Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

It’s for them

26 05 2021

It’s all for them.

Comments : 10 Comments »

Categories : Advocacy, Partnership, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs

Sego lilies are among my most favorite wildflowers that appear in the basin. (Like the horses, they’re really all my favorites, just by virtue of being here, surviving and thriving!) That such delicate lilies appear in this harsh, dry environment seems to be one of the most miraculous and simplest wonders of the desert.

They’re blooming in earnest now. According to Range Plants of Utah, “it thrives on rather dry, sandy soils.” I’ll say!

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Sue … I hope you return soon to wild places to find healing.

Comments : 6 Comments »

Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Wild flowers

Walking into the sunset

24 05 2021

Maia walks over a ridge to join Houdini in grazing.

Comments : 5 Comments »

Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs

All eyes

23 05 2021

Before our little rain Friday (!), the greasewood was the greenest thing in the basin. Now Hollywood is going to have a lot more green to grace his grocery “aisles.”

Comments : 6 Comments »

Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs

What are they up to out there?

22 05 2021

(BLM rangeland management specialist Garth Nelson pushes dirt into a trench laid with pipe from the water tanks while herd manager Mike Jensen, range tech Daniel Chavez and seasonal weed-sprayer Jim Cisco shovel dirt into the trench along the “front” of the tanks to cover the pipe. A roof with a gutter will pipe rainwater/snow into the tanks, and the pipe in the trench directly in front of me as I take this pic will run water to the trough, which will be on a float.)

We’ve had some big doin’s out in Spring Creek Basin recently.

Remember when our BLM folks (herd manager Mike Jensen and Tres Rios Field Office Manager Connie Clementson) updated our herd management area plan last year? Remember the two new water catchments that were proposed (and approved) in that EA?

Our first tanks for the first of those water catchments are in the ground. 🙂 That’s phase one of the project; phase two is coming. It will take me a bit to consolidate several days of work into a nice little post to detail their work. That’s coming, too. But just in case you wondered what the heck our BLM guys are doing out in Spring Creek Basin these days … this is a bit of an answer. 🙂

And in best of all news, we actually got a decent drizzle of rain in Disappointment Valley yesterday! No, the catchment isn’t at the point of catching that rain, but soon. … Hopefully very, very soon … !

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If you’re in Norwood, Colorado, this evening, join us at The Livery (1555 Lucerne St.) for Kat Wilder’s first in-person reading to celebrate the publication of her memoir, “Desert Chrome”! Folks will start to gather around 6 p.m. Bring your own camp chair, picnic and beverage for an outdoor gathering. San Miguel County and Colorado state Covid protocols will be followed.

Comments : 3 Comments »

Categories : Advocacy, Partnership, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Water catchment, Work projects

Just about dark

21 05 2021

Though we got clouds a couple of nights ago, the clouds refused to leak. Pretty Gaia carried on with her greasewood grazing. I hope she knows something we don’t know … that it WILL rain again!

Comments : 4 Comments »

Categories : Brumley Point, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Temple Butte

Greys in the green

20 05 2021

The grey amiga girls – Alegre, Maia and Houdini – were having a greasewood feast a couple of evenings ago. I recently learned that greasewood is a source of keratin, which contains protein, and maybe that’s why the horses like it so much. … I still think it’s cuz it tastes like ice cream. 🙂

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In other news, don’t forget that Maria’s Bookshop in Durango, Colorado, will be hosting Kat Wilder for a reading of her new book, “Desert Chrome” – which is on bookstore shelves now! – starting at 6:30 p.m. Mountain Time. Go to Maria’s Events Calendar page, then scroll down just a bit to find the Zoom and Facebook Live links to Kat’s reading.

Garcia Street Books did an interview with Kat, and she reads snippets from “Desert Chrome” while talking about observations that led to organization, etc. Watch here.

And the Durango Herald (disclaimer: the Herald is the former employer of this blogger) published a wonderful review of “Desert Chrome.” Read it here! Then order your copy and read it for yourself!