As July comes to a close, we have completed our first 2 weeks of the Buffelgrass Spray Season! The first week of field work was at the Rincon Mountain District (East Side) of Saguaro National Park. The monsoon season was still in full effect, and we had an unbelievably incredible cloud cover for most of the week. When the sun is not streaming directly upon you, it's quite comfortable in the desert. While working in the Rincon Mountain District, our field work was conducted at the Freeman Trail Management Area. We followed a visitors trail for a mile or so and then headed off trail for another half mile to get to our staging area.
Once the staging area is set up, we split up into 2 groups of about 6 or 7 (depending on the number of people) and set out on foot to separate sub unit management areas. Each crew spreads out evenly amongst each other in a straight line and walks transects through each sub unit looking for buffelgrass. When buffelgrass is spotted, we use our 2 way radios to communicate data information to the data collector, and then the buffelgrass is sprayed with herbicide from our backpack sprayers.
Our second week of field work was conducted at the Tucson Mountain District (West Side) of Saguaro National Park. The worked at 2 different management areas: The Boundary Wash and Red Hills. Field work was a bit more extreme; cloud cover was minimal, temperature was 100-110 degrees, terrain was steep and rocky, and the commute was about an hour (3 AM wake up time and 4 AM leave time). This week of field work gave everyone on the crew a better idea of how the rest of the rest of the season will go. However crazy it seems, we end our days knowing that we had a ton of fun with a lot of great people, battled a lot of buffelgrass, and accomplished more than we ever thought we could...physically and mentally.
For some unknown reason, every song in the universe can be applied to spraying buffelgrass in the desert. Maybe we're just extremely creative, or maybe our delerium from the heat catches up with us...who knows. All we know is that there is a possible music video/documentary in the future. And that it will win an academy award. Or a grammy...or both.
Here are just a few to spark your interest...suggestions welcome.
"I see a green plant and I want to paint it blue" - Rolling Stones, Paint It Black, as to spraying buffelgrass
"Love snack, baby love snack! Love snack, baby love snack! (It's a love snack, baby)" - B 52's, Love Shack, as to taking a delicious snack break in the field
