sign in sheet.   This is the time of year the desert tortoise is out and about, if you see one do not disturb them in any way.  If we have warm weather the little green rattlesnakes (Mojave Green) could also be running around so watch your step.  You are not allowed to kill any reptile on the MNP, so if you see a green thing just let it go.  Lets all be careful and make this a safe and fun project.  This is a good thing that we are allowed to use this private property so lets all make sure we cleanup after ourselves and leave the compound as clean as we found it.  I will be on site around 9 am Friday morning and as soon as camp is set up we will head out to a work site.  There will be outhouses and that is it for any luxury.

 

Pets:  This is private property so ALL PETS MUST BE UNDER CONTROL and you must clean up after your pets.  We will be working on Mojave National Preserve so unfortunately, no pets are allowed at the work sites unless they are kept on a leash.  Pets are ok at the camping area.

 

 

 

There is one more project planned for this year, June 8-9-10.  We will be staying on the historic 7IL Ranch, the last working cattle ranch on the Mojave National Preserve, this is a chance to see history and talk to the people that made it.  The ranch is located 17 miles North of I-40  near the Providence State Recreational area (Mitchell Caverns).  The camping area is around 4000 ft elevation.

 

Directions:  From Barstow go 90 miles East to Essex Rd, go North 10 miles to a "Y" in the road, take the road to your left going to Mitchell Caverns, go 1 mile to sign "7IL Blair Brother Ranch", turn right, go 6 miles to the ranch house and you will see a orange flag, go to the right 100 yards. 

 

You can bring your RV, tent, or sleep under the stars.  There is no hookups but plenty of level space for your RV. 

 

Any questions please call or email me.

 

Best regards

 

Cliff

760-449-4820