Chrome, Terra and Winona graze together in the softest evening light.
Evening shades
8 06 2014Comments : 5 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Just right height
7 06 2014
Big girl Seneca provides a nice resting place for mama Chipeta’s chin. 🙂
Comments : 8 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Unique to us
6 06 2014
Tesora and Puzzle look fat and shiny below Brumley Point and the unnamed promontory – which happen to be lined up perfectly from this perspective but are, in fact, two different land forms!
Comments : 4 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, unnamed promontory
Rain = grass
5 06 2014
A little rain goes a looooooooong way in Spring Creek Basin! For Kwana, it’s just a long lip grab away!
The Indian ricegrass and needle-and-thread loved those May showers … and yes, we have June flowers (delay? what?!). 🙂
Comments : 5 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Not quite brave
3 06 2014
Cassidy Rain peeks over Gaia’s back. Staying behind mama is comforting to the big girl. Love those pretty girl faces. 🙂
The ponies are slick and shiny – just in time for 90-degree weather!
Comments : 4 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Spring dance
2 06 2014
Ty warns Corazon to stay away from his girls in the annual ritual.
Comments : 9 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
SCC crew cutting tamarisk
1 06 2014Last week, a Southwest Conservation Corps crew spent four days in Spring Creek Basin cutting and spraying tamarisk. Kathe Hayes with San Juan Mountains Association played a big part in getting the crew here for this project, which – I think – was funded out of the Director’s Challenge grant our Tres Rios Field Office was awarded a couple of years ago.
Crew members are from Fort Defiance, Ariz. Several of them have been together since March, and a couple of them volunteered to join the crew for this project in the basin. Crew leader Lance Hubbard said this is his fourth or fifth season with SCC. Most of those have been spent doing irrigation, wash restoration and trail work; this was his first season to do chainsaw work. From here, they’ll head back to Ganado, Ariz., for all of the above.
Tamarisk eradication has been done off and on for many years in the basin. Some of our University of Missouri students have worked on it during alternative spring breaks with Kathe. Also working in the basin last week was a Forest Service sprayer, Gary, working in some of the main arroyos.
Five guys and one woman, ranging in age from 20 to 25, were on the crew (I couldn’t get them all in one frame until I made them pose for me at the end because they were all constantly in motion). Two wielded chain saws, cutting tamarisk as close to the ground as possible so the stumps would pose as little hazard as possible to the horses. Three cleared the branches and carried them to slash piles for later burning. And one sprayed the stumps with “Habitat” to prevent the tamarisk from growing back. Crew members traded spraying, carrying and cutting duties each day.
Shoanyah Halwood wielded one of the chainsaws. My back ached just watching her!
Matthew Begay wielded the other chainsaw. Adrian Benally was his partner to clear and carry branches to the slash piles.
Another one of Adrian and Matthew working together. Sprayed stumps are visible in the foreground.
Alonzo Moses carries branches that Shoanyah cut to a slash pile.
Crew leader Lance Hubbard also carried branches to slash piles.
Rolando Billie handled spraying duties on the crew’s last day in the basin. It was pretty warm during their week, but they had a little bit of cloud cover toward the end that helped.
From left: Adrian, Matthew, Rolando, Lance, Shoanyah and Alonzo. They’re standing where a big clump (grove?) of tamarisk once grew.
Getting rid of moisture-leaching, salt-depositing tamarisk is a big, worthwhile project in Spring Creek Basin, and we appreciate their work on behalf of our mustangs! They did see a couple of bands during the week and thought the horses were pretty cool. 🙂 Thanks to this hard-working crew!
Comments : 2 Comments »
Categories : Director's Challenge, Disappointment Valley, Partnership, San Juan Mountains Association, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Tamarisk, Work projects
Yum
31 05 2014
Doesn’t Chrome make a handsome backdrop to a glowing bunch of Indian ricegrass? The rain has done wonders for the grasses in Spring Creek Basin, and a variety of wildflowers have bloomed recently. The mustangs reap the benefits!
Comments : 7 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
4CBCH annual wild horse count
30 05 2014On May 17, members of the Four Corners Back Country Horsemen came to Spring Creek Basin for their annual wild horse count. This was their 14th year!
This is an important, ongoing partnership between 4CBCH and BLM. In addition to counting mustangs in Spring Creek Basin and getting an idea of the makeup of bands, members traditionally complete a work project during the weekend. Previous projects have included fence maintenance, packing out old wire and weed surveys. The last couple of years, the Forest Service has sent a weed-spraying crew to the basin to spray some of the locations we’ve surveyed.
In years past, horseless members of the group would drive to the base of Round Top and hike to the summit, then use binoculars and spotting scopes to search for mustangs. Radio communication between horseback groups and the hikers would help with locations and identifications. Now, we have horseback folks and folks who take “horseless carriages” around the loop road in the basin to look for horses, completing projects on the way.
Again this year, we surveyed ponds for the presence of knapweed and musk thistle. Fortunately, we found little of either type of weed at all the locations we checked.
Between the riders and the drivers, we saw almost all the horses! And a few of the bands put on a show by being in close proximity to each other, which was great for everyone to see so many of our mustangs!
Pat (president of 4CBCH) and Frank Amthor were the weekend’s leaders, as usual, and as always, they hosted a wonderful event full of horses, stories of past mustang sightings and terrific food. A highlight this year was meeting a Spring Creek Basin mustang, Tipi (spelling?), adopted in 2005. He reminded me completely of Bruiser – minus the spots!
Lisa and her son, Travis, lead the way into the basin from the campsite off the Disappointment Road. Travis has attended most counts since he was 6 years old!
Eva and her Spring Creek Basin mustang, Tipi. (Yes, the gnats are out!)
Eva’s husband, Adrian, also rode a mustang, Reno. They recently adopted a third mustang. These are true mustang supporters!
Cathy is 4CBCH’s vice president; this was her first count. Her lovely mom, Millie, came from California and joined us to see mustangs from the vehicles.
This also was the first count for Cindy and her daughter.
Daughter Mikayla (sp?) and her little mare Sapphira made a great pair.
Lisa is a past 4CBCH president, and she has attended numerous counts – and has lots of great stories about the mustangs they’ve encountered!
As noted, Travis has been coming to Spring Creek Basin since he was 6. He’s now 20!
Bob is another past 4CBCH president who has ridden in the basin several times. He also has packed old wire out using his horses.
Kat is one of our NMA/CO board members, and this was her first count. It probably won’t be her last!
Thank you to all involved for your camaraderie and super enthusiasm for our Spring Creek Basin mustangs! We’ll see you next spring!
Comments : 7 Comments »
Categories : Advocacy, Disappointment Valley, Disappointment Wild Bunch Partners, Four Corners Back Country Horsemen, National Mustang Association/CO, Partnership, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Work projects
Classic
29 05 2014
Mr. Bounce against the backdrop of iconic McKenna Peak, namesake of McKenna Peak Wilderness Study Area, which overlaps Spring Creek Basin’s southeastern and eastern edges.
Comments : 4 Comments »
Categories : McKenna Peak, McKenna Peak Wilderness Study Area, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
