Grand Canyon National Park - Spring

June 7th - 10th

What a week. This week we worked with so many volunteer groups it is hard to keep them separate in my mind. On Monday and Tuesday we had a Grand Canyon Youth (GCY) group working with us all day. GCY is based out of Flagstaff and they seem like pretty awesome organization. They lead groups of youth (middle school through high school) on river trips and in service. Kids apply for these trips from all around the country and even some international students are included as well. We started out the week planting P10 with GCY. Honestly it was a pretty hot day which lead to low morale within the group. We got a large portion of the planting done, but there are still plants waiting at the nursery to get in the ground. The next day we changed it up a bit so that they got to do a variety of tasks. We started watering P5/6 and we also started mulching and seeding the area. They seemed to take to the task like champs. Seeding requires a bit of coordination and teamwork and I think they succeeded in the task. After we sent them on their way we continued to water that area. Over the week we completed watering the rest of our project sites. We worked with ACE and YCC on Wednesday and Thursday this week. They completed the seeding and mulching over at P5 and helped prep for our volunteers for the following week. YCC staged caging and materials at P5 while ACE helped clean up tools and did duff collection out at Rowe Well Road. We have so many volunteer groups right now it is necessary to use them to prepare for the next volunteer group. We are blessed with extra hands and good volunteers, but at the same time we need time to learn and do things ourselves. It is spring here and it is about time we started attacking the invasive problem in our restoration sites. They are only getting worse each day that goes by. We started pulling them this week in our free time and found that invasive ID is not our strong point yet. Oh, and I forgot to mention how great our YCC group is. They are composed mostly of high school kids who live here at the south rim. Most of them have planted with us in the past... see our previous entry on earth day. They take to whatever task is given to them very easily. They love working with our water buffaloes, and seem to take pride in their work. Frustrations this week seem to revolve around watering and the irrigation system. It is not completely working yet. I guess we'll find out next week if it is functional.

This week went by fairly quickly. Monday and Tuesday consisted mostly of watering natives and killing invasive plant species. On Wednesday we got some variety. We learned that a new parking lot would be built in the immediate future and that we had to salvage as many plants as possible before construction. So we spent the day digging in the earth for penstemon, grasses, and junipers. Thursday morning consisted of gathering seed from a native plant called 'needle and thread grass'. The greenhouse/nursery staff will now grow the seed for upcoming revegetation projects. In the afternoon we all prepped for our upcoming cultural project. It was an easy, highly successful week.

The aim of this SCA NPC crew is to assist the vegetation office at the Grand Canyon National Park with site rehabilitation near the most visited overlook in the park: the Visitor Center at Mather Point. This area is currently in Phase II of a construction project aimed at enhancing the visitor experience and decreasing disturbances from visitor traffic. Our role is to restore old road scars and vegetation islands to Pinyon-Juniper woodland habitat. Our duties include: planting native plants; watering our plantings; invasive removal; plant salvage; seed and duff collection.
The beauty and magnificence of the canyon are a constant presence in our day to day lives. Everyday we are surrounded by inquisitive visitors and the bustle of the 2nd most visited park in the United States. If it ever gets to be too much noise, all you have to do is drop below the rim and you are in the backcountry.

Thank You to all the volunteers and our Partners for making this possible.

April 20th – April 26th
For our first 7 day work week, Molly and I decided to split the leadership roles and co-lead. Our initial start to the week was a bit rocky due to unforeseen weather. While watering, an intense cold front enveloped our crew sending us hail, sleet, and prevailing winds. In the end it was decided to pack up the equipment and head to safety. A couple days into the week with continuous snow, the crew celebrated Earth Day with the local 10th grade biology class from Grand Canyon High School by establishing a new planting site and planting over a 100 native plants. Despite digging in the wet mud, the students persevered with smiling faces and cheerful attitudes.
Later in the week, volunteers through the Grand Canyon Trust enthusiastically salvaged 100 globe mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua) and removed Russian Thistle (Salsola tragus) and Bur Buttercup (Ranunculus testiculatus). The following day, the volunteers helped us replant the globe mallow that we salvaged the day before.
Our first week proved to be a success: we braved the harsh elements, completed a large portion of a large planting site, and removed nasty invasives while saving globe mallow all with the help of hard working volunteers.

