SCA Field School: Phoenix II

In the beginning of the week, we started class at the ASU Polytechnic Campus where we learned how to capture reptiles through pit traps. This was a field day for our biology class. We found an Arizona pocket mouse in one trap and released it shortly after. We examined four species of lizards: zebratail, whiptail, side blotch, and desert spiny. They had fallen into the pit traps, and the research gives us information about the population of reptiles in this desert area.

On Tuesday, we began our Wildland Firefighting classes: S-190, S-130, I-100, and L-180. We are now all certified as Wildland Firefighters. Our instructors Ken, Dan, Rob, and Dean spent four days teaching us about wildland firefighting. Dean made us do 50 push-ups to wake us up. He definitely made us pay more attention. We spent three full days at the BLM in classes, learning everything we could.

On our field day on Friday, we learned how to create a fireline. We learned about the tools used by the firefighters and how they customize their own tools. We also got a tour of the fire truck and Matt, Stephan, and Rocky got to ride on it. We then had a chance to practice how to properly deploy our fire shelter. It was an extremely hot and uncomfortable situation. We hope to never have to use one in a real fire emergency.

The beginning of the week found the team taking the first test of the semester at Phoenix College. All studied hard and most felt they did well. A park ranger from Lower Sonoran Nat'l Monument came in and spoke for career development class. We then traveled on to the White Canyon Wilderness south east from Phoenix to use our newly acquired GPS skills. Armed with Trimbles and Garmins we mapped out 2 trails and drove on some pretty gnarly 'roads'. The following day we headed north from Phoenix back to the Copper mountain loop to do a day of trail building picking up where we left off a few weeks ago. This particular part of the trail was scattered with rocks so progress was slow. The final day of the week we went to the Horseshoe Ranch in Agua Fria Nat'l Monument to partake in an inter-agency workshop on range land monitoring. The crew found it really interesting what goes into managing the Agua Fria lands. As we were leaving the ranch one of the vehicle got a flat tire. The team was able to finish the tire changing 'class' that they were unable to finish a few weeks ago. All in all a long week all over Arizona!

New hit song for the week: A tribute to Rebecca Black's "Friday"

This week started off with the team getting their personality reports from Phoenix College. These reports also matched each member with several jobs that would be suitable for their personality types. Several on the crew took turns being leader for the day and implementing their leadership styles. The Wolf Pack built 300 feet of trail at the Audubon Center leading over to Rio Salado. Wildlife was abundant even in town. Some sightings included lizards, quail, scorpions, rabbits, roadrunner, egrets and many more. We thought the trail would be easy to do only 300 ft over 4 days but we were wrong. The area was once a landfill for the city of Phoenix so as we cut into the hillside to make our trail we found ourselves removing tires, concrete, re-bar, and other trash. This proved more difficult than actually building the trail.

The new song that arose from this week of town trail building: "Creosote After The Rain

Till next time...Wolf Pack out!

This hitch started out with some shuffling. The recent rains flooded the area where the team planned to do pole plantings. We took an education training trip to BioSphere2 near Tucson,AZ. We learned of and witnessed 5 different controlled biomes within the facility. The following day we went to Table Mesa, north of Phoenix, and did some restoration work illegal jeep roads. No one was going to pas through there once we got done! Finally on Thursday the waters had receded and we made it out to River Bend in the Agua Fria National Monument to do our pole planting. We went above and beyond and planted all 95 poles (trees) in one day instead of two. We camped at Aqua Fria,which for many of these Phoenicians turned out to be one of the coldest camping experiences. Fire, long horn cattle, coyotes, and the frost were our friends for the evening. On Friday we packed up and headed back to Table Mesa to plant 98 more trees along a sensitive restoration area along the river. We also put a fence around these poles, as cattle and OHV traffic tend to hinder restoration efforts in this area. The team band, Brown is in the Dirt, also hit the song writing hard and is looking to add new songs to the debut album forthcoming. Till next time!

Our first week in the SCA we all started off getting to know each other and establishing relationships. We learned the finer points of the the SCA and did some fun team building. We also got all of our cool SCA gear: boots, hats, shirts, backpacks, water bottles, and SCA memorabilia. We took a tour of the BLM and Phoenix College. We met our teachers and some of us got our student ids. We had our field biology, career experience, and environmental ethics classes. In our Biology class at the Audubon, we went on a nature walk where we learned how to do nature journals, learned some names of plants, and saw a lot of animals.

We established our group name, Wolfpack. We also established our team band name, Brown Is In The Dirt. Stay tuned for more awesome SCA regales and hit singles from Brown Is In The Dirt!

I am 100 pounds of pure muscle. Despite all this brawn I am an animal lover. I appreciate nature and everything our world has to offer. I like to challenge myself physically, mentally and emotionally. I like learning new things so I can grow as a person. I love laughing until I cry and just enjoying the moment. I have lived In Phoenix most of my life. I am ready to explore the state I have lived in for so long and see its beauty in a different light.

I was Born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, I moved to Arizona in 1995 when I was almost two years old. I enjoy hunting, fishing, and football as well as may other things that have to do with the outdoors. I believe my skills from hunting and fishing will help me out while on our hitches, as well as my ability to help other people aquire my skills. My goals for this experience are taking all the different skills I learn and use them in my future career.

My name is Modesto Torrez, but I go by my middle name “Rocky.” I’m an 18 year old kid still trying to find my way and place in this “Big World.” I grew up in South Phoenix not knowing what I wanted to be until I got to high school, I’m leaning more towards being a firefighter and that’s where my hearts is. If I become a Wild Land Firefighter I’ll be happy with that as well. Some traits I can bring to our “Wolf Pack” would be Leadership, laughter, and loyalty. Goals for this season are to get a job with the BLM or SCA and come out with great friendships!

My name is Jazmine Lakey, I’m 18 years old and in my second year of college at Phoenix College. I am a member of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. Some qualities that I bring to this team are my analytical and problem-solving skills, my unique and amazing personality and my enthusiasm for this work. Our environment is my passion and I’m excited for the projects to come and the friends to be made here. The person who has made the most influence on me in my life is my mom, I think about her every day and we try to talk all the time. I enjoy reading and spending time with my pet bearded dragon, Sage.