Saguaro National Park - Spring 2011

This is what we look like when we take out buffel grass.

Too legit to quit.

Artwork by J. G. Ladd, featured at the Smithsonian Institute of Buffel Grass Defiance.

The crew took a break from Coronado and spent the past week working at Saguaro National Park in the Tucson Mountain District. Surrounded by Saguaro Cacti for miles in every direction, it was a nice change in latitude for us. We spent ten hour days in the desert doing systematic mapping of buffelgrass; a highly invasive/fuel loading/desert loving grass. This type of mapping involves using a GPS to track your coordinates. Each person spreads out 20 meters apart, creating a starting line. We move forward in the same direction, looking for, mapping, and removing buffelgrass. Once we hit our stopping point, we spread out in a line with different cooridinates and head in another direction; eventually creating a grid of mapped desert. At one point I looked over my shoulder to see all of us spread out, roaming through the desert like a pack of wild animals. Later on, we heard coyotes calling out to one another. It's times like these when you realize how truly connected to nature you are if you let your consciousness allow it.
When we came upon a plant or a patch of buffelgrass, we used rock hammers to remove them and piled the grasses, roots and seeds under rocks to prevent seed spread. Buffelgrass is a threat to the desert in many different ways, and projects at Saguaro National Park to remove them are ongoing. Although manual removal and chemical treatment doesn't fully eradicate the species, it slows down the population and dispersal of new plants, allowing native vegetation (such as Saguaro Cacti) a chance to thrive.
Please enjoy some photographs of our adventures as a pack of wild animals...

During our third hitch at Coronado, the moon was at its fullest. And every night, we'd stare at the Moon Over Mexico. So incredible how you can be looking at two different countries in one spot...standing still.
We spent the week continuing on our prep work for the prescribed burn. We are about halfway through the perimeter of the 160 acre polygon, and have another week of work ahead of us the last week in March. We have been limbing some large oak stands, pushing our way through sharp Acacia to get to Mesquite, and carrying limbs through a sea of Lehmans lovegrass. The days are long and the work is plenty, but we love what we do and wouldn't have it any other way!
After our last hitch at Coronado, we will post maps of the burn unit with information about the work we've completed; such as species of trees and plants, acreage and percent covered, etc. We are looking forward to the completion of this project and our first taste of prescribed fire!
We ended the week with an 11 mile hike to the highest peak in the Huachuca Wilderness -- Miller Peak. Climbing switchbacks uphill, only to lift our heads and see the peak off in the distance, we were mesmerized by the way the desert united with a forest of Douglas Fir and Pine, blending its colors and mystery together. When we reached the peak, we felt like we were on top of the world. It was an incredible bonding experience for the crew and, once again, reminded us of how lucky we are to be right here, right now!
Please enjoy some photographs of our work hitch, followed by an arrangement from our hike; sights that moved us into perpetual bliss.

We are nearing the end of our second hitch at Coronado National Memorial! We started out the week with prep work along the east side of the prescribed burn perimeter; limbing large mesquite trees and removing ladder fuel.
Ladder Fuels: Low lying shrubs underneath or surrounding trees that could ignite and create crown fires. Crown fires are dangerous because embers could travel from the "crown" of the tree and create spot fires in new areas. This is especially important to prevent when dealing with prescribed burns because the last thing you want is for the fire to get out of control and require suppression tactics.
We continued prep work along the perimeter on Tuesday with some help from Jay, a firefighter from Tucson who offered to come down and work with us. With his help we covered a lot of ground, and had a blast working with and learning from someone with so much experience in the fire world.
On Wednesday we took a break from the perimeter and worked inside the burn unit with 5 National Park Service Arcaheology gurus. We limbed trees (Mesquite and Oak), removed ladder fuels (Manzanita), and cut high fire intensity grasses (Lehmann's lovegrass) from in and around archaic rock structures. The rock structures are believed to be remnants of an old corral; dwellings, walls, stoves etc. As we worked, we would take breaks periodically to stop, look, and listen...Not only are we working on a hill with a panoramic view of Mexico, but we are also standing where Native Americans dwelled over 6,000 years ago. If you stop for a moment, you can feel the history overlapping with the present. If you look, you can see Mexico. If you listen, you can hear Mother Nature and ancestral spirits saying "Thank You" in the wind. Now that's a trip.
On our off time this week, we explored Coronado Cave (pictures below), made some incredible rice and veggie bombs (hitch slang for enormous amounts of rice and veggies) and enjoyed listening to music, reading good books, learning about local plants and basking in each others company. We love our jobs and love even more that we can share them with you!

Greetings and salutations! I am Sarah Timber Jenny Seiler and I hale from the hot and wet city of Redding, or the Dirty 530, in Northern California. I am an avid hiker, a wanderer, and a daydreamer. My interests include learning, working/being outside, collecting VHS’s, going to shows, and hanging with my friends and family. I spent my first two years of college soaking up the sun at San Diego State University and my last two studying geography and sustainability at Portland State University. Recently I left the beautiful Pacific Northwest to join the Saguaro Native Plant Corps and serve my second time around with the SCA. This season I am looking forward to working at various parks in southern Arizona, using chainsaws, learning plant IDs, and learning how to Two-step with my awesome crew. Now is all you have! So come, take a walk on the wild side, and discover the extreme and intriguing Southwest.

Particulars

North Carolina will always be home to me. I love cats, though I don’t imitate them like some people. I always want a cheeseburger and a backrub. People getting left behind and loud chewing make me irritable. I do not disbelieve in fairies, and I am interested in learning about different individual and cultural perspectives on the value of nature.

Speculations

After gleefully and warily escaping the world of formal education, I landed safely in Tucson, Arizona. So far I’m still really excited to get my hands dirty and do some serious work, but the real challenge and learning will be in getting to know some awesome people with significantly different points of view and various interests. While I’m excited about getting outdoors and basking in country music, when allowed, the best part of this experience has got to be the hardest. That is living and working with the same people for 8 months. Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and jump.

We are on our first hitch at Coronado National Memorial, about 2 hours south of Tucson. The border of Mexico is within sight, sometimes close enough to seem surreal.
Our field work at Coronado National Memorial consists of fuel reduction processes to prepare for a prescribed burn that we will help with in April. We are using chainsaws to limb or cut mesquite, manzanita and varieties of oak (depending on the location and size). The purpose of this removal is to create buffer zones to control the perimeters of the burn.
We arrived here on Tuesday to meet with the National Park Service Archeologist, who took us to the sites within the prescribed burn unit that are historically unique and sensitive. They have found Native Americans artifacts that date from 4 to 8 thousand years ago. We learned archaeological terms (is it a shert? a chert? a sherd?) and have developed trained eyes in spotting artifacts. Although sometimes, it really is just a rock.
It's an awesome bonus to field work knowing that we are not only conserving the land, but history as well.
Posted below are some pictures from our time here at Coronado so far...more to come!