Although it is pronounced ** boo - eee **, we've decided to call it Fort David Bowie. I mean, you don't call him David Boo - eee...am I right?
Anyway, we completed our first hitch from April 12th to April 19th. The crew camped out at Pinery Canyon in the Chiricahua Mountains and commuted one hour each way to Fort Bowie National Historic Site to work on the project. We worked 8 ten hour days and our now enjoying some well deserved time off!
Our Fort Bowie Project conists of removing Mesquite saplings and trees from historic battle grounds between the Confederates and the Apaches. We are using a variety of mechanical and chemical methods to remove these plants, including using loppers, shears, chainsaws, handsaws, and herbicide. Each transect is lined out using a flagging system taught to the crew by no other than one of the Crew Members- Joe Ladd! At the end of each day, the transects that we completed are mapped using a GPS unit. This allows us to record how many acres we cut and treated, approximately how much Mesquite was removed, and how much herbicide was used. This is a great way for us to compile this data at the end of the project and put together a Project Report for Fort Bowie to use for future Mesquite Removal Projects.
Naturally, Mesquite only grew in riparian areas. However, because of heavy cattle grazing in the 1900's, Mesquite traveled through the digestive systems of the cattle and started to grow in areas where it normally would not. Because Mesquite is a strong tree with amazing re-sprouting capabilities, Fort Bowie has been working on a Mesquite-removal project for several years to restore the landscape to it's original style at the time Fort Bowie was in practice.
One hitch down and 3 more to go! We will keep you updated with pictures, videos, and data as we continue to restore history at Fort Bowie!
Video Number One : Josh's Home Run...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDlnbsUShY4 [1]
Video Number Two : Rising Full Moon and the International Space Station Over the Chiricahuas...
http://youtu.be/Nh8nhipDIPk [2]