The goal of the SCA/USFWS Trails Inventory program is to provide the Fish and Wildlife Service with a comprehensive and accurate inventory of all trails on USFWS sites across the country. This is certainly an ambitious project as there are over 600 USFWS sites nationwide. This project will take us to every corner of the country, to high mountains and low deserts through bayous and fjords. We are all extremely excited for this opportunity as it provides the chance to perform an important service to the USFWS, expand our own knowledge and expertise, and experience many different parts of the country for the first time.
Hitch 6- North Dakota
Hitch 6 Team Charlie consisted of Dave Delcourt and Xuan Vu. For this hitch we covered only parts of Minnesota and South Dakota but ended up driving around the entire State of North Dakota. Weather played a huge part during this hitch because of flooding that has been plaguing North Dakota all season. Some of the refuges we visited had partially or completely flooded trails and all of Arrowwood NWR’s trails were completely flooded. In Bismarck we missed flooding by staying outside the city and on another night we were hit by a very windy thunderstorm. Although the weather wasn’t always the best we were able to visit the Boundary Water’s in Northeastern Minnesota. While there we went on a one day canoe trip and were able to see a couple 400 year old Native American pictographs on a cliff lining the lake as well as floating bogs containing 2 of the 3 species of carnivorous plants. In North Dakota we spent the weekend in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the western part of the state. We hiked over 10 miles of the Petrified Forest loop through prairie, sections of the badlands, and 2 sections of the Petrified Forest. Along the auto tour we were lucky enough to spot buffalo, feral horses, and 1 Prairie Rattlesnake. Overall it wasn’t a bad trip. Although the flooding and weather made it difficult at times but we both had a lot of fun.