5/10/10 - 5/13/10
Monday: Attack! I designed a watering plan for the day. At our corps meeting, I laid out the battle plan because this is WAR. We will conquer the GCVC watering! We have 14ish project sites to water. Each represents a different battleground within the bounds of GCVC, and each battleground must be conquered to win the war.
We were lucky to have two volunteers with us and three buffies for the day. We were able to accomplish much more with their help.
Christine checked soil moistures for us at P5 and P9, watered P9, and spent the rest of the day at Orange Grove fertilizing our large trees with the help and guidance of NPS staff Christie Sorrell and Jan Busco. The rest of us attacked P5 and P6 on both the eastern and western fronts with two buffies and 5 infantrymen. These units were conquered by lunch when the team split in two, Jess and a volunteer going to conquer the 8 large trees in P8 while I and two volunteers waged war on P10 and P11 with 2 buffies.
We met with Christie and Jan in the afternoon to discuss general site maintenance.

Tuesday: The battle continues, but the opposition begins to fight back. Molly teamed up with Emmy, another SCA intern, to tackle a section of P5 that had escaped our grasp the day before. Depending on time and resources, Molly was to assault some of our smaller units: P4, A5-E, A-5W, and RS2. I took one of our volunteers to one of our largest units, P1, with hopes of being able to keep 1 buffy running continuously at the site and move on to our final unit, P2, which looks deceptively small. Meanwhile, Jess lodged a sneak attack on P3, the unit behind the bathrooms, while Christine continued fertilizing trees at Orange Grove.
Molly met with success at P5 and P7, and they were within our grasp by lunch, but Emmy was unfortunately a casualty of war. We lost her at lunch.
The dry ground joined forces with an onslaught of snow to slow our progression at P1, and we had to call in reinforcements. Molly rushed to our aid, but Jess was kidnapped and led into the depths of the Orange Grove in a race against time. With Molly’s help, P1 was quickly conquered, and we moved on to the smaller units, but left P2 for another day.

Wednesday: P2 falls, and the Orange Grove surrenders. The troops were reduced to the corps and one water buffalo. Jess and Christine continued their battle at Orange Grove, armed with goggles, gloves, and Superthrive in the morning. By afternoon the Superthrive battle was over and, Christine was inspecting the trees with the gentle care of Doctor Mom.
Molly and I launched our attack on P2 with the help of Bruce and Buffy #1. P2 was defeated just after lunch. Molly spent the afternoon mapping our project sites and working on datasheets. Jess and I began mulching our planting basins in P10 and P11, as Jan and Christie had suggested the day before. We were able to mulch the ¾ of the area in the shade before clean-up time.
Thursday: Office Day for all!

We had our very first volunteer group this Friday. The team thoroughly enjoyed working with this group. We planted a small section called P-9. All of our planting areas are now called P- #. This represents planting areas 1-11. P-9 is in a high visible area, so we put some gorgeous agaves, yuccas, and other visually appealing plants here. We worked with 5 10th grade boys that are in the Grand Canyon Youth project and their teacher. They were earning service hours toward a chance to raft down the river. They also have to raise money for the trip and do some kind of presentation about the canyon. Their conversation was priceless. For the most part they planted small plants, but some of the boys wanted a challenge, so they planted some of the larger plants too. We saved the pointy cacti for an older volunteer group.

3/22/10 - 4/2/10
The entire crew arrived promptly on Sunday afternoon and settled into the labor cabins. The training week moved along quite nicely. Jill Kolodzne was here to help for the first three days and made the week more interesting so the crew didn’t have to listen to Molly talk all week. Thursday was Cynthia’s birthday and we celebrated with a piñata and chocolate cake at the end of the day. Good times were had. The second week that the team was here we joined forces with the SCA Spring Break group. On Monday and Tuesday, we learned proper tool usage and how to salvage plants at YACC camp and at Desert View. YACC camp will be converted into some much needed government housing in the near future, so we saved as many plants as was possible. On Thursday and Friday we got our first taste of working at our project site. The 29 Spring Breakers, 4 ACE interns, 1 SCA intern, several park service employees, and our crew planted around 1400 plants at GCVC in zone "P-5 and P-6". (This area is near lots 1& 2 south of Mather Point.)

Hi, I am originally from Minnesota but graduated from Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA with a degree in Environmental Studies. This is my second SCA internship, but my first experience in the Grand Canyon National Park. I am excited to learn about the plants, wildlife, and environmental issues specific to the Grand Canyon.