Written by Max Skolnick-Schur, Wild Stew Field Crew Leader.
For the second hitch in a row this year, we returned to the Dry Blue Creek in the Gila National Forest. We continued pushing up the canyon, reducing the density of ponderosa pine and juniper in close proximity to riparian cottonwoods and willows to help restore the riparian meadows, preserve the large established cottonwood gallery, and help make the area more resilient to wildfires.
Over our eight day hitch, we primarily worked upstream through several especially dense areas, and also did a sweep of the entire project area so far to clean up any missed or remaining trees that shouldn’t have been left behind. By the end our 5 person crew had cut 2,041 trees with an impressive and very visible transformation of the meadow.
We were lucky to see a bull elk come through while we were working day, and on the last day of the hitch saw over 40 elk walk through the canyon together!
We also had good times after work—we of course had our usual crunchwraps to celebrate Bean Friday, and after work on Sunday most of the crew went to a local restaurant to watch the Super Bowl (Go Hawks). To combat the very chilly evening temperatures, we had a fire most nights.
